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If you’re a drinks brand looking to grow sales through major grocery retailers, there’s one marketing channel you can’t afford to ignore...

👉 Sponsored product ads on retail media platforms like Ocado, Waitrose, and Sainsbury’s (Nectar360).

These platforms allow your brand to appear in the exact moment a customer is searching for drinks, whether it’s sparkling wine, zero-alcohol beer, or premium mixers. And with the right setup, they can deliver serious performance: high-intent visibility, measurable returns, and full-funnel impact.

In this article, we’ll break down:

• What sponsored product ads are
• How they work across Waitrose, Ocado, and Sainsbury’s
• Real CPC and ROAS benchmarks
• Auction types and how they impact spend
• Where you can and can’t bid on competitors
• And how to build a strategy that drives measurable growth

🛒 What Are Sponsored Product Ads?

Sponsored product ads are pay-per-click (PPC) placements that show up within a retailer’s search results or category pages. Think of them as the Amazon ads of the grocery world: if someone searches “canned cocktails,” your brand appears first, even if you’re new to the shelf.

These aren’t static banners. They’re native, shoppable placements designed to drive product discovery, trial and repeat sales right in the moment of purchase intent.

🍷 Why They’re Essential for Drinks Brands

The drinks category is highly competitive. Whether you’re a heritage spirits brand or a challenger sparkling water company, your product is fighting for attention both online and in-store. And with grocery eCommerce growing year on year, your digital shelf presence is now just as important as your physical one.

Sponsored product ads help drinks brands:

• Win visibility at the top of category and search results
• Launch new products with immediate impact
• Defend your brand against competitors
• Cross-sell into relevant searches (e.g. tonics under “gin”)
• Provide measurable sales attribution to commercial buyers

The best part? Unlike many trade marketing activities, you can see what’s working in near real-time, and optimise accordingly.

🏷️ Auction Types Explained: First-Price vs Second-Price

Not all retail media platforms operate the same way. Understanding the auction model is crucial to managing your spend effectively.

• First-Price Auction: You pay exactly what you bid. So if you bid £1.00 per click and win, you pay £1.00.
• Second-Price Auction: You only pay just above the next-highest bid. If you bid £1.00 and the next highest is £0.75, you’ll pay £0.76.

This has a big impact on efficiency. In first-price auctions, overbidding can quickly burn through budget. In second-price auctions, the system is slightly more forgiving, giving you room to stay competitive without overpaying.

🙋‍♂️ Can You Bid on Competitors?

Simply put, no. On Citrus Ads, you can't  bid on competitor brand terms or product keywords. This means your mixer brand wouldn't be able to appear above a rival when someone searches “Fever-Tree” or “San Pellegrino.”

However, on Nectar360 (used by Sainsbury’s), cross-selling is available, only when the other product can be viewed as complentary. i.e. omething that goes together,where there's a clear link between the two products. e.g. chips and tomato ketchup. HOWEVER, both brands need to not do their own versions of each others products. For instance, if Heinz did a range of chips, you coudln't cross-sell on them.

🛍️ Retail Media Comparison Table

Here’s how Waitrose, Ocado, and Sainsbury’s stack up for drinks brands running sponsored product ads:

🚨 When to Use Sponsored Product Ads

🎯 Product Launches
Get your NPD in front of relevant shoppers from day one.

🎯 Key Trading Periods
Boost performance during peak times—think Dry Jan, Summer, Gifting, or Christmas.

🎯 Brand Defence
Protect your name from competitor bids, especially on Citrus platforms.

🎯 Retailer Support
Demonstrate investment to buyers and help drive sell-through.

🔔 Best Practices to Maximise ROI

✅ Mix branded and category campaigns
Don’t just protect your name - go after general searches like “sparkling wine” or “alcohol-free beer.”

✅ Watch CPCs closely
First-price auctions mean it’s easy to overspend - monitor bids regularly and adjust for efficiency.

✅ Iterate on targeting
Update keyword lists to stay relevant and outperform competitors.

✅ Use retailer dashboards
Citrus Ads and Nectar360 provide detailed reporting. Use it to optimise placements and scale what works.

💭 Final Thoughts: Retail Media Is the New Shelf Space

Drinks brands have long fought for end caps, gondolas and eye-level space. Today, that battleground is digital, and sponsored product ads are the fast track to visibility.

