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smec is a Drum Awards Finalist in the Search category for their work with River Island, a leading UK fashion retailer. By using the smec Campaign Orchestrator, River Island successfully replaced their static “Hero/Zombie” approach, with a dynamic, AI-driven approach, to achieve a +34% increase in revenue for their Kidswear category and a +33% increase in Womenswear. This nomination recognizes smec’s ability to align AI-powered automation with unique business goals.
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The Challenge: Escaping the “Hero/Zombie” Trap in PMax
The “Hero/Zombie” trap is a common PMax limitation where a static campaign structure leaves 80-90% of a product catalog data-starved. River Island faced this exact hurdle. Because traditional Google Ads strategies rely on historical performance, new arrivals and seasonal trends were systematically deprioritized.
This created a “vicious cycle” of invisibility:
- New products had no data.
- No data meant no visibility in PMax.
- No visibility meant no sales, forcing items into the “longtail” or “zombie” bucket.
For a trend-led retailer like River Island, letting 90% of the catalog stay invisible was not an option. They needed a way to move from reactive manual buckets to proactive, AI-driven orchestration.
The Solution:
smec Campaign Orchestrator
The smec Campaign Orchestrator is an AI-powered PPC platform that gives advertisers more control in Performance Max and Standard Shopping by using multi-dimensional product segmentation and predictive modeling. Unlike generic tools, smec also acts as a strategic partner to the PPC Manager. To solve the River Island challenge, the solution focused on three pillars:
1. SmartScoreAI: Solving Data Scarcity
SmartScoreAI is a predictive AI model that evaluates a product’s potential using a “neighbourhood effect” rather than just historical data. By analyzing shared attributes like brand, price range, color and seasonality, the system assigns a performance score to all products, even those that never received a click. This prevents “hidden champions” from being wrongly categorized as zombies.
2. Dynamic Segments: Strategy-First Grouping
Dynamic Segments allow retailers to group products based on real-time market signals and business goals. River Island utilized four specific segments:
- High-potential growth: Products with rising momentum pushed aggressively.
- Efficiency-focused: Stable demand products grouped to protect ROAS.
- Exploration: New arrivals gathering data to surface future winners.
- Low-priority: Products maintained with minimal budget consumption.
3. Smart Budget Allocation
Smart Budget Allocation unifies management across an entire account, ensuring budgets follow opportunity rather than staying trapped in campaign silos. This allowed River Island to shift investment holistically to where it would generate the most total profit.
Performance Comparison:
River Island Results
The following data represents the impact of moving to an AI-driven orchestration model over a 4-month period:
| Category | Revenue Growth | Order Increase | ROAS Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Womenswear | +33% | +32% | +15% |
| Kidswear | +34% | +30% | +19.2% |
“With smec’s Campaign Orchestrator and SmartScoreAI, we finally unlocked the potential of PMax. We now make data-driven decisions and continuously grow revenue while maintaining strong ROAS.”
— Elvis Mugera, Paid Media Lead at River Island
Why This Matters
for Ecommerce Leaders
AI is not strategic by itself; it requires a steering layer to align with real business context. For PPC Managers and Heads of Ecommerce, the River Island case study proves that taking back control of PMax is possible.
By leveraging smec technology, brands can:
- Empower the Longtail: Give every SKU a fair chance to perform.
- Eliminate Silos: Manage budgets at the account level for maximum impact.
- Protect Margins: Move beyond surface-level ROAS to optimize for total profit.
Outlook:
The Future of PPC Management
We predict that by 2026, organizations that adopt an “orchestration” mindset today—treating AI as a collaborator rather than a black box—will secure a dominant share of the market. smec remains committed to growing ecommerce together with our partners through this technological evolution. This forward-thinking approach is exactly why smec is a 2026 Drum Awards Finalist in the Search category for their work with River Island, a leading UK fashion retailer. This nomination recognizes smec’s ability to align AI-powered automation with unique business goals and reinforces their position as a leader in the PPC space.
Who is smec?
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) is a leading PPC software provider and performance marketing agency that helps ecommerce brands achieve better business outcomes through AI-driven optimization of Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising.
Our commitment to innovation and excellence in the search landscape is reflected in our recent industry recognitions:
- Drum Awards Finalist 2026 (Search)
- European Search Media Awards Finalist 2026
- UK Paid Media Awards Finalist 2026
- Google Impact Awards Finalist 2025
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