The Awkward Yeti · Ecommerce · Entertainment IP

Turning a beloved
brand into a revenue system.

NIKA was brought in to increase sales for an established comic and product brand—connecting paid media, Klaviyo, social, Kickstarter, ecommerce and new marketplaces into one growth engine.

The Awkward Yeti ecommerce application displayed on a smartphone with its right edge visible

4.5M fans already loved the characters. Our job was to turn more of that love into measurable revenue.

♥Fame ≠
a complete
growth system.
☁
The business impact

The numbers the client could take forward.

Not isolated campaign wins, but a more diversified commercial system across acquisition, retention, launches and marketplaces.

Meta Ads$95K

Tracked revenue from $50K in spend · 1.90× ROAS

Google Ads$19.3K

Conversion value · 422 purchases · $19.03 CPA

Klaviyo$30K+

Annual email revenue · 43× growth · 11.3% of total revenue

On-site conversion≈$7K

Generated by popup and connected automation in four months

Kickstarter≈$120K

Campaign funding supported by paid, email and community · 1,985 backers

Amazon7.9%

TACOS while Best Seller Rank improved from ≈30K to 13K

What this changed for the client

The Awkward Yeti gained investment readiness, a clearer B2C and B2B growth strategy, a stronger buying journey, recurring owned-channel revenue and more ways to monetize an established audience—without compromising the original IP.

How we achieved it

Results first. The system behind them next.

We secured the investment, analyzed five years of data, strengthened conversion, built acquisition and retention, then expanded into launches and marketplaces.

A growth challenge inside an already famous brand.

The Awkward Yeti already had reputation, beloved characters and millions of followers. NIKA was hired to increase sales and turn fragmented marketing activity into a coordinated commercial system.

The opportunity was not to manufacture demand. It was to capture more value from existing demand while opening new, scalable revenue channels.

Client
The Awkward Yeti
Audience
4.5M followers
Core market
91% United States
Returning customers
48.6%
Role
Full-funnel growth
The challenge

A massive audience. An incomplete monetization system.

The brand had powerful organic demand, but advertising, lifecycle, website conversion and channel expansion were not operating as one system.

01

Organic reach carried too much weight

Sales depended heavily on organic discovery, launches and loyal fans rather than predictable paid acquisition.

02

Email potential was underused

Lifecycle automations, segmentation and campaign design needed a stronger commercial structure.

03

Commerce channels were fragmented

Shopify, marketplaces, Kickstarter, social and wholesale were not connected into a unified growth plan.

04

The creative constraint was real

New comics and characters could not simply be generated on demand, limiting conventional AI-led creative scaling.

The goal was not “more marketing.” It was more revenue from the brand equity The Awkward Yeti had already earned.
Before the growth engagement

An investor pitch deck that helped unlock the next stage.

We connected the brand story with historical financial performance, channel economics, audience strength, intellectual property, market opportunities, a three-year growth strategy and future revenue architecture.

  • Five-year business and sales analysis
  • Revenue-channel and unit-economics review
  • Audience and brand-equity narrative
  • Three-year growth roadmap
  • Financial forecasts and investor logic
Investor pitch deck Investment readiness →
After the investment

Five years of data became the growth roadmap.

First strengthen the buying experience, then build predictable acquisition and retention, and finally expand into new products and marketplaces.

01

Historical performance audit

Five years of revenue, products, seasonality and customer behavior revealed what already drove value.

02

Growth constraint analysis

We mapped where demand was lost across the website, paid media, lifecycle and repeat purchase.

03

Revenue priorities

Initiatives were ranked by expected impact, speed to value and role in the wider system.

04

Execution roadmap

Every next investment rested on a stronger conversion and measurement foundation.

05

B2C and holiday strategy

Paid media, email, merchandising, product drops and seasonal campaigns.

06

B2B growth strategy

Faire, retailer positioning, cold outreach, partnerships and offers for business buyers.

The creative constraint

Scaling without AI-generated comics.

