Client Spotlight: The Digital Evolution of Deadly Ponies
As digital chemists, PH Digital is in the business of creating enduring bonds and reactions that matter. These are the essential catalysts for growth that underpin the PH formula, and separate our clients from the competition.
In this interview, Deadly Ponies founder and creative director Liam Bowden talks about building the brand's first website from scratch, and how PH Digital has supported their digital evolution with a holistic performance marketing strategy that's driving both in-store and online sales.
In the nearly 20 years since Deadly Ponies was founded, the rise of e-commerce and digital marketing has completely transformed the way we shop. How has the look and feel of the brand evolved alongside these changes?
Over the years, the look and feel of Deadly Ponies has evolved significantly, shifting every three to five years throughout our nearly 20-year journey. When we started, I had just graduated with a degree in graphic design. I built our first website from scratch – this was before e-commerce, before Google, and before digital marketing as we know it. Our approach has always been that we’re a work-in-progress – moving between brand storytelling and commercial objectives, and adapting with changes in consumer behaviour.
What has growing your online footprint taught you about the necessity of engaging with specialists in their field?
As with that first website, we’ve often tried to tackle things ourselves at the outset, as a way of understanding the process. This has been both a strength and a limitation. While it allows us to learn, it can sometimes slow us down in reaching decisions or outcomes.
These days, we collaborate more with specialists in various fields. Building trust in these partnerships can be challenging, especially when handing over creative control, whether the brief is targeting an audience or managing a photoshoot. Our partnership with PH has been incredibly successful in that sense. Over time, we’ve built a strong relationship based on mutual trust, which has allowed us to be adaptable and align more effectively with each other’s ways of working.
How has outsourcing your performance marketing strategy to PH Digital enhanced your knowledge of the paid digital landscape?
Every meeting or update with PH feels like a mini-lesson on the ever-changing digital landscape. From marketing trends, to platform updates and new regulations around digital advertising, I don’t need – or particularly want! – to know every detail. But staying informed ensures we’re prepared for changes, and not left behind.
Can you give some specific examples of how PH Digital has impacted your business growth?
Together with PH, we’ve developed a growth-focused strategy that has driven significant year-on-year growth. Looking at the last quarter, and removing from the stats a two-week period where we ran a huge, one-off sale in 2023, our online store sales are up 54% from last year which, given the current climate, is something we’re incredibly proud of. Alongside this we’ve focused on top-of-funnel creative strategies to attract new customers, which has been highly effective, reducing our cost per click by 28%.
This year, we also implemented a new strategy for social ads, gradually increasing our spend while maintaining a steady ROAS. This careful approach has again resulted in a strong uplift in online sales, made possible by the deeply trusting and collaborative relationship we have with PH.
Handcrafted by skilled artisans using the highest quality, sustainable materials, the bringing to life of a Deadly Ponies bag is a very tangible and time-consuming process. What motivates you to stick to this business model when there are faster, more economical avenues to sourcing and manufacturing?
For me, it’s really simple. There’s a deep sense of pride in creating products that last – using materials that reflect that ethos.
Your beautiful boutiques are of course the heart of your business. Why is it important to you to have a physical presence in an increasingly digital world?
Having a physical presence, like our stores, allows customers to experience our products firsthand. It also gives us valuable direct feedback, whether it’s about a colour choice or the length of a strap – insights that are harder to gather online.
Interestingly, we see customers blending their online and offline experiences. Many come into the stores with their phones, asking to see specific products they’ve spotted online. Others visit after receiving our emails or seeing our digital campaigns. The two channels work hand-in-hand, growing in tandem. For example, since opening our Queenstown location, we’ve noticed an increase in online sales from that region. The synergy between our physical and digital presence continues to drive our success.
Discover Deadly Ponies at deadlyponies.com