Whether you’re looking to drive trials, defend your brand, or support listings with measurable performance, retail media on Ocado, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s is no longer a “nice to have.” It’s a growth essential.

The brands that learn these platforms now will win the long game, because if you’re not bidding on those high-intent searches…

Your competitors already are.

For UK drinks brands growing DTC, performance marketing can feel like a bit of a minefield.

Rising ad costs, tougher competition, and changing customer behaviours make it harder than ever to drive a profitable first purchase.

But there’s one metric that can shift how you think about acquisition entirely: LTV — customer lifetime value.

📈 What is LTV, and why does it matter?

LTV is the total revenue you can expect from a customer over their full relationship with your brand.

For drinks brands — especially those with higher price points or solid repeat potential — LTV needs to sit at the heart of your strategy. Because while your CPA (cost per acquisition) might look high at first glance, it quickly becomes justifiable when a chunk of those customers are coming back for more.

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🔁 When acquisition meets retention

Here’s where it gets interesting.

Let’s say your average order value is £40, and your CPA is also £40. Looks break-even, right?

But if even 40% of those customers reorder within 60 days, you’re not breaking even — you’re building long-term value.

For example:

• A customer orders 4 times in a year

• Total revenue: £160

• CPA: £40

• That’s a 4:1 return over 12 months

That’s the kind of model drinks brands should be building toward — not just looking at ROAS on day one.

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🛒 The challenge: more distribution = less direct conversion

This is a common one.

As your brand grows into retail — whether that’s supermarkets, the on-trade, or Amazon — your DTC conversion rate often dips.

Why? Because your ads are now doing more than converting. They’re building awareness.

A customer might click your ad today, spot your bottle in Sainsbury’s tomorrow, and buy it on Amazon next week. The sale still happens — just not on your site.

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🧠 What that means for your acquisition strategy

This is where brands often pull the plug too early. They pause paid social or search because ROAS looks weak, without realising they’re also driving offline or third-party sales they’re not tracking.

A strong approach to acquisition should:

• Optimise for first purchase and lifetime value

• Use email/SMS flows to drive repeat orders

• Factor in awareness and omni-channel impact

If you’re judging performance purely on in-platform ROAS, you’re missing half the picture.

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🔍 How to actually measure LTV

There are plenty of tools that make this easy — Lifetimely, Triple Whale, or even basic cohort reporting in GA4 or Shopify.

Track:

• Average number of orders per customer

• Time between purchases

• Revenue by cohort

Then compare that against CPA to figure out your break-even point and ideal payback window. For most drinks brands, a 60–90 day payback is a solid benchmark.

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🐾 What we recommend at Hound

We work with some of the UK’s fastest-growing drinks brands, and we always say:

• Set your LTV benchmarks early — don’t wait until you’re deep into Meta or Google spend.

• Test your retention levers — things like subscription nudges, reorder flows, or bundle offers often move the needle quickly.

• Understand your halo effect — model the impact your DTC activity is having on retail and Amazon. Because it’s rarely just one channel doing all the work.

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🚀 Final thoughts

Paid acquisition for drinks brands has never been just about ROAS on day one. It’s about trial, awareness, loyalty — and ultimately, long-term growth.

When you put LTV at the centre of your thinking, everything gets easier. Suddenly, that high CPA doesn’t look so scary — it looks like a growth engine.

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Want to dig into your LTV, retention, or acquisition model?

We help premium drinks brands build strategies that drive performance across both DTC and retail.

Get in touch — we’d love to chat.

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When it comes to scaling Meta Ads (formerly Facebook Ads), one of the most common bottlenecks is creative fatigue. You’re increasing budget, reaching wider audiences, and suddenly, your performance dips. The culprit? Not enough fresh creatives.

In this post, we’ll explore the relationship between ad spend and the volume of creatives you need to keep performance optimised. Whether you’re spending £1,000 or £50,000 a month, understanding this dynamic is key to maintaining ROAS and scaling sustainably.

📉 What Is Creative Fatigue?

Creative fatigue happens when your audience has seen your ads too many times. Engagement drops, CPAs rise, and Meta starts penalising your ad score. The result? Less efficient delivery and higher costs. This fatigue sets in faster at higher budgets due to increased impressions.

💡 Rule of Thumb: Creative Volume by Budget

While there’s no one-size-fits-all formula, a commonly used benchmark is:

For every £1,000 in monthly ad spend, aim for 2-4 new creatives.

This isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s a survival tactic for keeping CPMs low, engagement high, and your campaigns scaling without stalling.

👉 Why the range? It depends on your funnel structure (TOF/MOF/BOF), audience size, and whether you’re testing formats or iterating on winning concepts.

📊 Format Diversity Matters

Meta’s algorithm rewards variety. Don’t just rotate stills. Include:

• Video (1:1 and 9:16 for Reels)
• Carousels
• UGC-style testimonials
• Branded animations
• Product-focused stills with clear CTAs

A healthy mix = more data = faster optimisation.

📆 How Often Should You Refresh?

At higher spends, fatigue can set in within 7–14 days. For smaller budgets, you may get 3–4 weeks out of a single creative. Track frequency and engagement rate per ad to know when it’s time to rotate.

📈 Plan Ahead

Creative pipelines need to match your spend ambitions. If you plan to scale, build creative production into your growth model. It’s not enough to have one hero ad anymore.

Summary

If you’re managing Meta ad spend without scaling your creative output, you’re leaving money on the table. Use your budget as a trigger for how many creatives you need—then track fatigue, test format diversity, and keep that pipeline flowing.

Meta rewards momentum. Give it the creative fuel to keep running.

If your Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) is creeping up, is first instinct might be to dive into campaign settings, fiddle with audience targeting, or blame Meta’s algorithm? Then hold fire...

Here’s the truth most performance marketers learn the hard way:

👉 Your CPA isn’t just a media buying problem—it’s a full funnel problem.

Yes, your ads matter. But even the best-targeted campaign can’t make up for poor click-through rates (CTR) or a leaky website funnel.

In this post, we’ll break down how you can lower your CPA by improving two of the most overlooked—but critical—metrics:
CTR (Click-Through Rate) and CRO (Conversion Rate Optimisation).

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🖱️ 1. Improve Your CTR: Make More People Click

Your Click-Through Rate (CTR) is the percentage of people who see your ad and actually click it. The higher it is, the more efficiently Meta can deliver your ads—and the lower your CPA.

Why CTR Impacts CPA

Meta’s algorithm rewards ads that generate engagement. A high CTR means:

• Lower CPC (Cost Per Click)
• Faster learning phase
• Better placement in auctions

If your CTR is low (under 1%), your ad isn’t resonating with your audience. And every click costs more.

How to Increase CTR

• Hook with a problem: Start your ad with a tension point your audience feels. E.g., “Sick of paying £40 for average wine?”
• Use short, sharp copy: Get to the value in 2 lines or less.
• Feature the product visually: Don’t rely on mood shots—show what you're selling.
• Test weekly: Creative fatigue sets in fast. Brands that refresh ads every 1–2 weeks often outperform those that don’t.

Real-World Example (Drinks Brand)

A kombucha brand we worked with increased CTR from 0.6% to 1.4% just by switching from generic lifestyle imagery to close-up pour shots and punchier headlines. CPA dropped by 32% without touching budget or targeting.

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📈 2. Optimise CRO: Make More People Buy

Once someone clicks, the battle’s only half won. If your website doesn’t convert, you’re paying for traffic that goes nowhere.

This is where Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) comes in. Small tweaks to your site can have a huge impact on performance—and your CPA.

Why CRO Impacts CPA

If your site converts at 1% and you spend £1,000 on traffic, you’ll get 10 customers.

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If it converts at 2%, that same £1,000 gets you 20 customers.
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Your CPA just halved—without changing a thing in Ads Manager.

How to Improve Conversion Rate

• Optimise your checkout flow: Fewer steps, faster load times, no surprise costs.
• Make your CTA crystal clear: “Shop now” beats “Learn more” if you want action.
• Display trust signals: Reviews, delivery times, payment security badges.
• Mobile-first UX: Over 80% of traffic comes from mobile—test on your phone first.

Real-World Example (DTC Alcohol Brand)

A wine brand reduced their checkout from 5 steps to 2 and added delivery clarity above the fold. Their site-wide conversion rate rose from 1.6% to 2.4%, cutting CPA by 28% while keeping ad spend steady.

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🔧 Fixing CPA is About the Funnel, Not Just the Ads

So, if your acquisition costs are on the rise, don’t just tinker with bidding strategies or blame Meta’s targeting.

