Editorial Team Key Takeaways
- The Malibu Sabrina Brier campaign pulled in a 2.8x Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), proving you can generate real revenue from an influencer investment if you do it right.
- We mixed organic posts with paid distribution to juice the reach, and paid ads were a huge factor in hitting the final 4.2 million impressions.
- Using a smart creative strategy, including A/B testing a few different ad concepts, we landed a 1.8% Click-Through Rate (CTR) and made sure our ad spend was working hard.
- We kept the cost per conversion at $12.50 by watching micro-conversions closely and fixing the landing page experience on the fly.
- The campaign drove 1,000 direct product sales but also captured over 8,000 newsletter sign-ups, building a pipeline that goes way beyond the initial purchase.
Influencer marketing is always changing how brands connect with customers, and the recent Malibu-Sabrina Brier project is a perfect breakdown of smart execution. Running from May 1 to May 31, 2026, the campaign was designed to build buzz and drive sales for a new line of ready-to-drink cocktails. The final numbers show what a well-planned influencer partnership can do for the bottom line.
Campaign Overview: Strategy and Objectives
Malibu had two main goals for this campaign. First, get their new drinks in front of Gen Z and young millennials (specifically 21-34 year olds) in US cities and suburbs. Second, actually drive sales online and get people signed up for their newsletter. Picking Sabrina Brier wasn’t an accident. Her comedic, relatable style was exactly the authentic voice Malibu wanted. The total budget was a flat $50,000, which we split between her fee, making the content, and paying for media to amplify it. We were aiming for a Cost Per Lead (CPL) of around $5.00 for newsletter signups and a Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) of at least 2.0x on sales, which were the key numbers for judging if this whole thing was a financial success.
Creative Approach and Targeting
We built the creative strategy around Brier’s signature content: short, funny videos that feel right at home on TikTok for Business and Instagram Reels. Working with her, we came up with three different video ideas, all showing how Malibu’s cocktails fit into a fun social setting. One was a funny “pre-game” scene with friends, another was a chill backyard hangout. Having this variety was key because it let us A/B test everything once the paid promotions started. We used a layered targeting strategy. Brier’s own followers gave us a solid organic base. Then for the paid side, we built custom audiences from Malibu’s past customer lists and website traffic, and then expanded that with lookalike audiences. We focused the geo-targeting on major hubs like Los Angeles, New York, Miami, and Chicago where product was already on shelves, and filtered for our 21-34 age demographic and people interested in lifestyle, entertainment, and similar drinks. Running the campaign for a whole month gave us plenty of time to tweak and optimize as the data came in.
Engagement Metrics and Performance Analysis
The campaign hit some really strong engagement and conversion numbers, blowing past a few of our initial goals.
Reach and Impressions
The campaign ended up with 4.2 million impressions total, which is great visibility. Breaking that down, about 1.8 million of those came organically from Brier’s own posts, but the other 2.4 million were from the paid media push. This really proves the value of a hybrid strategy. Organic reach alone wouldn’t have gotten us anywhere near that exposure.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Across all the paid ads, we averaged a 1.8% Click-Through Rate (CTR). That’s a solid number, especially when you consider that industry benchmarks for social video ads in this category are usually down in the 1.0% to 1.5% range, according to a 2025 IAB report on digital video advertising. The best ad, the “pre-game” one, actually hit a 2.3% CTR, telling us that the funny, relatable situations really connected with people.
Conversions and Cost Per Conversion
The campaign resulted in 1,000 direct product conversions (actual sales) and a whopping 8,000 newsletter sign-ups. Those sign-ups were a critical micro-conversion for us, giving us a list of warm leads to drop into the CRM for later.
- Cost Per Conversion (Product Purchase): $12.50
- Cost Per Lead (Newsletter Sign-up): $3.75
The cost per purchase was a little more than our original lead target, but with a high average order value for the product, it was perfectly acceptable. And the $3.75 CPL for newsletter signups crushed our $5.00 goal, so lead generation was incredibly efficient.
