We had a campaign that completely flopped in the US. I mean, it was supposed to be our big launch moment for a client, and the engagement was maybe 40% of what we’d forecasted. The worst part wasn’t the numbers—it was the silence from the brand team, wondering how we’d missed the mark so badly.
But here’s where it gets interesting: the client has this secondary following of Russian-speaking diaspora communities on Instagram and TikTok. When the campaign content leaked into those spaces, it resonated. Like, surprisingly well. We’re talking 3x engagement rates compared to the US placement.
It took us a while to understand why. The messaging that felt generic and corporate to a US audience felt raw and honest to the diaspora communities. We’d used language that spoke to immigrant values—rebuilding, persistence, not forgetting where you came from—but we’d framed it in a way that didn’t land for mainstream American creators. It landed immediately for creators who had that cultural reference point.
So instead of sweeping this under the rug, we actually pivoted mid-campaign. We apologized to the original client (they were surprisingly understanding), and we reached out to creators who were already engaging with the content in diaspora spaces. We asked them what was working. They told us, and we rebuilt the campaign strategy around their insights.
The lesson for me was: sometimes a “failure” in one market is actually a message looking for the right audience. We just weren’t looking at the right geography initially.
Has anyone else had a campaign that tanked in the expected market but succeeded somewhere completely different?
This is such a beautiful story of pivoting and actually listening to what the audience was trying to tell you. Honestly, this is how I’ve learned to think about “failures”—they’re usually just misdirected successes. I’ve started actively reaching out to diaspora communities and micro-communities that are adjacent to the main campaign target, because they often see something the mainstream audience misses. What strikes me about your story is that you didn’t hide the mistake; you leaned into it. That takes courage, especially with a client. Did that transparent approach actually deepen your relationship with them, or did it create some tension initially?
Okay, I need the specifics here because this could change how we think about campaign testing. You said the diaspora engagement was 3x higher than the US placement—but was that 3x in absolute terms, or as a percentage of exposed audience? Because diaspora communities are often smaller but more intentional in their engagement. Also, did you measure sentiment? I’m asking because high engagement numbers don’t always mean positive brand perception. Sometimes controversial or “othering” content gets engagement for the wrong reasons. Did you validate that the diaspora audience was actually connecting with the brand message, or just the cultural resonance?
This actually gives me hope for something we’re struggling with. We have a product that’s designed for Russian-speaking countries, but we’re trying to expand into the US, and the messaging that works at home feels off here. But reading this, I’m wondering: should we stop trying to make one message work everywhere and instead double down on the diaspora communities as a launch pad? Like, build authentic community there first, then expand outward? Is that a viable go-to-market strategy, or am I overthinking this?
Also, when you pivoted and brought in creators from the diaspora communities, were you paying them differently, or did they already have existing relationships with the brand’s product?
I really respect that you own this story—most agencies would bury it. But I have a practical question: how do you bill for this kind of pivot? Were you able to position this as “campaign optimization” that kept the budget roughly the same, or did you need to ask the client for more resources to execute the diaspora-focused version? Because I can see how this should work strategically, but I also need to know if it’s a model I can actually pitch to clients without tanking my margins.
Also, did you run this pivoted campaign in parallel with still trying to make the US approach work, or did you fully kill the original strategy and go all-in on the diaspora angle?
As a creator myself, I’m really curious about the creators you brought in from the diaspora communities. Did they feel like you were exploiting the moment, or did they see it as an opportunity to be heard? I ask because I’ve been in situations where a brand comes to me after my “niche” audience does the work for them, and it can feel like they’re only interested in me because my community is convenient, not because they respect my work. How did you approach that conversation?
And honestly, did those diaspora creators continue working with the brand after the campaign, or was it a one-off thing?
And second question: now that you’ve identified this diaspora audience as valuable, are you building this into your campaign planning framework for future clients, or was it more of a one-time learning?