About the Brand
Cane Brew is a Southern-brewed sweet tea brand rooted in hospitality and heritage. Originally supplying businesses with their beloved sweet tea, consumer demand drove them to launch a direct-to-consumer (DTC) line in 2023, bringing their simply made, ice-cold classic straight to doorsteps nationwide.
The Kickoff
Cane Brew was already a well-loved, established wholesale brand—but they hadn’t yet ventured into the digital DTC space. They saw the opportunity and wanted to do it right. With loyal fans eager to enjoy their tea at home—and a clear opportunity to reach new consumers who hadn’t yet discovered the brand, Cane Brew partnered with Pilothouse to bring their vision to life.
Pilothouse built everything from the ground up: a new website, brand-forward creative, Klaviyo retention flows, a Meta ad account, and a full-funnel paid strategy. With a high barrier to trial for first-time purchasers, we leaned into value-packed first-time buyer offers and creative testing to find the hook that got Cane Brew in more hands. And once it landed in homes, our retention flows and CRO strategy turned those sips into lifelong customers.
Pilothouse built everything from the ground up: a new website, brand-forward creative, Klaviyo retention flows, a Meta ad account, and a full-funnel paid strategy. With a high barrier to trial for first-time purchasers, we leaned into value-packed first-time buyer offers and creative testing to find the hook that got Cane Brew in more hands. And once it landed in homes, our retention flows and CRO strategy turned those sips into lifelong customers.
The Kickoff
The Strategy
Our initial focus was to introduce Cane Brew to the DTC market and lay a solid foundation for paid acquisition. Meta was identified as the ideal platform to launch on due to its cost efficiency and robust targeting capabilities. While brand exposure was a key goal, we prioritized conversion-optimized campaigns over traffic-based ones to attract higher-quality audiences from the start.
The biggest challenge was product trial—getting people to taste a beverage they hadn’t tried before, through an online purchase. To overcome this, we rigorously tested a range of first-time purchase offers to identify what converted best. From there, we doubled down on winning creative angles and audience segments to scale acquisition effectively.
After a strong first year of brand building, we strategically launched product drops to drive incremental growth. These moments often matched—or even outperformed—peak-season KPIs, proving that with the right timing and offer, demand could be manufactured year-round.
The biggest challenge was product trial—getting people to taste a beverage they hadn’t tried before, through an online purchase. To overcome this, we rigorously tested a range of first-time purchase offers to identify what converted best. From there, we doubled down on winning creative angles and audience segments to scale acquisition effectively.
After a strong first year of brand building, we strategically launched product drops to drive incremental growth. These moments often matched—or even outperformed—peak-season KPIs, proving that with the right timing and offer, demand could be manufactured year-round.
Meta
Meta was chosen as our core paid channel for its efficient CPMs and targeting capabilities. From day one, campaigns were optimized for conversions—not traffic—ensuring we drove quality site visits. By split testing offers and hooks, we found the most effective way to overcome the taste-test barrier.
Email and Retention
Once customers got their first taste, the next goal was retention. Our team built custom Klaviyo flows, optimizing them for performance across welcome, post-purchase, and win-back journeys. We saw huge growth in attributed revenue and clicks, all while reducing spam rates—even with massive list growth.
CRO
With no existing website, Pilothouse built the DTC site from the ground up, focused on speed, storytelling, and conversion. Everything from landing pages to product detail pages was A/B tested and optimized.
Strategic Product Drops
After a full year of scaling the brand, we shifted focus toward strategic product drops to maintain momentum and seasonality-proof the business. These drops often outperformed even peak-season KPIs, proving Cane Brew’s staying power.
The Results
2 Years+ into the partnership
Ecosystem-Wide Wins
+315%
YoY Growth in Revenue
+291%
Increase in Ad Spend
+17%
YoY ROAS Improvement
+223%
Increase in Purchases
+23%
Increase in CTR
Email/SMS Wins
+883%
Increase in Klaviyo-Attributed Revenue
+807%
More Email Clicks
-51%
Spam Rate (Despite 576,550 emails sent YTD)
Check Out What Our Team Brewed Up for Cane Brew
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“They’re not just building ads—they’re helping you build your business. Working with Pilothouse has allowed us to focus more on developing new products and delivering the absolute best we can for every customer.”
Robert Burruss
Founder & CEO of Cane Brew
