Digital Curves Modelling (DCM) — a smart diet for media budgets without losing efficiency

In 2023, Herbalife in Uzbekistan significantly reduced its presence in the media field:
1) Brand awareness dropped from 41% to 24% — while 41% had previously been the highest figure in the market’s history.
2) The weight control product category was left without active promotion.
3) Herbalife operated with a much smaller budget than its competitors.
4) Television — the main channel for building reach — was unavailable.

Problem

Problem
1) Significant decline in brand awareness.
2) No access to television — the primary reach channel.
3) Lack of accurate data for digital and DOOH planning.
Campaign objectives
1) Awareness: bring back brand awareness to 70% among the 18–64 audience without TV.
2) Reach: achieve 70% reach with ~6.8 frequency through alternative channels.
3) Efficiency: find the point of maximum efficiency to prevent budget waste.
4) Sales: increase trial purchases, trust, and sales growth.

Solution

We realized that traditional methods couldn’t solve the challenge. To achieve TV-level reach without television — and avoid wasting budget on ineffective channels — we developed Digital Curves Modelling (DCM). DCM made it possible to:
1) Forecast reach and frequency before the campaign.
2) Build response curves to identify where ads deliver maximum impact — and where they waste the budget.
3) Determine the point of maximum efficiency to stop overspending.
4) Allocate budgets across channels and touchpoints based on data. Our hypothesis: increasing brand awareness would directly drive sales. The campaign was designed to grow both simultaneously. Key campaign elements
1. DOOH with Geomotive Meter — screens activated only when the target audience appeared.
2. O2O link — people who saw outdoor ads were retargeted with the same creatives in Instagram (overlap >50%).
3. Unified ID — anonymous device IDs enabled continuous cross-channel engagement.
4. Content — native blogger videos, promo codes, and challenges. We “put the media budget on a diet”: cut unnecessary spending by 50% and saved $50,000, directing every dollar into effective touchpoints.

Result

Brand awareness: +212% (from 24% → 75%) — achieved 10x faster than competitors.
Reach: 68.4% with an average frequency of 6.45.
Trial purchases: grew from 5% to 44% (+1471%).
Sales: +3100% in just 3 months. B
udget savings: $50,000 compared to a similar TV campaign.
DCM is transforming the media game in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Europe — helping brands in pharma, e-commerce, and financial services achieve TV-level results, even with limited budgets.