PROOF drives 25%+ of sales with AppLovin
PROOF is an Ohio-based wallet and accessories brand for men founded in 2024 by Chet and Dana Peters, two brothers and U.S. Marines. The brand was founded with a commitment to serving their country by serving their community. With this mission, the PROOF Wallet was born, combining RFID-blocking technology, aerospace-grade aluminum, and an intuitive card access mechanism in a streamlined design.
PROOF is guided by the belief that customers are a business’s most valuable asset. This philosophy drives the brand’s guarantee: every PROOF product is backed by a full warranty, whether they’re damaged, stolen, or lost, for life.
Prioritizing performance across the board
PROOF’s team is highly analytical and constantly tests, measures, and iterates not only in their product development but also in their digital marketing strategy. With a premium product—wallets starting at $125—PROOF serves a core audience that’s well researched and discerning. From the beginning, PROOF has successfully articulated its mission in ads, helping the brand gain traction and build trust with its customers.
Looking to scale further, the team explored new digital marketing channels that could reach more customers. They saw mobile games as an untapped opportunity and partnered with AppLovin to test it, launching cost-per-purchase (CPP) and ROAS campaigns focused on driving efficient, measurable growth.
“As we build PROOF, it’s critical that our brand is one people can trust 100%. That means doing right by our customers at every step—from the first ad they see, to the day their wallet arrives in the mail, to years down the line if they ever need to use our lifetime guarantee. To make that happen, we need partners we can trust. AppLovin is one of those partners and has proven to be exceptionally valuable when it comes to bringing in new customers with remarkable efficiency.”Dana Peters, Co-founder
Showcasing founding story and product quality in ads
The team maintained a steady cadence of creative testing, launching multiple new video and end card combinations each week. They found success by authentically communicating what sets the brand apart: ads that highlighted PROOF’s founding story and commitment to doing right by employees and customers consistently emerged as top performers. The unskippable nature of AppLovin’s inventory was the perfect medium to communicate these principles to a new audience.
Measuring impact with third-party platforms
Leveraging Triple Whale to measure performance across marketing channels, PROOF was able to evaluate AppLovin’s impact alongside its entire marketing mix. AppLovin became one of PROOF’s largest channels, driving over 25% of sales, and compared to their prior leading social ads platform, delivered:
- 9% higher ROAS
- 17% lower CPA
When it came to acquiring new customers—those who had not previously bought the brand’s products—AppLovin’s performance was particularly strong. Compared to other social digital ads platforms, AppLovin drove:
- 11% higher New Customer ROAS
- 19% lower New Customer CPA
To validate the distinct value AppLovin drives, independent of other channels, the team used Triple Whale’s Moby Agent to run a daily correlation analysis of ad spend on their prior largest social ads platform versus AppLovin outcomes. The verdict was that there is virtually no immediate relationship between fluctuations in spend on other platforms and AppLovin performance, confirming that AppLovin delivers incremental impact.
Validating impact with post-purchase surveys
PROOF uses KnoCommerce post-purchase surveys to understand how customers first hear about the brand. In the two months following launch with AppLovin, as PROOF increased its investment on AppLovin’s platform by 47%, the team saw a 49% increase in customers selecting “gaming ad” as their answer to the survey question "How did you hear about us the first time?"
This insight further validated AppLovin’s impact on driving new customers, giving the PROOF team the confidence to scale their investment on the platform, increasing weekly revenue driven by AppLovin by 3x.
Takeaways for Advertisers
Test as many new videos and end cards as possible to maximize campaign scale and performance. The most successful brands on the platform have hundreds of ads live.
Test ads that authentically highlight your brand’s founding story, which can build powerful connections with consumers.
Leverage post-purchase surveys to learn how customers first learn about your brand—a powerful insight into which channels are driving top-of-funnel value.