Podean Wins Best E-Commerce Strategy for the 2026 Digiday Media Buying and Planning Awards

We are proud to announce that Podean has won Best E-Commerce Strategy at the 2026 Digiday Media Buying and Planning Awards for our work with WaterWipes.

The Digiday Media Buying and Planning Awards recognize the companies, campaigns, and technology that have proven most effective in today's media landscape. Being named the winner in Best E-Commerce Strategy is a recognition we are incredibly proud to receive, and one that reflects the strength of what our team builds every day alongside the brands we partner with.

A Challenge Worth Solving

WaterWipes came to us facing real pressure on Amazon Australia. Rising competition was making it harder to maintain visibility, aggressive competitor discounting was costing them the buy box and hitting revenue directly, and an existing advertising strategy that was effective at capturing demand but not built for long-term brand equity or new customer growth.

They needed more than optimization. They needed a strategy that could grow awareness, build consideration for newer product lines like Adult Wipes, and convert first-time buyers into loyal, long-term customers.

Our Approach

We designed a full-funnel strategy built on insights from Amazon Marketing Cloud, using Amazon DSP and Sponsored Ads to deliver cohesive, relevant messaging across every stage of the shopper journey.

Each stage of the funnel played a distinct role:

Awareness: DSP campaigns reached entirely new audiences by actively excluding previous brand engagers, ensuring media spend went toward genuine brand discovery.

Consideration: Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands targeted competitor and category-relevant keywords, putting WaterWipes in front of shoppers actively weighing their options.

Conversion: Branded Sponsored Ads and DSP retargeting re-engaged high-intent shoppers who had viewed product pages but had not yet purchased.

Loyalty: Branded defense and retargeting campaigns reinforced brand presence and drove Subscribe and Save sign-ups to build long-term retention.

Precise audience segmentation ensured consumers only received messaging relevant to where they were in their journey. AMC analysis continued to validate and inform the strategy, confirming that shoppers exposed to more touchpoints converted at higher rates.

The Results

The strategy was delivered across every stage of the funnel.

• +20% total topline sales uplift
• +216% impressions growth
• 52% reduction in CPMs
• +80% increase in clicks
• 15% reduction in CPCs
• +52% media-attributed sales growth
• +14% new-to-brand sales
• 360 Subscribe and Save sign-ups

AMC analysis told the clearest story: shoppers exposed to all four stages of the funnel generated the highest sales volume, the strongest new-to-brand performance, and accounted for 35% of total purchases.

As Martin Liebenberg, Key Account Manager ANZ at WaterWipes, put it:

"The team at Podean has been the key enabler for our business in unlocking value from Amazon in Australia. A responsive and collaborative working style combined with subject matter expertise in content, advertising, and all things Amazon makes them fantastic partners for growth."

What This Means to Us

Awards like this matter because they reflect the quality of the work and the strength of the partnerships behind it. This win belongs to the entire Podean team, and to WaterWipes for trusting us to build something that would genuinely move their business forward.

We are proud to be recognized alongside some of the best in the industry, and even more motivated to keep raising the bar for the brands we work with every day.

Read the full WaterWipes case study here.

About Podean

Podean is the world's largest independent marketplace-focused growth partner and a top-tier Amazon Advanced Partner. With over 360 marketplace specialists across more than 20 countries, we bring both global scale and deep local expertise to every market we serve.

Ready to unlock your brand's growth potential? Get in touch.