The summer that makes the year
For a schoolwear brand, a handful of summer weeks decide the whole year. We made sure they counted.
- 20.6xReturn on Meta ad spend, July and August 2026Up from 5.7x a year earlier
- +469%Meta revenue, year on yearOn 57% more spend
- 7.2xReturn on Google ad spend over twelve months1.8 times the apparel median
The challenge
Schoolwear sells in one big rush. In the few weeks between the end of the school year and the first day back, parents buy the whole uniform in one go, from jumpers and trousers to PE kit, and they shop around for value while they do it. For this brand, more than 70% of a year’s Google Ads revenue lands between July and September. Those few weeks carry the whole year.
So our job had two parts. Keep Google working all year as the brand’s dependable engine, and turn Meta into a serious source of sales at the peak, without the return slipping as the budget grew.
What we did
Built Meta around the way parents shop.
We organised the account by stage of decision: one campaign to introduce the brand to new families, a new retargeting campaign for 2026 to bring back parents who had already browsed, and a brand campaign for people who already knew the name.
Backed what was working.
As prospecting proved itself, we gave it more. Its spend rose by 30% on the summer before, and its return climbed from 6.8x to 19.8x. The new retargeting campaign returned more than 30x on its own.
Kept Google working all year round.
Shopping, Performance Max and Search work together, so the brand is there whenever a parent goes looking, whether that’s in August or in February.
The results
| Measure | Change |
|---|---|
| Ad spend | +57% |
| Purchases | +183% |
| Revenue | +469% |
| Return on ad spend5.7x to 20.6x | +263% |
| Cost per purchase | 45% lower |
| Measure | Twelve months |
|---|---|
| Return on ad spend | 7.2x |
| Apparel median, for comparison | 4.0x |
| Revenue landing in July to September | More than 70% |
A little more in, a lot more out
Meta Ads, July and August, with each measure set to 100 for 2025. Spend rose by 57%, and revenue rose by 469%.
- 2025
- 2026
Bar chart. Meta Ads, July and August, with each measure set to 100 for 2025. Ad spend: 2025 100, 2026 157; Purchases: 2025 100, 2026 283; Revenue: 2025 100, 2026 569.
Show the numbers
| Measure | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Ad spend | 100 | 157 |
| Purchases | 100 | 283 |
| Revenue | 100 | 569 |
Return on Meta ad spend
July and August, a year apart.
Bar chart. 2025: 5.7x; 2026: 20.6x.
Show the numbers
| Period | Return on ad spend |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 5.7x |
| 2026 | 20.6x |
In context
The typical return for apparel brands is 2.2x on Meta and 4.0x on Google (Triple Whale global medians, August 2025 to July 2026). This brand reached 20.6x on Meta at its peak, about nine times the median, and 7.2x on Google across a full year.
What this means
Spend went up by 57%. Revenue went up by 469%. When each extra bit of budget brings back more than the budget before it, the account is getting stronger as it grows.
Against the industry benchmark
- This brand
- Apparel median
Bar chart. Meta: This brand, July to August 2026 20.6x, Apparel median 2.2x; Google: This brand, July 2025 to June 2026 7.2x, Apparel median 4.0x.
Show the numbers
| Channel | This brand | Median |
|---|---|---|
| Meta | 20.6xThis brand, July to August 2026 | 2.2xApparel median |
| 7.2xThis brand, July 2025 to June 2026 | 4.0xApparel median |
How we measure: Ad results are as reported by Meta Ads Manager and Google Ads for the periods shown, using each platform’s standard attribution settings. Revenue means the purchase value each platform attributes to its ads, and return on ad spend (ROAS) is that revenue divided by ad spend. Website conversion rate is the share of visits to the brand’s website that ended in a purchase. To keep our clients’ figures private, we show changes as percentages and returns as multiples, rounded, rather than revenue or spend. Benchmarks are global medians published by Triple Whale (Meta Ads benchmarks, Google Ads benchmarks) for 1 August 2025 to 31 July 2026, covering more than 40,000 brands on Meta and 21,000 on Google. Measurement methods differ, so treat the comparisons as a guide. Every brand is different, and past results don’t guarantee future performance.
What it means for you