Petco Taps Google's Demand Gen Ads for Holiday Sales Boost

Petco, a US-based pet supply retailer, has transformed its marketing strategy to drive sales during the holiday season. The company partnered with Ovative Group to expand beyond social media and reach high-value pet parents on Google's visual Demand Gen ads platform.

This strategic shift allowed Petco to connect with customers where they spend their time online, such as YouTube, Gmail, or Discover feeds. By adapting existing social videos and leveraging first-party data paired with lookalike segments and automated bidding, the campaign could flex in real-time to drive both online checkouts and physical store visits.

The team optimized Petco's creative mix for Demand Gen campaigns by using Google AI to efficiently resize assets and collaborating with creators to craft relevant CTAs for key seasonal moments. This eliminated production overhead, allowing them to reinvest every saved dollar directly into media.

By syncing Petco's live product catalog directly to the ads via Google Merchant Center, they turned videos into shoppable storefronts, boosting returns by an extra 30%. The campaign also achieved a 626% increase in omnichannel marketing ROAS and a 71% surge in physical store visits during Cyber Week.