Hovers Impact Series · Performance Marketing
How Hovers doubled Sylvi Watches’ ROAS to 10.76x — and more than doubled revenue on flat ad spend
How Hovers doubled Sylvi Watches’ ROAS to 10.76x — and more than doubled revenue on flat ad spend
How Hovers doubled Sylvi Watches’ ROAS to 10.76x — and more than doubled revenue on flat ad spend
A D2C watch brand performance marketing case study. Instead of buying growth with a bigger budget, Hovers more than doubled Sylvi’s monthly revenue (+132%) on essentially flat ad spend (+8%) — doubling ROAS to 10.76x and halving CAC.
A D2C watch brand performance marketing case study. Instead of buying growth with a bigger budget, Hovers more than doubled Sylvi’s monthly revenue (+132%) on essentially flat ad spend (+8%) — doubling ROAS to 10.76x and halving CAC.
A D2C watch brand performance marketing case study. Instead of buying growth with a bigger budget, Hovers more than doubled Sylvi’s monthly revenue (+132%) on essentially flat ad spend (+8%) — doubling ROAS to 10.76x and halving CAC.
By Hovers · Published 22 July 2026 · D2C Watches · Meta + Google
Before = the comparable month just before onboarding (Sep 2024); Now = the latest comparable month (2026). ROAS = monthly revenue / ad spend (blended); the client confirmed the table is a true monthly like-for-like. All results are shown as percentage and multiple movements. The strategy and challenge narrative below are inferred from the performance data and Hovers’ Sylvi audit context.
Monthly revenue more than doubled — up +132% — while ad spend barely moved. Client-confirmed monthly like-for-like.
The challenge: grow revenue without inflating the ad budget
The challenge: grow revenue without inflating the ad budget
The challenge: grow revenue without inflating the ad budget
Sylvi Watches was not a turnaround case. Its paid account was already profitable, running at a 5.0× ROAS before Hovers came on board. The brief was the harder kind: grow monthly revenue meaningfully while holding the ad budget flat — win on efficiency, not on a bigger cheque.
Sylvi Watches was not a turnaround case. Its paid account was already profitable, running at a 5.0× ROAS before Hovers came on board. The brief was the harder kind: grow monthly revenue meaningfully while holding the ad budget flat — win on efficiency, not on a bigger cheque.
That is the wall most scaling D2C brands hit. When growth is coupled to spend, the only apparent way to sell more is to spend more — and as the budget climbs, efficiency usually slips. For Sylvi, three things stood out in the data:
That is the wall most scaling D2C brands hit. When growth is coupled to spend, the only apparent way to sell more is to spend more — and as the budget climbs, efficiency usually slips. For Sylvi, three things stood out in the data:
Growth was tied to budget — scaling revenue seemed to mean scaling spend.
CAC was high enough to leave little headroom to grow profitably at the same efficiency.
Creative was under-earning attention at a 1.9% click-through rate.
The strategy: win on efficiency, not budget
The strategy: win on efficiency, not budget
The strategy: win on efficiency, not budget
The thesis was efficiency, not expansion. Rather than pour more money into the same account, Hovers rebuilt it to extract far more revenue from roughly the same spend — cutting waste, concentrating budget on high-converting creative and high-intent audiences, and owning the sale events. Three pillars carried it.
The thesis was efficiency, not expansion. Rather than pour more money into the same account, Hovers rebuilt it to extract far more revenue from roughly the same spend — cutting waste, concentrating budget on high-converting creative and high-intent audiences, and owning the sale events. Three pillars carried it.
1 · Cut the waste, keep the budget flat
Reallocated spend away from inefficient placements toward high-intent audiences — halving CAC (−52%) and doubling ROAS to 10.76x without raising the budget.
2 · Sharper creative earns cheaper clicks
Refreshed creative — video watch-demos and sale hooks — lifted CTR +25% to 2.38% and cut CPC −6%, even as CPM rose with more premium reach.
3 · Own the sale events
Concentrated firepower on flash sales — a record 4-day run at 14.2x ROAS, the brand’s best sale event.
Execution across Meta and Google: where the story goes deeper
Execution across Meta and Google: where the story goes deeper
Execution across Meta and Google: where the story goes deeper
The core move was refusing to buy growth. The monthly budget was held essentially flat (+8%) while revenue more than doubled — an efficiency play, not a spend play. Inside that flat budget, money was pulled out of inefficient placements and pushed toward high-intent audiences, which more than halved the cost to win a customer (CAC −52%).
