Robbie Thain
Founder, CEO
AI-generated illustrative image. Not an official campaign image.
A Circana study of 48 Ibotta campaigns shows connected promotions can drive a 16.5% incremental sales lift. Learn what this means for CPG field marketing.
At Cannes Lions 2026, Ibotta Chief Revenue Officer Chris Riedy introduced new findings that challenge traditional CPG budget structures. He announced that a six-month Circana study of 48 Ibotta campaigns found promotions produced more than 16% incremental sales lift. This figure stands in sharp contrast to a typical campaign lift of roughly 2.5%. The presentation set a new baseline for how brands evaluate their promotional investments alongside media spend.
It established a timeline where accountability is now the standard for consumer offers. The conversation immediately turned to how marketers can bridge the gap between media impressions and physical retail transactions.
The detailed numbers from the Circana and Ibotta analysis reveal a clear logistical shift in performance tracking. The broader results reported by Ibotta and Circana include a 16.5% average incremental sales lift across the 48 campaigns. They also reported a 17% average increase in new-household penetration. Riedy noted that the results represented approximately seven times the standard sales-lift benchmark.
He added that the campaigns generated an eightfold improvement in new-household penetration compared with the relevant standard benchmark. These figures indicate that well-tracked promotions can do more than just reward existing buyers. They can actively recruit completely new shoppers into a brand ecosystem.
This analysis relied heavily on Circana's causal-measurement approach. Ibotta describes this closed-loop measurement model as comparable to the methodology used for tracking media effectiveness. The system successfully links media exposure or an impression to a subsequent transaction across named retail partners. These partners currently include Walmart, Instacart, DoorDash, and Family Dollar.
By tracking these connections, the study established a clear line of sight between the promotional incentive and the final retail purchase. The impact of these campaigns extended well beyond the specific items featured in the promotions. The study reportedly found a 10.9% sales lift for non-promoted products within the same brand portfolio.
A halo effect suggests that a well-executed promotion does not cannibalize sales of other products in the catalog. Instead, the data implies that getting a consumer to interact with one item can increase their overall brand spending. For marketers managing extensive retail catalogs, this expands the value of single-product field campaigns.
Ibotta is actively expanding the infrastructure that supports this type of connected data capture. The company announced a planned integration of pay-per-sale offers into the 7-Eleven ecosystem across the 7-Eleven, 7NOW, and Speedway apps. Ibotta described this expansion as granting access to more than 11,500 U.S. stores and 100 million loyalty members. This network expansion gives brands an unprecedented ability to track behavior across convenience channels.
For CPG brands relying on live activations, these findings validate the need for strict structural alignment. We frequently see marketing teams run into a wall when trade budgets and media budgets sit in different silos. Experiential marketing often gets judged on engagement metrics, but the real goal is always measurable retail pipeline. Riedy characterized the new model as an "ads plus offers" approach that connects awareness, promotional incentives, and purchase behavior.
This matches our core philosophy of treating field marketing as a measurable sales pipeline rather than unverified brand theater. When an engagement strategy integrates direct purchase mechanisms, the business impact becomes undeniable. Our team brings a disciplined approach to physical marketing to capture these exact consumer demand signals. We manage end to end Costco roadshows that bring brands to shoppers through live demos, real conversations, and measurable sales impact.
We managed a four-week, multi-market Costco sampling program for Pulmuone's PlantSpired line. The activation delivered more than 65,000 samples and recorded an 18% sold-to-sale rate. That project proved that structured retail sampling works best when it connects physical trial directly with immediate purchase behavior. Brands can no longer afford to run consumer events just to count booth visitors or hand out free merchandise.
Marketers must build their strategy around tracking how field trials impact sales. You need to know if your on-site engagements are driving incremental units or recruiting new households. Proving a strong Return on Investment (ROI) requires knowing exactly what happened after the shopper left the sampling tent. We prioritize data capture in every physical space to ensure that field trials always lead to trackable commercial outcomes.