✅ Audit your CTR: Are your ads thumb-stopping?
✅ Audit your CRO: Does your site remove friction and build trust?

Get both working together, and your CPA will drop—even without increasing budget.

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Final Thoughts

Reducing CPA isn’t about squeezing more from your ads—it’s about getting more from the journey after the click. High CTRs bring people in efficiently. High conversion rates make sure they don’t bounce.

Whether you're a DTC drinks brand, skincare startup, or subscription box business, the takeaway is the same:

Fix the full funnel, and the ads will follow.

For anyone marketing a drinks brand—whether that’s wine, spirits, mixers, or kombucha—there’s one uncomfortable truth you can’t afford to ignore...

Facebook and Instagram ads will never be cheaper than they are today.

Over the past few years, the cost of reaching your ideal customer has risen steadily. And for the drinks industry, where competition is fierce and margins are tight, every penny counts.

Let’s break down why Meta advertising costs are climbing, how it affects drinks brands specifically, and why now is the time to double down on your strategy before it becomes even more expensive.

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🎯 1. Interest Targeting is Being Removed—Hurting Niche Drinks Brands the Most

One of the big appeals of Meta advertising used to be precise interest targeting. You could reach gin lovers, wine subscribers, cocktail connoisseurs, or people interested in zero-alcohol alternatives with incredible accuracy.

But Meta has gradually removed hundreds of interest categories, especially those around alcohol, health, and lifestyle. If you're marketing something like:

• A natural wine subscription
• A low-calorie RTD cocktail
• A functional sparkling tea

…you’ve probably noticed that your audience options have shrunk. Without granular targeting, it’s harder to reach cold audiences that actually care about your category.

This shift especially hurts early-stage brands who rely on interest targeting to build awareness. Instead, Meta is pushing everyone toward broader targeting, which often leads to higher CPAs and more wasted spend—unless you’ve got the budget to let the algorithm learn over time.

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🍷 2. The Drinks Space is Getting Crowded on Meta

We’re seeing more and more drinks brands entering the paid social space, from craft spirits to challenger soft drinks. And they’re not just competing against each other—they’re up against food brands, fashion, tech, and beyond.

Because Meta operates on an auction-based system, this growing competition means:

• CPMs (cost per 1,000 impressions) continue to rise.
• You’re paying more just to get seen in-feed.
• Smaller brands are being priced out of top-performing placements.

We’ve seen CPMs for drinks campaigns rise from £6–£8 in 2022 to £12–£16 in 2025, depending on the segment and creative format. That’s a 100%+ increase in just a few years.

If you're running an awareness campaign for a new flavoured gin or launching your canned spritz range for summer, you're likely paying significantly more to generate the same number of impressions than you would have 18 months ago.

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📈 3. Year-on-Year Increases in CPMs Are the New Normal

For drinks brands, the average CPM is rising fast. Here’s what we’ve seen across our client base:

• 2022: £6–£8 CPM for most alcohol and premium soft drink ads
• 2023: £9–£12 CPM range became common
• 2024–25: £12–£16 CPM, even higher in Q4

And that’s before you even get to key trading periods like Christmas or Dry January, when demand for ad space spikes.

Brands who wait until peak times to run ads—without already having tested creative and audiences—often find themselves paying 30–50% more per impression than competitors who planned earlier and locked in learnings.

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🔐 4. Privacy Changes Make Attribution Harder (and More Expensive)

With iOS14+ and GDPR in full swing, drinks brands are now flying partially blind. Whether you're promoting a direct-to-consumer discovery box or a zero-sugar energy drink, it's harder to tell which ads are actually converting.

This means:

• ROAS appears lower, making it harder to optimise
• CPAs rise, as spend is spread more thinly across testing
• Brands must invest in things like server-side tracking and Conversion APIs to get visibility back

In a high-volume, low-margin category like drinks, that’s a tough pill to swallow. Without accurate attribution, it’s easy to underinvest in ads that are actually working, or worse, over-invest in poor performers.

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🚨 Why Drinks Brands Should Act Now

Here’s the thing—paid social still works for drinks. When done well, Facebook and Instagram ads can:

• Grow your subscriber base
• Drive DTC sales at scale
• Launch new SKUs with speed and impact

But the window for low-cost testing is closing.

If you’re sitting on a product launch, planning to grow your DTC arm, or trying to hit subscription targets before your next funding round—now is the lowest cost it’s going to be.

