In a Sea of Sameness, Relevance Wins: How AmLactin Drove 21% Growth with a Smarter Funnel

The Challenge

AmLactin faced a tough set of headwinds in a saturated category dominated by entrenched, solution-based competitors like CeraVe, Aveeno, and Eucerin. Despite having strong products (Daily Nourish, Intensive Healing, Foot Cream Therapy) and a differentiated ingredient story (lactic acid for exfoliation + hydration), the brand had little-to-no existing awareness, making it difficult to win attention or justify consideration in a “sea of body lotion sameness.”

The business challenge was compounded by channel realities:

• Ecommerce growth was essential. With limited brick-and-mortar distribution, Amazon performance needed to do more heavy lifting, especially as the brand sought to expand with younger, digital-first shoppers like Gen Z.
• Legacy DSP strategy lacked precision. Prior campaigns leaned on overly broad targeting that didn’t map to AmLactin’s true value: specific skin concerns and use cases (ex: rough/flaky skin, conditions like Keratosis Pilaris, foot therapy). That mismatch diluted efficiency and limited message relevance.
• Budget constraints forced trade-offs. With limited dollars, the brand couldn’t afford wasted reach. Every impression needed to work harder, building awareness and creating a path to purchase.

The Action

Code3 built a full-funnel plan designed to guide shoppers from awareness → consideration → conversion, using AMC insights to understand how different touchpoints worked together and where audiences were dropping off.

To start, the team focused on strengthening the top of the funnel by improving relevance and message clarity, moving away from generic category targeting and leaning into use-case-led storytelling that better reflected why AmLactin is different in a crowded body lotion market. This approach was especially important during the seasonal “New Year, New You” window, when consumer interest in self-care spikes and brands compete heavily for attention. High-impact upper-funnel placements and refreshed creative helped build familiarity, education, and momentum early in the quarter.

From there, Code3 refined audience strategy to reach high-intent shoppers efficiently, balancing growth with the need to avoid waste and audience saturation. Audience insights helped inform prospecting and re-engagement strategies, ensuring media investment stayed focused on the shoppers most likely to engage and ultimately convert.

To maintain engagement mid-funnel, Code3 prioritized a cohesive experience across tactics, keeping AmLactin present as shoppers compared options and moved closer to purchase. This included coordinated sequencing across placements and formats, designed to reduce leakage between discovery and decision-making while reinforcing consistent brand cues.

At the bottom of the funnel, Code3 rebalanced investment toward ad formats that could do more than drive transactions—supporting stronger education and brand storytelling while still delivering efficient conversion performance. Predictive optimizations were incorporated to improve late-stage efficiency, helping the campaign convert demand without relying solely on lower-funnel tactics.

Year-over-year, the overall strategy intentionally shifted more investment into awareness and consideration to build the brand, educate shoppers, and improve downstream efficiency:

Awareness: 21% → 34%
Consideration: 23% → 34%
Conversion: 45% → 20%
Loyalty: 11% → 12%