When brands try to execute these campaigns without a unified strategy, the customer experience often feels broken. Consumers might see a digital ad, walk into a store, and find a completely disconnected physical sampling experience. Our job is to eliminate that friction by executing experiential marketing programs that feel completely cohesive. We coordinate every logistical detail so the brand promise matches the in-store reality perfectly.
Adopting a connected measurement model fundamentally changes how field programs are built and executed. Before a single brand ambassador is hired, the operational team must define the primary commercial objective. You have to establish the baseline logic, campaign window, and target retailers before the activation actually launches. Attempting to reconcile separate trade, media, and analytics reports after the event usually fails.
Every physical touchpoint must align perfectly with the tracking methodology from the very first project brief. This tracking requirement ripples down to staffing, permitting, and trade show footprint flow. Field teams must present offers clearly, scan loyalty codes consistently, and manage inventory flawlessly to feed the measurement system. A failure in floor logistics automatically means a failure in campaign tracking.
When staff are overwhelmed by poor booth flow, they miss the critical step of connecting the consumer to the digital offer. Operational discipline on the floor is exactly what turns raw foot traffic into documented retail transactions. Integrating connecting physical experiences to consumer behavior requires meticulous planning and constant oversight. You cannot treat the live event and the digital transaction as two separate workflows.
The campaign must function as a single integrated unit moving the shopper smoothly from initial trial to final conversion. Our methodologies ensure that large-scale consumer events and retail roadshows maintain this strict focus on verifiable data collection. Turning product sampling into a measurable conversion tool depends entirely on managing the physical environment with precision.
This integrated approach also shifts how brands handle post-event follow up and CRM routing. When an activation successfully links a physical impression to a digital ID, the data flow must be seamless. Field marketing managers must configure their CRM systems to receive, categorize, and act on these demand signals immediately. Teams have to coordinate closely with retail partners to ensure the promotional mechanics actually work at the register.
A disconnected point-of-sale system will instantly ruin the closed-loop tracking that the entire campaign relies on. Total field control requires managing the environment, the technology, and the consumer interaction simultaneously. Without strict physical inventory oversight, capturing verified demand signals becomes impossible. Brands must command their physical supply chain to ensure every sample poured translates into a potential recorded transaction.
During his presentation, Riedy directly addressed the historic divide between different marketing budget categories. Riedy said, "A dollar spent on promotions can be as impactful as a dollar spent on media." He argued that comparable measurement can finally put the two activities "on equal footing." The ultimate goal is to give marketing leaders total confidence in their budget allocation across all channels.
He also said that a CMO should want "the opportunity to drive the most impact with proven measurement." These statements represent a major shift in how industry leaders view shopper incentives. Promotional dollars are no longer just a cost of doing business with a retailer. They are an active, measurable lever for generating new household demand when executed correctly.
The conversation around marketing budgets is steadily shifting from assumed brand value to proven commercial causality. Physical experiences and promotional offers are no longer seen as secondary support tactics for CPG brands. They are becoming fully integrated mechanisms for measurable brand growth and direct household acquisition. The transition requires a commitment to operational excellence and a willingness to rethink legacy reporting structures.
Brands that fail to adapt to this measurement standard will struggle to justify their experiential marketing budgets. Moving forward, the most successful CPG marketing teams will be those that demand verified evidence of their physical impact. They will stop settling for vanity metrics and start requiring direct proof of incremental product movement.
Every successful physical touchpoint must now pull its own weight in the commercial funnel. Are your upcoming field campaigns structurally designed to capture verifiable retail transactions, or are they still just generating unmeasured awareness?
Connecting live promotional offers to closed-loop measurement requires flawless execution on the retail floor. When scattered attention and poor booth flow disrupt data capture, Makai brings structure. Under our Brand Activations capability, we create high energy activations that turn awareness into participation and drive measurable consumer response.
30 Years Experiential & Retail Activation Partner for CPG & Beverage Brands | Multi-Market Demos, Roadshows & Costco/Club Programs That Actually Sell
