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OLLY's retail partners wanted proof. Now they have it, a win at three retailers at once.
In one twelve-day window, OLLY ran simultaneous back-to-school creator campaigns at Walmart, Target, and Costco. Every retailer beat industry engagement benchmarks, giving OLLY's sales team, retail partners, and leadership something concrete to see.
Three things every growing wellness brand should take from OLLY's push
OLLY's sales team and retail partners kept asking what content was backing them at retail. This campaign gave OLLY something concrete to show: real, retailer-specific creator content from Walmart, Target, and Costco.
OLLY ran all three retailer programs in the exact same twelve-day back-to-school window, each with its own creative angle, turning three retailers into one national story.
The back-to-school push is already shaping how OLLY is thinking about an upcoming Target-exclusive launch and its plans for next year.
Retailers wanted proof of support, not just posts
OLLY's sales team and retail partners kept asking the same question: what is the brand team actually doing to support us? Organic social had a harder time proving that support at retail scale, while paid media could scale reach more easily, but without the same retailer specificity.
Halee Sanchez, OLLY's Senior Social Media Manager, said the fit with Hummingbirds felt serendipitous. OLLY could own the content it produced, reuse it in paid media, and work with a partner willing to operate inside OLLY's regulatory constraints around claims and compliance, a real requirement for a wellness brand that routes every product-related message through a regulatory team before it goes out.
One national back-to-school moment, three retailers
Between July 17 and July 28, 2026, OLLY ran simultaneous creator campaigns at Walmart, Target, and Costco, activating in close to 78 major U.S. markets nationwide in the same twelve-day window. Rather than running one retailer program at a time, OLLY showed up everywhere back-to-school shopping actually happens, all at once, with each retailer getting its own creative angle: Walmart leaned into the in-store discovery moment, Target tied OLLY to daily back-to-school and back-to-college routines, and Costco framed OLLY as a bulk-stock wellness essential.
The creators behind this push were not influencers or celebrities. They were everyday parents, teachers, and students already running their own back-to-school errands, the same people OLLY's actual shoppers see themselves in. A parent filling a cart at Walmart or a college student stocking up at Target reads as something a shopper can picture doing too, which is exactly why the content moved product instead of just moving past the feed.
The reach and resonance leader
Walmart's creator cohort reached 555K combined followers and posted a 12.28% engagement rate by reach, the single strongest number anywhere in the push, more than 4x the top of the 1–7% industry benchmark.
The top-of-funnel winner
410 creators raised their hand to join, the most interest of any retailer in the push. That enthusiasm translated into the most Reel views anywhere in the campaign, at 35K+.
Proof reach isn't the whole story
Costco had the smallest combined follower reach of the three retailers, yet still cleared the top of the 1–7% industry benchmark with a 7.55% engagement rate by reach. The smallest audience did not mean a smaller reaction.
A repeatable playbook, not a one-off win
Demand outpaced supply, everywhere
1K+ creators wanted in on this back-to-school moment. OLLY selected a disciplined, consistent 48-creator cohort at every single retailer, the same structure repeated three times rather than three different approaches.
Every retailer cleared the bar
Walmart, Target, and Costco each posted an engagement rate by reach above the top of the 1 to 7 percent industry benchmark. This was not one strong retailer carrying the average. It was three for three.
Real time back for a lean team
Between campaign writing, creative ideation, and creator coordination, the push is estimated to have saved OLLY's team roughly 158 hours, nearly a month of work reclaimed across three simultaneous programs.
At $50 per creator, the entire twelve-day push worked out to roughly $1.41 per engagement and $0.075 per Reel view, a low cost for 96K+ organic video views and 5K+ direct engagements in under two weeks.
Every retailer beat the benchmark
Across Walmart, Target, and Costco, average engagement by reach landed at 8.78 percent against a 1 to 7 percent industry standard. No single retailer carried the average alone.
Want a seasonal retail moment like OLLY's for your brand?
More from our Q&A with OLLY
How did OLLY find Hummingbirds, and what problem were you solving?
Halee Sanchez called the fit serendipitous. OLLY's sales team and retail partners kept asking what content the brand was sharing to support retailers like Target and Walmart, and organic social had a harder time proving that support at retail scale. Hummingbirds stood out because OLLY could own the content, reuse it in paid media, and work within OLLY's regulatory constraints around claims and compliance.
Was Hummingbirds also a way to build local retail awareness?
Yes. For larger moments like back-to-school, the value was in generating a high volume of conversation about where to find OLLY, which products were available at each retailer, and who they were for. Seeing creators talk about Target, Walmart, and Costco helped create broad, retailer-level conversation that OLLY could then extend into paid media.
Which Hummingbirds campaign has stood out as especially successful?
The back-to-school campaign, by a wide margin. Halee described the content as really, really stellar, and specifically called out Walmart for strong quality and variety. The campaign also surfaced useful learnings for future briefs, including royalty free music compliance and clearer creative watch-outs.
What's next for OLLY and Hummingbirds?
OLLY has an upcoming Target-exclusive product launch, with specific products still confidential, and hundreds of creators making unique in-store content is helping show internal stakeholders the value of the platform. The team is already discussing what its Q1 2027 plans could look like.