Embrace the waste

Saatva ran on one channel for eight years. Now it runs on about 20, including the Olympics. This week, CMO Joe McCambley joins us to explain how he proves upper-funnel spend works. 

—Elena

Saatva grew to more than $150 million on a single channel: non-branded search. 

Then hundreds of competitors flooded the mattress category, search costs soared, and Saatva lost money. Joe's answer was to add channels, not bid harder. 

 

Pay more. Wait longer. 

 

How do you prove brand advertising works? 

In three waves. Site visits jump within 24 hours of a TV spot, branded search climbs after two months, and market share peaks at eight. Saatva won't make a decision until three data points agree. The business is up 20-30% year over year. 

How does a mattress brand justify the Olympics? 

Athletes complained about their beds at the 2024 Paris Games, and Saatva's CEO declared, "This can never happen to an American athlete again." That mandate became 10,000 donated beds for LA28 athletes.  

Should you target your ideal customer? 

Joe says to forget it. He calls most individual targeting "a complete waste of time" and tells marketers to "embrace waste." A cheap remnant TV buy in 2022 brought in millennials who had never heard of Saatva. Now they're a huge part of the business. 

What should marketers look for in a CEO? 

Patience first, then a facility with numbers, gut instinct, and the courage to stick with a plan. Joe's CEO opened retail stores after COVID over the C-suite's objections, and the C-suite was "proven dramatically wrong." Joe also borrows a lesson from his son's boxing training: step into the punch. Up close, a punch lands with less force, but backing away means taking the full blow. Brand building takes years of hits, and retreating makes them land harder. A good CEO understands this. 

 

Listen in on our discussion.

 

"Saatva's CMO on How the LA28 Games Bet Paid Off"  

Joe walks through the full climb from search to sponsorship, including the CPM math behind each step. It also covers the athlete stories that shaped Saatva's restorative sleep positioning. 

Read the article.

 

Brands take years. 

"At Amazon we like things to work in five to seven years. We're willing to plant seeds, let them grow – and we're very stubborn." 

— Jeff Bezos 

This newsletter comes from the hosts of The Marketing Architects, a research-first show answering your biggest marketing questions. Find us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.