Lululemon is setting the gold standard for AI-powered performance marketing. Using AI-centric strategies, the brand realized a boost in return on ad spend (ROAS), achieving efficient growth despite economic headwinds. This work earned it top honours at the Google Search Honours Awards last fall. To break through, the Lululemon performance team prioritized three primary strategies: they used AI-powered solutions to restructure and optimize their shopping campaigns, they built a new customer acquisition engine, and they strengthened their measurement foundations – and the results speak for themselves. The brand  saw a significant drop in its customer acquisition cost, and a double digit jump in new customer revenue.

The team got started by revamping its shopping campaign structure to take full advantage of Google’s Performance Max (PMax), which uses AI to help advertisers reach their goals across Google channels – like YouTube, Search, and more – all from one campaign. Lululemon’s goal was to target new customers and make their marketing more efficient. To accomplish that, Lululemon worked with Google’s team and PMax product experts to implement more strategic bidding and personalized ads. These were tailored to different segments, with distinct approaches for decided, undecided and new customers.

Using PMax, Lululemon built an engine designed to acquire new customers. It created a real-time data pipeline to track new customer information and then launched three PMax campaigns optimized towards these signals, taking full advantage of PMax features designed to reach and acquire new customers efficiently. This data-driven approach helped lower the cost per acquisition for new customers while increasing revenue.The brand’s success was also buoyed by its strong measurement strategy. Lululemon embraced the “Measurement Trifecta” – it used Marketing Mix Models (MMM), Experiments and Attribution – allowing the team to make smarter, better informed decisions. Based on successes in Canada, the team exported their new approaches to the US to reach even more clients.

“Lululemon is a brand that truly embraces innovation through testing and experimentation,” explains Aria Patel, account executive at Google Canada. “They recognize that every test, regardless of the outcome, provides valuable insights that help them refine and elevate their performance program.

“Using AI and a new customer acquisition engine, Lululemon took their performance program to the next level. We’re delighted that their efforts have been recognized as Best in Class with two Google Search Honours Awards,” said Patel.

At its heart, Lululemon’s success came down to the intense collaboration of internal teams, including martech, customer analytics, marketing and AI.

“These accolades celebrate the team’s creativity, innovation and unwavering dedication to delivering impactful results,” offered Matt Dykeman, Head of Search Engine Marketing at Lululemon Athletica. “I’m truly grateful to work alongside such talented individuals who collaborate seamlessly to push boundaries in omnichannel marketing.”

The brand’s ability to seamlessly integrate AI-driven strategies with its data analytics exemplifies the transformative possibilities of these tools. By fostering a culture of experimentation and collaboration, Lululemon has helped rewrite the playbook for performance marketing, with the help of AI-powered ads solutions.

The Google Search Honours Awards recognize best in class work from top Canadian brands, focusing on Measurement & Analytics Leadership, Performance Marketing Excellence and AI Top Honours. 

To see the full winner list of Google Search Honours Awards 2024, visit here.