Red Bull did not need to explain what it was. It needed to say, quickly: "There’s a new flavour. Get it before it’s gone." Winter Edition is a limited-edition product, and limited editions cannot wait for months-long campaigns. We chose something that sounds simple but is rarely executed this well: advertising exactly where and when the purchase decision happens.
Only where it makes sense
Instead of broad nationwide reach, we took the opposite approach: fewer screens in carefully selected locations. The Żabka Ads consulting team analysed purchase data from millions of customers and selected only the stores where energy drinks sold best. The people seeing Winter Edition on screen were the same people who would soon be standing at the energy drink fridge.
The campaign ran from 13 to 19 November 2024 during store opening hours, from 06:00 to 23:00. It covered 112 digital signage screens (55 inches) in Żabka store windows across Poland’s G8 cities. The creative was fully aligned with Red Bull’s visual identity and other brand activity, keeping the campaign consistent across all touchpoints.
Just one week of advertising delivered 417,000 unique viewers and 857,000 ad contacts. Crucially, the message reached customers only a few steps away from the advertised product.
The proof every marketer wants: an impact on sales as well as reach
This is the part awareness campaigns find hardest to achieve: solid evidence of sales impact. To make sure the figures reflected the campaign rather than seasonality or promotions, we compared stores showing the ad with a carefully selected control group matched for location, basket composition and category sales history.
DOOH CAMPAIGN IMPACT
Red Bull Winter Edition sales growth
The difference between the control group and campaign stores shows the real impact of DOOH. Winter Edition sales grew by 37% in campaign stores, compared with 11% in stores without the advertising. That is a 26 percentage-point advantage for campaign stores.
Three factors behind the result
- The ad appeared at the last possible moment before the decision: right by the fridge, rather than a day earlier on social media.
- The creative matched the rest of Red Bull’s campaign. Customers encountered the same brand and visual language, whatever the channel.
- Instead of broad reach, we selected stores with the strongest category sales. Every screen reached an audience already ready to buy.
From a one-week test to a long-term partnership
The campaign demonstrated a lesson worth remembering for every product launch: real sales impact does not require a huge budget and months of advertising. It requires precision at the place and moment of purchase. For Red Bull, this one-week campaign was convincing enough to become the start of a longer partnership with Żabka Ads, rather than a one-off test.