Toys · Multi-Marketplace Case Study
$600K+ Across
5 Marketplaces
on a Sub-$85K Budget
A licensed toy brand. A tightly capped budget. Six weeks to a tentpole movie launch. Here’s how a harvest-first strategy beat conventional spend-heavy launches — and hit Q2 targets before the quarter ended.
The Challenge
Capped Budget.
Cold Start. Six Weeks.
This globally recognised licensed toy brand needed to launch across five Amazon marketplaces and Walmart Connect — simultaneously — timed to a major Q2 movie release. The combined budget was under $85K. Both channels were cold: no live search data, no conversion history, no platform signal whatsoever.
Conventional top-of-search bidding would have burned through the budget before the launch peak hit. We took a different approach entirely.
01
Harvest-First Amazon Launch
Auto campaigns ran at deliberately low bids to surface real shopper search terms before committing significant spend. Only validated, high-converting terms graduated to tightly scoped phrase-match campaigns — eliminating premium CPC waste on unproven queries.
02
Walmart Phased Ramp
A small March harvest phase captured early search signal on Walmart Connect. When licensed SKUs hit shelves in April, the spend ramp was timed precisely to physical availability — maximising efficiency during the peak window.
03
Performance-Led Budget Routing
Budget shifted dynamically toward whichever ASINs earned it through live performance data. A villain character ASIN that outperformed the franchise hero received proportionally more budget as its 8.75x ROAS validated its superiority over the expected top performers.
The Takeaway
The Constraint Was
Data — Not Demand.
The brand’s IP pulled consumer interest organically — awareness wasn’t the problem. Spending aggressively on top-of-search from day one would have meant paying premium CPCs to build awareness for a brand consumers already recognised. The harvest-first approach meant every dollar was validated before it was committed.
Q2 target hit. Before the quarter ended. On a sub-$85K budget across six platforms. That’s what structured, data-led launch strategy delivers.
Let’s Build Your Launch Strategy
Whether you’re entering new marketplaces, launching a new product line, or scaling an existing catalogue — book a free session and we’ll map out exactly how to maximise every dollar of your budget.
Book a Free Strategy Session
Reply to RJ directly at marketing@keystone-growth-partners.com