At Maxi stores in Quebec, Wonderbrands noticed a decline in revenue and challenged Loblaw Advance^TM to identify the cause and improve the brand’s outlook in the region.

An analysis of revenue performance revealed that a large portion of shoppers had lapsed due to a recently delisted item. While most remained within the brand’s portfolio – an indication of strong underlying loyalty – the change in assortment exposed a critical gap in trial and discovery.

Leveraging media insights, PC Optimum^TM loyalty data, and cross-category purchasing behaviour from Loblaw Data Insights & Analytics^TM, the Loblaw Advance^TM Media Intelligence team developed a specifically targeted, full-funnel strategy to improve sales.

The campaign successfully acquired new buyers at 142% to target with conversion rates outpacing organic growth by 2.7x.

This case underscores the power of planning and insights to transform a complex retail challenge into a growth opportunity. By aligning media performance, transaction behaviour, loyalty data, and audience segmentation capabilities, the brand not only mitigated the impact of an assortment change, but successfully restored momentum in a constrained and high-cost environment.

Wonderbrands, a leading bakery brand, made a joint decision with Maxi stores across Quebec to delist a high-performing SKU that previously accounted for 12% of total sales.

Over the next several months, the brand began to experience a noticeable decline in revenue, culminating in a sales drop of 9% and decreases in unit volume, basket size, and overall transactions.

The situation presented a delicate but familiar retail dynamic: an assortment decision optimized the shelf, but created a downstream demand challenge that required a different lever to solve the issue.

Searching for solutions to reverse the sales decline, Wonder Brands tapped the Loblaw Advance^TM Media Intelligence team for support. Through deep-dive analytics using Loblaw Data Insights & Analytics^TM, several critical insights emerged:

1. The delisted SKU alone contributed to 7% of the total 9% sales decline.

2. While 81% of the delisted SKU buyers (Core) churned, 70% remained active within the brand’s broader portfolio (Halo), revealing brand equity was still intact and that customers hadn’t left the brand entirely.

3. 83% of new customer acquisition disappeared, revealing a broken entry point in trial and discovery.

There were 3 additional factors to creating a successful strategy.

First, Wonder Brands needed results quickly. With this in mind, it was decided to focus on the largest opportunity: acquiring new customers. The churned shoppers were a concern, but the strong brand equity in Wonder Brands was keeping most of them engaged and the key pain point was the 83% decline in new customers. The campaign needed to provide a new entry point for shoppers to offset the ongoing losses.

Second, the audience strategy needed to be specific and accurate. Typically, highly targeted campaigns can lead to higher media costs as high-value audiences and geography constraints lead to higher competition for each impression. As a result, the brand’s core shoppers were pinpointed across core demographics (e.g., middle-aged parents), purchase patterns (e.g., frequent, high-value baskets), shopping behaviours (e.g., active PC Optimum^TM users), and product affinity (e.g., yogurt, salty snacks, pasta) before being filtered for geography (e.g., Quebec) And finally, a key consideration was a simple but powerful idea: if the shelf changed, the path to purchase needed to change with it. To bring this strategy to life, the campaign needed to integrated multiple channels into a cohesive ecosystem that allowed for quick optimization, impactful placements, and high frequency. The execution included:

1. Offsite scale with precision: offsite media was activated using custom audiences to reintroduce the brand and drive awareness among high-potential segments.

2. Digital influence at the point of purchase: PC Express^TM Display and PC Optimum^TM Display placements engaged shoppers during their online journey to reinforce messaging and nudge conversion both online and in-store.

3. In-store behavioural triggers: in-store digital screens delivered timely messaging during weekly shopping trips, while printed receipts featured personalized PC Optimum^TM offers, extending influence post-checkout.

4. Loyalty as the conversion engine: Special Personalized Offers (SPOs) encouraged existing customers to increase frequency and spend, while also incentivizing trial among non-brand buyers.

Each touchpoint was informed by the same underlying intelligence ensuring consistency, relevance, and measurable impact.

Despite the constrained audience and localized challenge, the campaign delivered exceptional results against Wonder Brands’ targets:

• 2.3x new customer growth

• 142% to target for cost per acquisition

• 2.7x conversion uplift; the campaign drove nearly 3x more conversions than organic growth alone

This case illustrates a critical evolution in retail media:

1. Category decisions and media strategies are interdependent

2. When assortment changes disrupt demand, data and media can rebuild it

3. Even in highly localized, high-cost environments, success is achievable with the right intelligence

Most importantly, it highlights the role of Media Intelligence as more than a reporting function. In this case, it was the strategic engine that diagnosed the true drivers of decline, identified recoverable value within churn, and translated insights into a precise, executable plan.

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