Gorgie
Scaling a women-first energy brand on Amazon
Services
amazon
performance creative
branding
Links
Overview
Gorgie is a zero-sugar energy drink brand built by and for its community - with fans voting on flavors, product names, and brand decisions. As the brand expanded from sparkling RTD cans into energy powders and hydration sticks, it partnered with Darkroom to build an Amazon presence that could scale revenue while maintaining the efficiency needed to support a multi-format product strategy.
Outcomes
352
Keywords with page-1 sponsored placements
38%
More efficient TACOS than forecasted (18% actual vs. 29% projected)
01
Community-driven brand, commoditized category
Gorgie had built something rare in the energy drink space - a genuine community that shaped the product. But Amazon doesn't reward community loyalty the same way social media does. The energy drink category on Amazon is one of the most competitive and ad-saturated verticals in CPG, where established brands like Celsius, Alani Nu, and Monster dominate search placement and new entrants get buried fast. Gorgie needed more than strong creative - it needed a keyword strategy that could capture high-intent generic searches alongside branded defense, an ad architecture that structured Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and DSP into a system rather than isolated campaigns, and a financial model that could guide the shift from revenue-first to profitability-first as the brand expanded into higher-margin powder and hydration formats.
02
Page-one dominance across 352 keywords
Darkroom partnered with Gorgie to build an Amazon advertising architecture organized by intent - branded defense, category and high-intent generics, competitor conquesting, and product-level campaigns - with daily pacing tracked through a custom flight plan dashboard. The team achieved sponsored placements on 352 tracked keywords, page 1 on every one of them, with 45 at the #1 position and 115 in the top 3. Brand defense held tight with three of four branded terms at #1 sponsored, and competitor conquesting campaigns captured share from category incumbents.
Conversion analysis confirmed the strategy was reaching the right shoppers: 58% of purchases happened within 10 minutes of ad click. As the brand scaled past consistent six-figure weekly revenue, Darkroom drove actual TACOS to 18% against a 29% forecast - 38% more efficient than projected. The team then supported Gorgie's strategic pivot from volume to profitability, restructuring media spend to prioritize higher-margin energy powder and GORGIE Glow formats over RTD cans.
