About the brand
HOLY is a functional drinks brand operating in the energy and hydration space. With an established influencer programme already performing well across their core categories, they came to JM Digital with a specific strategic question: could their results be replicated in new audience niches, and where did the brand have genuine permission to grow?
The challenge
Expanding an influencer programme beyond its core categories is one of the harder problems in creator marketing. HOLY’s existing activity was working within familiar niches, but the business needed to understand whether that performance was category-specific or whether the brand could travel into new audiences. Testing that hypothesis at scale, with proper tracking and commercial rigour, required a structured approach rather than ad hoc outreach.
What we did
JM Digital ran a full-funnel influencer discovery and activation process across a four-month period. We sourced and evaluated hundreds of creator profiles across Instagram and YouTube, conducted outreach at scale, and brought a curated shortlist to activation spanning eight content categories including podcast, entertainment, parenting, food, lifestyle, film, boxing, and motoring.
Beyond creator sourcing, JM Digital provided strategic input on partnership ad structures and managed end-to-end negotiation across all activations, bringing final fees down significantly from initially quoted rates. We also facilitated the placement of an exclusive Gravitas Talent creator with HOLY, giving the brand access to talent outside the standard outreach pool.
Every activation was tracked through our campaign dashboard with views, clicks, orders, new customers, CPM, CPC, and cost of sale monitored across the full roster throughout the campaign. That level of commercial visibility is standard on every programme JM Digital runs.
The results
The programme delivered over 1.3 million views across Instagram and YouTube, with standout CPM efficiency from mid-size creators in food and entertainment categories. A single YouTube activation delivered over 270,000 views, demonstrating the reach available in non-endemic categories when creator fit is right.
The campaign generated thousands of link clicks, with the strongest CPC results coming from lifestyle and food creators where audience intent aligned most closely with HOLY’s product. New customer acquisition was tracked throughout, with the most efficient activations consistently proving that audience alignment outperforms raw follower count as a predictor of commercial performance.
What we learned
Niche expansion rarely produces instant returns at the conversion level, and this campaign reinforced that clearly. The categories that generated the strongest awareness metrics did not always correspond to the strongest purchase intent, which tells us that HOLY’s product has a genuine reach play in broader entertainment and lifestyle audiences, but that converting those audiences requires longer-term investment in creator relationships rather than one-off activations.
The sourcing and vetting process gave HOLY a qualified map of where their brand has permission to grow, tested creative formats across multiple content categories, and a clear set of benchmarks for what good looks like in each niche. That strategic foundation is the lasting asset from this engagement.
Ready to grow your brand?
JM Digital works with DTC and FMCG brands across the UK and Ireland on influencer marketing, creator partnerships, and performance-led campaign management. Get in touch to talk through your goals.
