Drew Brosnan

Room V: the meditative rose

Eight million dollars of search, grown to ten

Engagement
Signet Group (Zales.com, PiercingPagoda.com)
Role
Digital Marketing Performance Manager
Period
2013 → 2014
Location
Dallas, TX

Signet is the jewelry group behind Zales, Piercing Pagoda, Kay, and Jared, more than 3,600 stores. I headed the search and shopping program for Zales.com and PiercingPagoda.com, ran an $8M ad spend, planned its expansion to $10M for FY2015, and rolled Google Analytics out across the company’s web holdings.

The landscape

Jewelry is seasonal and emotional, which means spend arrives in waves and every wave has to be measured. The brands shared infrastructure but not budgets, and analytics had never been installed consistently across the holdings. Programmatic bidding existed but had not been tuned for the catalog.

The approach

I headed the search and shopping program and coordinated with the merchandise teams so the ads followed the inventory. I architected the Google Analytics installation and planned the company-wide rollout across the various website holdings. Automation came through iMacro integrations and an enhanced programmatic bidding program, and I supervised a junior search specialist along the way.

  • Ran an $8M search ad spend and expanded it to $10M for FY2015.
  • Headed the search marketing and shopping program for Zales.com and PiercingPagoda.com.
  • Architected the Google Analytics installation and led the company-wide rollout across the web holdings.
  • Implemented iMacro automation and enhanced the programmatic bidding program.
  • Supervised a junior search marketing specialist and coordinated with merchandise teams.

The projects

  1. 01

    Search and shopping for two brands

    The paid search and shopping program for Zales.com and PiercingPagoda.com, run at $8M and planned to $10M, with the ads coordinated against merchandising.

    • Owned the search and shopping budget and its FY2015 expansion plan.
    • Coordinated cross-functionally with the merchandise teams so promotions and ads moved together.
    • $10M FY2015 search budget expanded from $8M
  2. 02

    Google Analytics across the holdings

    One analytics installation, architected once and rolled out across the company’s website holdings, so the brands could be compared on the same numbers.

    • Architected the Google Analytics installation for the launch.
    • Planned and implemented the company-wide rollout.
    • Google Analytics
  3. 03

    iMacro and programmatic bidding

    Browser automation through iMacro integrations and an enhanced programmatic bidding program, an early version of the habit of letting scripts do the repetitive work.

    • Implemented the iMacro system for repetitive platform work.
    • Enhanced the programmatic bidding program on the catalog.
Jewelry taught me that demand arrives in waves, and every wave has to be measured.

The exhibits

  1. Exhibit I A year of jewelry demand, with the two peaks the budget was built around.

The results

  • $10M search budget for FY2015 expanded from an $8M program
  • 3,600+ stores in the group Zales, Piercing Pagoda, Kay, and Jared
  • 2 brands Zales.com and PiercingPagoda.com search and shopping programs

The apparatus

  • Google Ads
  • Bing Ads
  • Google Analytics
  • iMacro
  • Programmatic bidding

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