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
With a $50,000 all-in budget and $140,000 in direct revenue from sales (based on a $140 average price for a multi-pack), the final Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) was 2.8x. This easily beat our 2.0x target and shows a clear, positive return on the money we spent on this partnership. Anyone who still thinks influencer campaigns are just for fuzzy “brand awareness” needs to look at data like this, because it proves they can generate real, tangible revenue.
What Worked Well
So, why did this work so well? A few things really clicked. First, picking Sabrina Brier was the right call. Her style is so authentic that the content never felt like a forced, clunky ad, which helped her audience connect with it. Second, our commitment to iterative creative testing was a huge factor. We were running multiple ads at once and just moving budget to the winners. For example, after a week we saw one ad was stuck at a 0.9% CTR, so we killed it and put that money behind the “pre-game” concept that was already flying. Putting very clear calls to action (CTAs) like “Shop now via the link in bio” right in the videos and captions also worked wonders. Finally, the paid amplification strategy was essential. Organic reach is great for authenticity, but it wouldn’t have delivered this kind of scale. Using tools like Instagram Business to target specific demographics let us find new customers far beyond Brier’s existing follower list.
What Didn’t Work as Expected
The campaign wasn’t perfect, and we had to make some adjustments. In the first few days, the landing page for product purchases had a bounce rate over 60%. That’s a big red flag showing a clear disconnect between the ad and what people saw after they clicked. We jumped on it and started A/B testing the page, new hero images, different headlines, new button placements. The biggest win came from just simplifying the whole product selection grid and putting shipping info right at the top. That one change dropped the bounce rate to under 40% in about a week. We also saw some negative comments on organic posts, with a few people calling the partnership “too commercial.” That’s a risk you always run. Our strategy was to respond directly and be transparent, talking about why Brier’s fun, social persona was a natural fit for the brand. We kept a close eye on the comments, but it never grew beyond a little bit of grumbling.
Optimization Steps Taken
We were optimizing this thing constantly for the entire month it was live.
- Dynamic Budget Allocation: We checked performance every day. If an ad set wasn’t hitting its ROAS or CPL targets, we’d pull its budget and give it to one that was. This kind of agile management prevents you from burning money on stuff that isn’t working.
- Landing Page Optimization: Like I mentioned, we A/B tested everything on the landing page (headlines, images, forms) and dramatically improved conversion rates for both sales and sign-ups. The lesson? A clean, mobile-first page with less text wins.
- Audience Refinement: About halfway through, we used the data from our first wave of converters to build better lookalike audiences. By creating new lookalikes based on people who had *already* bought or signed up, we were targeting an audience with a much higher chance to convert, which helped lower our acquisition costs.
- Ad Creative Refresh: To fight ad fatigue, we rolled out a slightly tweaked version of our best ad, the “pre-game” one, after two weeks. We just changed the music and added a new text overlay, but it was enough to keep engagement high.
The Malibu Sabrina Brier campaign is a textbook case for how data-driven influencer marketing gets real business results. When you plan the strategy carefully, get dynamic with your creative, and stay on top of continuous optimization, you can get great engagement and a strong Return on Ad Spend.
What was the primary goal of the Malibu Sabrina Brier campaign?
The campaign had two main goals: get Malibu’s new ready-to-drink cocktails in front of Gen Z and young millennials, and directly drive product sales and newsletter sign-ups.
How was the campaign budget allocated?
The $50,000 budget was split between Sabrina Brier’s influencer fee, the costs for producing the video content, and the paid media spend used to boost the campaign’s reach.
Which platforms were primarily used for the campaign?
The campaign focused on short-form video, so it ran primarily on TikTok and Instagram Reels where the target audience and Sabrina Brier are most active.
What was the most effective creative element in the campaign?
The “pre-game” scenario video was the clear winner. Its humor and relatable situation earned it the best Click-Through Rate (CTR) of all the ads at 2.3%.
What key optimization improved the campaign’s performance mid-flight?
The most important mid-campaign fix was A/B testing and simplifying the product landing page. This single change cut the bounce rate from over 60% to below 40% and boosted conversions.
