Unilever’s hydration powder brand Liquid I.V. talks how it climbed to the third most-sold product during Amazon Prime Day.
Liquid I.V. bulked up its marketing strategy for Amazon’s 10th annual Prime Day sales in July with homepage and event page placements, an exclusive product launch, branded packages prior to the event and a drone product drop.
The strategy worked as Liquid I.V. was the third-most purchased product during the two-day, members-only sale, said Danielle Fessenden, Liquid I.V.’s senior director, Amazon and third-party marketplace. Plus, the brand’s sales were 13-times more than a typical sales day on Amazon in 2024, she added.
This was a better performance than 2023 Prime Day, when Liquid I.V. was the fourth-most selling product, Fessenden said without sharing growth figures.
How the Amazon Liquid I.V. partnership went down
Liquid I.V. worked with its Amazon advertising account manager to have its brand featured in a few places.
“We really wanted to cultivate our relationship with Amazon,” Fessenden said.
Starting in mid-June, Amazon delivered about 2 million packages in boxes branded with Liquid I.V.’s name and colorful product package, instead of the typical brown box with Amazon’s Prime symbol.
Amazon distributed the boxes across its U.S. fulfillment centers and used them over six weeks to promote Liquid I.V. as a product on Amazon. Amazon did not target the packages to any specific customer, and the packages did not necessarily contain Liquid I.V.’s products. Still, this helped bring awareness and amplify the Liquid I.V. brand, she said.
The new product launch also exceeded expectations, Fessenden said. The brand launched its sugar-free variety pack on Amazon 25 hours before the sale. For a product that had no reviews, Fessenden is happy that it landed in its top 15 (out of 20) most-selling products during Prime Day.
“For a brand-new product with no run rates, no exposure to customers that is absolutely amazing,” Fessenden said.
Amazon.com homepage ads delivered
Of all of its marketing initiatives, she credits the “share of voice” placement on Amazon’s homepage and the Prime Day 2024 event page leading up to the sale and on the sale days as making the largest impact on revenue.
Amazon displayed Liquid I.V.’s ads alongside products shoppers had previously browsed, creating a customized and engaging page for shoppers, Fessenden said.
“The Prime Day homepage was very customized to the consumer, what they’ve searched for, any products that have caught their attention in the past,” she said. “So the homepage lead up, getting impressions getting in front of customers, who either have purchased the brand in the past as a returning customer or as a new customer, bringing Liquid I.V. to the forefront of their mind before Prime Day. And then on Prime Day having that homepage placement for them to as a little reminder to add to cart.”
Fessenden declined to share the return on ad spend or return on investment for all of these initiatives.
To dampen noise from other channels, Liquid I.V. only offered a discount on Amazon during the Prime Day event, and not on any the other channels where it sells products, such as mass merchants or grocery stores.
The exception was when it sold out of products on Amazon.com. Liquid I.V. offered the same discount — 30% off — on those sold-out products on its own website.
Liquid I.V. has sold products on Amazon since 2016. Unilever acquired the hydration powder brand in 2020. In the first half of 2024, Liquid I.V. is in the top 25 of Unilever 400-plus brands, Unilever’s chief financial officer Fernando Fernandez told investors.
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