Northwind Beverages
A heritage soda relaunched for a generation that doesn't drink soda.
01
— They came to us with
The challenge.
Northwind came to us with a 70-year-old regional soda brand, fierce loyalty in three states, and shrinking shelf space everywhere else. Younger buyers didn't drink soda — and the ones who did couldn't pick Northwind out of a lineup. Leadership had a Q4 retail push on the calendar and needed a brand worth fighting for.
02
— So we scoped out
The approach.
Three phases, one team. No handoffs between strategy, creative, and execution.
A — Reposition
Six weeks of customer interviews, retail audits, and category research to find a defensible point of view: heritage as craft, not nostalgia.
B — Identity & campaign platform
New visual system, packaging refresh, and a campaign idea — 'Old soul, new pour' — built to run across DTC, social, OOH, and retail POS.
C — Launch & paid
End-to-end paid social and CTV launch, creator partnerships, and a DTC subscription funnel optimized weekly against ROAS.
03
— And we transformed
Their business.
In one quarter, Northwind went from a regional brand defending shelf space to a national subscription business with a waitlist. We rebuilt the story, shipped the system, and ran the launch — the same team from the strategy deck through the ad account.
By the time the Q4 retail push hit, sell-through was already three times forecast. Buyers at two national chains expanded SKUs based on the DTC traction alone.
— What we set out to do
- Reposition the brand for 25–34 year-old buyers
- Launch a national campaign within one quarter
- Lift DTC subscription revenue ahead of a Q4 retail push
04
— Here are
The results.
ROI
11x return on agency fee within 9 months.
Agency fees
$382k
Multiple
11x
Return (ROI)
$4.2M
Strategy $45k + Creative $85k + Advertising $18k/mo × 14 mo = $382k.
+187%
DTC revenue (90 days)
4.2x
Paid social ROAS
62M
Earned impressions
+38%
Aided brand awareness
"They moved faster than any agency we've worked with — and the work is the best we've ever shipped."
05
— And we're still
Working together.
We run Northwind's growth function on retainer — paid media across Meta, TikTok, and CTV, lifecycle email and SMS, and a quarterly creative refresh. New flavor launches are co-developed end-to-end.
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