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🥡 Key Takeaways for Drinks Marketers

• Don’t wait for CPMs to go back down—they won’t.
• Start testing broad audiences and creative formats now while costs are still manageable.
• Focus on building first-party data (email, SMS, pixel audiences) to protect future reach.
• If you haven’t already, invest in conversion tracking upgrades (e.g., Meta's CAPI) to keep attribution strong.

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Final Thought

As a drinks brand in the  digital world, you’re not just marketing a product—you’re battling against rising costs, limited targeting, and a crowded marketplace. But those who act now—who test, learn, and build an ad infrastructure while CPMs are still (relatively) low—will be the ones with the edge this time next year.

Because whether you’re pushing premium rum or functional soda, one thing’s for sure:

Facebook and Instagram ads will never be this low cost again.

If you’re working with a digital agency to run ads, manage emails, optimise your store, or report on performance, they’ll need access to the right platforms. That means connecting them to your Meta Business Manager, Google Ads, Shopify, Klaviyo, and more.

This guide explains exactly the tech stack that we at Hound typically require access to, covering how to grant the right permissions across each platform, including Facebook Ads, Instagram, Pixel, Google Merchant Centre, and how to find your Shopify collaborator code.

Each section includes a link to the official help article so you can dive deeper if needed.

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🔵 Meta (Facebook & Instagram)

Your agency will need access to your Meta Business Manager in order to manage your ad account, pixel, catalogue, Facebook Page and Instagram account.

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1. Add Your Agency to Your Meta Business Manager

🔗 Meta Help Guide – Add a Partner to Business Manager

Steps:

1. Go to business.facebook.com

2. Click Business Settings

3. Under Users > Partners, click Add

4. Enter your agency’s Business ID (ask them for this)

5. Select the assets (Ad Account, Facebook Page, Pixel, Catalogue)

6. Grant full access to each

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2. Connect Your Instagram Account

🔗 Meta Help Guide – Connect Instagram to Business Manager

Steps:

1. Go to Business Settings > Accounts > Instagram Accounts

2. Click Add and log into your Instagram account

3. Assign it to your Business Manager

4. Under Partners, grant your agency access

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🟢 Google

From managing ads to product feeds and analytics, your agency will need access to several Google platforms.

3. Grant Access to Google Ads

🔗 Google Ads Help – Grant Account Access

Steps:

1. Go to ads.google.com

2. Click Tools & Settings > Access and Security

3. Add users by email address, and the relevant level of access. Generally admin is best for an agency, as there will be things they need access to to set up tracking

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4. Share Access to Google Analytics

🔗 GA4 Help – Add Users to Google Analytics

Steps:

1. Go to analytics.google.com

2. Select your GA4 property

3. Click Admin > Property Access Management

4. Click + > Add Users

5. Enter your agency’s email and assign Editor permissions

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5. Grant Access to Google Merchant Centre

🔗 Merchant Centre Help – Add Users

Steps:

1. Go to merchants.google.com

2. Click the tools icon > Account Access

3. Click the blue + button

4. Add your agency’s email and choose “Standard” or “Admin” access

5. Click Add User

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🛍️ Shopify

6. Add Your Agency as a Collaborator

Your agency needs to be added as a collaborator (not a staff account). Your agency will need your Shopify Partner Request Code to send the request.

🔗 Shopify Help – Send Collaborator Access

Steps:

1. Log into your Shopify Admin

2. Go to Settings > Users and Permissions

3. Scroll to the Collaborator Request Code section

4. Click Create a Code (or copy the existing one)

5. Send this code to your agency

6. Approve the request when prompted via email or in Shopify

✅ Collaborators do not count toward your staff account limit.

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✉️ Klaviyo

7. Grant Access to Your Klaviyo Account

🔗 Klaviyo Help – Add a User

Steps:

1. Go to klaviyo.com

2. Click your account name (bottom left) > Account

3. Navigate to Settings > Users

4. Click Add User

5. Enter your agency’s email

6. Assign Admin or Manager permissions

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✅ Final Thoughts

Providing your agency with the right access is the first step to getting campaigns live, improving performance, and tracking results. Following these steps ensures smooth setup across Meta, Google, Shopify and Klaviyo — and gets your growth engine running faster.

Still stuck? Just send your agency this article — or reach out directly and they’ll guide you through the rest.

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