Case Study
How Amazon Ads helped Citizen drive awareness and consideration during Climate Pledge Friendly Day
Goals
- Drive awareness for CPF products
- Increase consideration
Approach
- Reach customers during the first-ever Climate Pledge Friendly (CPF) Day
- Inspire customers with full-funnel marketing of CPF products
Results
- 37.4 million impressions
- 52% increase in total ad sales compared to Earth Month the previous year
Welcome to The Sprout, a series that explores the ways businesses are working toward a more-sustainable future.
In the mid-1970s, as many parts of the world were suffering from disruptions in oil production, the designers at Citizen watches were tinkering with alternate energy sources to power their timepieces. At this time, batteries in quartz watches had a frustratingly short lifespan and would often need to be replaced. With the world focusing on conserving resources, along with the opportunity to save customers the hassle of replacing their watch battery, Citizen developed a groundbreaking innovation: solar-powered watches. In 1976, Citizen released the first light-powered analog quartz watch.
“We were on the forefront back then,” says Eric Horowitz, the managing director of Citizen brand. “Sustainability wasn’t really in the vernacular at that time, but this has been inherent in who we are as a brand for nearly 50 years. Citizen has never had to pivot or shift our brand messaging to be relevant for today. We’ve been on message for decades now, long before it was common to be talking about sustainability.”
The brand has continued to develop this technology with an emphasis on sustainability. Now known as Eco-Drive, this technology converts any kind of light into the energy to power a watch. A single charge runs for up to one year.
“The company’s philosophy has really evolved to be one of people, community, and planet. That drives what we do to serve our customers and also the communities they live in and the larger planet,” Horowitz says. “That starts with Eco-Drive technology, with watches that don’t need a traditional battery that has to be replaced and put into a landfill. So as a result, millions and millions of batteries have not wound up in a landfill.”
Reaching sustainability-focused shoppers
Today, sustainability is among the top concerns of many worldwide consumers. According to the 2023 Higher Impact report from Amazon Ads, 66% of global consumers are actively seeking out brands that incorporate sustainability-focused business practices. This means brands have a mandate to not only develop products with sustainability in mind, they also need to figure out meaningful ways to inform environmentally-conscious shoppers about these products.
And communicating progress is important for connecting with sustainability-focused shoppers. The 2023 Higher Impact report found that 77% of consumers are tired of brands acting like they are exempt from environmental responsibility. And consumers are doing their own research when it comes to searching for more sustainable product features prior to buying. This means it’s important for brands to communicate their environmental actions to consumers.
“Companies today are really challenged to shift and pivot when you have consumers who say they care deeply about the values of the brands they support,” Horowitz says. “Today, we as consumers can see through the myriad of messages that are coming at us. As a brand you have to find your authentic messaging. The authenticity of what we’re doing is something that I’m really proud of. It feels real because the benefits are real to both the consumer but also the planet.”
The first-ever Climate Pledge Friendly Day helps customers discover more sustainable products
During Earth Month in 2024, Amazon Ads launched its first-ever Climate Pledge Friendly (CPF) Day, a program designed to help customers discover more sustainable products that are recognized to have at least one sustainable feature. The initiative collaborates with over 50 trusted sustainability certifications to highlight various sustainability impact areas, from Carbon Impact to Organic Content to Manufacturing Practices.
Citizen leveraged this opportunity to showcase their commitment to sustainability during Climate Pledge Friendly Day. Citizen launched a full-funnel campaign to drive awareness and consideration for the brand and its Eco-Drive technology. Their marketing strategy included display ads, video content, an Amazon Live brand sponsorship, homepage placement, a premium Brand Store, and promoted deals for their CPF-certified products.
Driving results with a sustainability marketing campaign
The Climate Pledge Friendly Day campaign played an important role in Citizen’s sustainability marketing strategy and helped them reach customers and increase sales for their watches. With this strategy, Citizen saw 37.4 million impressions and a 52% increase in total ad sales compared to Earth Month the previous year.
“Working with Amazon gave us the opportunity to speak clearly and succinctly to the core values of our brand and I think it resonated,” Horowitz says. “There’s a lot of messaging out there and it’s hard to break through all the clutter. Climate Pledge Friendly Day helped amplify the core values of Citizen and the benefits of Eco-Drive technology.”
Engaging customers across the shopping journey through multiple placements helped deliver efficient reach, strong engagement, and sales performance. And leveraging ads with deals helped drive lift in detail page views and purchases.
“The objective was to drive more traffic to our brand store and it was successful in doing that. We’re the number one brand in the mid-price, affordable watch space and Amazon has an international reach and a broad and diverse customer base. This is one of the reasons that we’re so successful together,” Horowitz says. “Amazon can help amplify our message so this campaign seemed like a no-brainer and the results supported the decision that this was a good idea.”
As Horowitz explains, Earth Month has become a tentpole event for Citizen—one that offers them the chance to speak about the very heart of the brand. Going forward, Citizen will focus on Earth Month as a hallmark of its sustainability marketing strategy. And this is a strategy that also includes Amazon Ads.
“Our relationship with Amazon is long. It’s strong. It’s one we’re very proud of,” Horowitz says.