This week, in data
Our chaotic pre-BFCM run continues. Google performance continues to flounder while advertisers catch up with all the recent algorithmic changes. Not, it’s not just you.
AppLovin performance really did swing that much, yes. We think a huge influx of spend and advertisers before Q4 has started early volatility here.
CPCs and CTRs improve as everybody is increasing ad volume and beginning to suggest sales. BFCM inefficiency hasn’t kicked in yet - I expect that this chart will start to show a lot of red soon.
Grüns is the standard
Grüns is taking over the world. This superfood gummies brand skyrocketed from zero to a $1.3 billion dollar acquisition by Unilever this year. This profile of Co-founder and CEO Chad Janis in Inc magazine is an incredible insight into their scale. Or, you can watch his interview with Austin, our Co-founder and CEO.
What’s missing from the Inc. article is Grüns’ methodology for paid media. They are an absolute powerhouse of performance marketing, arguably the fastest-established and blisteringly professional operation I’ve ever seen. From creative to data to testing, this team is locked in.
They are shipping more than four million gummies per day.
The secret: Grüns loves Northbeam.
They use the platform every day. (Shout out to Derek, a longtime user of Northbeam, who took over the reins as VP of Growth in June.)
There’s a lot of magic in the product, the packaging, the messaging—but Grüns has more than that. Their potent mix of aggressive channel testing, a creative-first marketing ethos, and a strong data backbone is the exact playbook for DTC success in 2026. It’s stunning to watch.
How do they do it? Let’s break it down.
A source of truth?
The decision to integrate Northbeam wasn’t a lengthy deliberation for Grüns.
“Our CEO, Chad, was already plugged into a network of DTC founders who swore by Northbeam,” said Claire Yi, former VP of Growth at Grüns, explained. “So, we were early adopters by default.”
Northbeam quickly became the company’s gospel. It’s rare for any org to have a single source of truth that all departments reference, but for a high-growth business like Grüns, it’s non-negotiable.
“I check in every day,” Yi said. “Our CFO checks in. Our CEO checks in. It’s the first look of the day for all of us.”
Speed & execution
Startups live and die by speed, and Grüns is no exception. Even now that they’re part of the Unilever portfolio, they still need to be able to pivot on a dime.
“We’re constantly testing new channels,” Yi said. “I rely on Northbeam very heavily every single day. The most useful part of it is just specific metrics like percent new visits by channel, new customer acquisition costs and others. Having that really helps me know if a new channel that we test into is actually bringing in incremental new users to our site.”
The word “incremental” is a big one at Grüns. It’s not enough to get a new customer; they have to be truly new.
We’ve been advocating for this focus on incremental growth long before incrementality tests came into vogue, inspired by operators like Claire.
nCAC as north star
If there’s one number that runs the show at Grüns, it’s new customer acquisition cost (nCAC).
“Our entire model is built around it,” Yi said. “We look at nCAC across all our channels — Meta, YouTube, and more — and it helps us benchmark against our holistic goal. We don’t trust platform data alone.”
Northbeam’s ability to separate actual first-time customers from returning buyers or cross-sales means that Grüns isn’t throwing money at inflated metrics. This makes for sharper creative tests with clearer signal in the results.
Relying on platform data is like letting a chef be the food critic for their own restaurant. (I will never run out of metaphors for this.)
Relying on the performance numbers given to you by ad platforms results in over-attribution by each individual platform, which muddies the signal of which channels are actually working.
Having Northbeam is like having an “Ads Manager” view of all platforms in one view, but without each channel overattributing their conversions across all your orders.
Grüns saw the cost incurred to acquire net new customers decrease by more than 14% after implementing Northbeam.
Creative is king
Grüns isn’t just a performance brand; it’s a creative-driven performance brand. With a heavy emphasis on visuals and storytelling, they need to know immediately which ads are working and which ones need to be optimized.
“We don’t just optimize at the campaign level, we optimize at the creative level,” Yi explained. “Which ad, which visual, which CTA is truly working? Northbeam tells us. We don’t even look at platform data for this anymore.”
And with that kind of granular view into what is truly working, Northbeam becomes a tool to validate all the others.
“I use Shopify with Northbeam because it helps us look at day-of performance very sharply, especially during holiday periods or sale periods” Yi said. “We want to be able to scale back if the day is looking a little off from a conversion rate standpoint.”
This ability to instantly separate high-performing creative campaigns from flops means that Grüns can pour budget into winners before a campaign fizzles, maximizing returns with ruthless efficiency.
Blazing into new channels
In an ever-evolving digital landscape, staying agile is non-negotiable. Grün leverages Northbeam to explore emerging platforms with precision and confidence.
"We've seen exciting new customer growth opportunities by expanding into platforms we had not previously tried," Yi said. "The ability to quickly test and optimize creatives for new audiences has made a huge impact."
Northbeam’s data-driven insights ensure that every new channel test is informed, measured, and refined, giving Grüns the confidence to invest wisely and grow strategically. They’ve even sponsored a women’s pro soccer team.
Measurement = confidence
At the end of the day, Northbeam isn’t just a marketing tool, it’s a confidence booster.
“I've been able to use those metrics – nCAC, percent new visits, and more – to explain to stakeholders that a specific channel isn't a priority channel for us right now.” Yi explained.
“It also saves us a lot of time in being able to understand at a high level, revenue, new orders, returning orders, marketing spend, and if we're pacing towards our nCAC goals. And it also helps me pull reports really easily to know how much we spent on each channel by month.”
When Grüns needs to decide whether a platform, ad, or creative direction is worth the investment, the answer is already waiting for them. And that’s the real power of Northbeam.
Grüns is building a health & wellness empire with the speed of a tech startup. And in a world where decision fatigue is real and ad dollars vanish into the void faster than you can say "platform algorithm update," Northbeam is their secret weapon for staying sharp, strategic, and relentlessly efficient.
It feels good to see our hard work at Northbeam result in this kind of generational validation. As Austin always says: “It’s still early days at Northbeam.”
👻 Austin hung out with Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snapchat, for an illuminating fireside chat. Evan talked Northbeam and the future of customer acquisition.
🗳️ We surveyed a bunch of marketers about Q4 - good, bad or ugly? Thanks to the Foxwell team for quarterbacking this one.
🚫 iOS 27 is blocking The Trade Desk's ads on Safari. So it begins.
⚖️ A jury found Meta's data claims broke the law 43.9 million times. The penalty ceiling is roughly $219.5 billion, yikes.
🎯 Google Customer Match now matches on IP and timestamp. We’ll see how long that lasts.
🛸 Also, follow us on X! We share way more data and insights there in real-time.
📲 Or do you prefer Instagram? We’re there as well, and I’d appreciate a follow.
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