The core move was refusing to buy growth. The monthly budget was held essentially flat (+8%) while revenue more than doubled — an efficiency play, not a spend play. Inside that flat budget, money was pulled out of inefficient placements and pushed toward high-intent audiences, which more than halved the cost to win a customer (CAC −52%).
Creative did the second half of the work. A refreshed slate of video watch-demos and sale-event hooks earned meaningfully more attention — CTR climbed +25% to 2.38% — and that sharper engagement bought cheaper clicks: CPC fell −6%. That happened even though CPM rose +18% as the account reached a more premium, more competitive audience.
Creative did the second half of the work. A refreshed slate of video watch-demos and sale-event hooks earned meaningfully more attention — CTR climbed +25% to 2.38% — and that sharper engagement bought cheaper clicks: CPC fell −6%. That happened even though CPM rose +18% as the account reached a more premium, more competitive audience.
Static, CTR 1.0%, ROAS 3.80
DPA, CTR 6.89%, ROAS 4.08
DPA, CTR 9.10%, ROAS 4.98
Firepower was then concentrated on the moments that convert hardest. The standout was a record flash-sale run — four days at a 14.2x ROAS, the best sale event in the brand’s history and a clear demonstration of how far a flat budget can be pushed when creative and buying pull in the same direction.
Firepower was then concentrated on the moments that convert hardest. The standout was a record flash-sale run — four days at a 14.2x ROAS, the best sale event in the brand’s history and a clear demonstration of how far a flat budget can be pushed when creative and buying pull in the same direction.
Record flash-sale run · 4 days · 14.2x ROAS
Revenue more than doubled — +132% — while the ad budget barely moved (+8%). ROAS doubled to 10.76x; CAC was more than halved.
The wins here are unusually clean, and they compound: more revenue, more orders, cheaper clicks, sharper creative — all on essentially the same budget.
The wins here are unusually clean, and they compound: more revenue, more orders, cheaper clicks, sharper creative — all on essentially the same budget.
ROAS more than doubled from 5.0× to 10.76× on essentially flat spend.
Scaling a D2C brand does not have to mean scaling the budget. When the account is already profitable, the biggest lever is often efficiency — cutting waste, sharpening creative, and concentrating spend where intent is highest — so revenue can climb while the cheque stays flat. For Sylvi Watches, that thesis more than doubled monthly revenue and doubled ROAS to 10.76x, on essentially the same spend.
Scaling a D2C brand does not have to mean scaling the budget. When the account is already profitable, the biggest lever is often efficiency — cutting waste, sharpening creative, and concentrating spend where intent is highest — so revenue can climb while the cheque stays flat. For Sylvi Watches, that thesis more than doubled monthly revenue and doubled ROAS to 10.76x, on essentially the same spend.
Held / context for the efficiency story
+8% · held essentially flat
Read it as an efficiency story, because that is exactly what it is. Revenue more than doubled while ad spend barely moved — so the gains came from doubling ROAS to 10.76x and halving CAC, not from a bigger budget. The one metric that rose was CPM (+18%): the account reached a more premium, more competitive audience. But because the refreshed creative lifted CTR +25%, clicks still got cheaper (CPC −6%) — the higher reach cost was more than paid for by attention.
Read it as an efficiency story, because that is exactly what it is. Revenue more than doubled while ad spend barely moved — so the gains came from doubling ROAS to 10.76x and halving CAC, not from a bigger budget. The one metric that rose was CPM (+18%): the account reached a more premium, more competitive audience. But because the refreshed creative lifted CTR +25%, clicks still got cheaper (CPC −6%) — the higher reach cost was more than paid for by attention.
We build efficiency-led performance engines for D2C brands — growing revenue without inflating the budget. If you are trying to grow past your next ceiling without simply spending more, let’s talk.
We build efficiency-led performance engines for D2C brands — growing revenue without inflating the budget. If you are trying to grow past your next ceiling without simply spending more, let’s talk.
Results are client-reported and reflect a monthly like-for-like: the comparable month just before onboarding (Sep 2024) vs the latest comparable month (2026). ROAS = monthly revenue / ad spend (blended). The strategy and challenge narrative are inferred from the performance data and Hovers’ Sylvi audit context, and should be confirmed before external publication.
Results are client-reported and reflect a monthly like-for-like: the comparable month just before onboarding (Sep 2024) vs the latest comparable month (2026). ROAS = monthly revenue / ad spend (blended). The strategy and challenge narrative are inferred from the performance data and Hovers’ Sylvi audit context, and should be confirmed before external publication.