The Awkward Yeti is an author-led intellectual property. The characters, drawing style and humor could not be replaced with generic AI output.

How NIKA worked within the IP

  • Built campaigns around original brand materials
  • Designed emails without imitating or generating new comics
  • Tested hooks, offers, layouts and merchandising
  • Used product storytelling instead of synthetic character content
  • Protected visual consistency across every channel
First: conversion infrastructure

Before scaling traffic, we made the store more ready to convert.

Shopify redesign and optimization

  • New visual and UX direction
  • Homepage and product-page optimization
  • Improved product discovery and category logic
  • Conversion-focused cart and CTA structure
  • Popup and Klaviyo integration
  • Mobile and repeat-purchase improvements

Bundles built from sales data

Five years of product history identified combinations with stronger purchase logic, gifting relevance and cross-sell potential.

  • Character and product affinity analysis
  • Bundle structure and pricing logic
  • AOV and merchandising opportunities
  • Seasonal and occasion-based combinations
New website designBundles & merchandising
Then: demand capture

With conversion improved, we scaled acquisition by intent.

Meta

Prospecting, retargeting, audience testing, product launches and Kickstarter acquisition.

Google

High-intent branded and product search, Shopping and demand capture around gifts, games and characters.

TikTok

Short-form discovery, creative testing and reach among younger audiences without compromising the IP.

Cold outreach

Creator, wholesale and partnership opportunities outside the existing audience ecosystem.

Then: retention and repeat revenue

Email became a controllable revenue channel.

Klaviyo became more than a newsletter platform. Behavior-led communication connected campaigns, flows and creative into one lifecycle system.

57K subscriber base0% → 11.3% revenue share3.1% → 4.6% conversion1.7K → 3.3M sends48.6% returning customersAutomated repeat sales
Instagram and SMM

Social had to feel like the creator—not a sales department.

The content system balanced character humor, community expectations, products, holiday moments and launches. Commercial messaging was integrated without flattening the personality that made the brand famous.

OrganATTACK: Below the Belt

Connecting an existing fanbase to a new product launch.

NIKA supported pre-launch growth, paid media, email, social communication and campaign creative, building on $1.4M raised across 12 previous launches.

$1.4MHistoric funding
1,985Backers
$41.12Average pledge
≈$120KLatest campaign funding outcome*
*Current / projected final result. Final figure should be updated after the campaign closes.
Amazon — built from zero

From an empty channel to a working marketplace operation.

7.9%

TACOS achieved · Best Seller Rank improved from ≈30K to 13K.

NIKA built the catalog, structured listings, optimized visibility and created the advertising system needed to generate both paid and organic sales.

  • Amazon account and channel setup
  • Full catalog upload and product structure
  • Keyword research and listing SEO
  • Titles, descriptions and search positioning
  • Amazon PPC built from zero
  • Bid, budget and search-term optimization
  • Catalog, ranking and inventory monitoring
Data-led recurring revenue

Subscription boxes designed from five years of sales.

NIKA analyzed which characters, products, price points and combinations had the strongest recurring potential, then developed the box structure and launch mechanics.

  • Subscription proposition and audience
  • Tier and pricing architecture
  • Product mix and exclusive-item logic
  • Unboxing and recurring experience
  • Launch, retention and community mechanics
Then: new revenue channels

We expanded beyond the primary Shopify store.

Etsy
  • Store created from zero
  • Listings migrated and optimized
  • SEO structure built for discovery
  • Organic and paid sales started appearing
Faire
  • Catalog and listings uploaded
  • Wholesale information structured
  • Discoverability improved
  • Foundation built for retail outreach
No revenue result is claimed at this stage.
Subscription boxes
  • Product and tier concepts developed
  • Recurring mechanics planned
  • Exclusive items and launch logic designed
  • Customer experience mapped

The client left with more than campaign results. A resilient, repeatable growth system.

Your growth challenge

Already have an audience—but revenue is not scaling with it?

We find the disconnect between attention, acquisition, conversion and retention, then turn it into one accountable growth system.

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