SUNGLASS HUT BEATS HOLIDAY FOOT TRAFFIC BENCHMARKS BY 17%
How PurePlay turned a compressed holiday CTV campaign into measurable store visitation.
17%
ABOVE COST-PER-STORE-VISIT BENCHMARK
13%
ABOVE 2024 PREMIUM DIRECT PUBLISHER BENCHMARK
+8%
INCREMENTAL LIFT, AGENTIC vs. PUBLISHER-DIRECT
VERIFIED
OVERVIEW
Brand: Sunglass Hut / EssilorLuxottica
Channel: Connected TV
Geography: Nationwide United States
Duration: November 2025 Holiday
Measurement: Validated by Cuebiq, the leading foot traffic measurement provider
INTELLIGENCE
Holiday peak is the most expensive, most crowded window in retail. Every major retailer is fighting for the same premium inventory, audiences, and share of voice. At the same time. Sunglass Hut needed foot traffic, not just impressions…and proof it was working before the season ended.
ACTIVATION
PurePlay AI connected to EssilorLuxottica's existing measurement stack and mapped the full competitive CTV landscape in real time. Pulse scored every active creative across 60+ dimensions, tracked every competitor campaign as it launched, and identified the premium inventory windows most likely to drive foot traffic before they peaked. Every impression was pointed at the moment of highest conversion, continuously, throughout the entire holiday flight.
OUTCOME
Sunglass Hut beats holiday foot traffic benchmarks by 17% despite peak competition and 13% above the 2024 premium direct publisher benchmark.
THE CHALLENGE
PEAK HOLIDAY. SHORT WINDOW.
Sunglass Hut needed to drive nationwide in-store traffic during the most compressed shopping window of the year while competing against every major retailer for attention. Weekly reviews, manual tests, and lagging data could not move fast enough.
30
DAY FLIGHT
No room for slow learning.
HIGH COMPETITION
Retail noise peaks
STORE TRAFFIC GOAL
Visits matter
LATE REPORTING
The old model lags
REAL-TIME NEED
Pulse moves faster
"PurePlay allowed us to move at the pace our holiday campaign demanded. Real-time insights helped us cut waste, focus on the markets driving store visits, and shift spend toward whitespace we could own."
Ricki Venezia Senior Marketing Manager, Media, Sunglass Hut
THE PUREPLAY METHOD
TWO LAYERS OF INTELLIGENCE
One planning layer. One live optimization layer. Both designed to make CTV awareness more accountable.
PHASE 1
Pre-campaign multimodal analysis
Before launch, PurePlay analyzes creative across visual composition, messaging hierarchy, emotional tone, and competitive positioning.
PHASE 2
A/B test: agentic vs. publisher-direct
During flight, PurePlay compares publisher-direct placements informed by multimodal analysis with continuous optimization across creative, audience, inventory, and competition.
WHAT PUREPLAY OPTIMIZED
THE LEVERS THAT MOVED THE RESULT
Five live levers turned the campaign from a delayed report into an active decision system.
CREATIVE ALIGNMENT
Matched top-performing videos to the audiences and publishers where they overperformed.
AUDIENCE PRECISION
Tested and recombined granular segments based on real-time performance.
COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE
Adjusted bid logic based on live competitive exposure.
INVENTORY OPTIMIZATION
Shifted budgets dynamically to prioritize high-ROI supply paths.
Bid repricing
Adjusted bids continuously using live performance feedback.
PERFORMANCE COMPARISON
THE RESULTS
A clear comparison turns dense results into an immediate proof moment: publisher-direct baseline versus continuous PurePlay optimization.
+17% More Efficient Cost Per Store Visit
+8% Agentic Optimization
INCREMENTAL LIFT
+9% Multimodal Analysis Only
EXCEEDS BENCHMARK
KEY INSIGHTS
WHAT PUREPLAY OPTIMIZED
PLANNING INTELLIGENCE ADDS VALUE
Publisher-direct placements also outperformed benchmarks when informed by PurePlay’s pre-campaign analysis.
CONTINUOUS OPTIMIZATION CREATED LIFT
The reported eight-point gap between the test lines showed the incremental value of autonomous optimization.
PurePlay is the first platform I've seen that seamlessly integrates competitive intelligence, creative intelligence, and a real-time feedback performance loop into a single, operationalized campaign.
CAROLINE PROTO
Senior Director of Global Media, EssilorLuxottica
RETAIL MEDIA
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR RETAIL
PurePlay’s dual-value approach can support publisher-direct, programmatic, or hybrid media strategies. Multimodal intelligence strengthens planning, while continuous optimization adds measurable lift for brands ready to scale. The results open new possibilities for store-tiered optimization, always-on visitation loops, regional creative versioning, and predictive bidding that anticipates competitive pressure before it materializes.
CURIOUS HOW PUREPLAY AI CAN TRANSFORM YOUR BRAND WITH CTV ADVERTISING?
