When it comes to gelato, you pretty much have to share. And when brothers Luigi and Edoardo created Bacio di Latte in 2011, that’s exactly what they did. Their journey started when they traveled to their home in Italy and learned the secrets of making world-class gelato, but they wanted to bring the flavors they discovered around the globe. In 2011, the team of two opened their first store on Oscar Freire Street in São Paulo, Brazil. Now, they’ve seen their vision come to life with over 140 stores in Brazil and others across the world.
As the company grew, it was important for Bacio di Latte to spread awareness about their locations as they opened, and to share their passion with more people. The team decided to use Waze to place ads into drivers’ routes in hopes of encouraging them to stop in. Then, the brand measured the effectiveness of these ads by comparing sales numbers in two regions — one using Waze campaigns, versus another that wasn’t.
New locations, new horizons
Bacio di Latte wanted to inform people about their new store locations and bring potential customers into their stores for gelato. The brand also wanted to measure how effectively Waze Ads could convert nearby drivers into Bacio customers.
Spreading the word and testing the impact
To measure the impact of Waze Ads, Bacio di Latte first selected a group of stores with similar sales numbers. Then they split this group in half so that the first control group of stores in Rio de Janeiro did not run a Waze Ads campaign, and the second group in São Paulo did run a campaign. This campaign featured six different types of creative, including one ad highlighting the proximity of different Bacio locations to nearby drivers and another featuring a special offer from the brand.
We had a 4.6% lift in sales. With the campaign, we were able to generate desire for Bacio at the right time and that made all the difference. For every Waze investment, we had an incremental return of 3.25 reais.
Nick Johnston, Baccio di Latte Founder
A recipe for success
Bacio found that their campaign on Waze reached more than 2 million unique drivers in close proximity to its locations and generated more than 3,000 visits to its stores. When the brand compared the exposed group and the control group, it found a 4.6% increase in sales directly attributable to Waze Ads. It’s safe to say that’s an inviting recipe, no matter where in the world you are.
