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DOE Media
DOE Media

DOE Media Helps Rumored Surge 500% in Revenue, Elevating It From Startup to Prominent Fashion Brand

120%

Increase YoY from Year 1 → Year 2

180%

Increase YoY from Year 2 → Year 3

+500%

Overall revenue growth in the first three years

Rumored, a bold and adventurous fashion startup based in New Jersey, partnered with DOE Media to help scale their business. With a small team and a modest advertising budget, Rumored was determined to carve out a niche space in a competitive market dominated by established players.

Over the next few years, with DOE Media’s strategic guidance, the brand rapidly evolved into a leading fashion name, attracting celebrity attention and sustaining robust, year-over-year growth.

The Challenge

Rumored entered their partnership with DOE Media eager to scale—but they needed more than ambition to go toe-to-toe with industry giants.

Minimal Advertising Experience:

Before partnering with DOE, Rumored’s advertising efforts were limited to a single Meta product catalog campaign with no structured funnel or audience segmentation. They required a full-funnel strategy to convert top-of-funnel prospects into loyal buyers.

Post-iOS
Tracking Problems:

The iOS 14 update disrupted their tracking and attribution, causing their cost per acquisition (CPA) to spike, disrupting established advertising tactics and capabilities—removing the insights needed to optimize ad spend.

Undefined Niche in a
Crowded Market:

Competing with brands like Princess Polly and White Fox, Rumored aimed to sit between high-end and accessible pricing—but new customers were hesitant to take a chance on an unknown label without strong brand trust. However, once they experienced an entry-level piece that fused on-trend design with genuine longevity, many returned to invest in higher-ticket items, recognizing Rumored’s dedication to craftsmanship and timeless appeal.

Lack of
Google Strategy:

They had no structured Google campaigns to reach new users or capitalize on the platform’s discovery and shopping potential. Their early growth leaned heavily on Meta, but future scale required tapping into Google’s search, display, YouTube, and shopping capabilities.

Seasonality &
Creative Fatigue:

Frequent shifts in customer demand (wedding season, date night, swimwear launches) meant that static creatives and broad audience targeting left opportunities on the table. The brand needed agile campaigns that adapted to fast-moving trends.

The Solutions

DOE Media created a full-funnel, multichannel strategy that gave Rumored the momentum to optimize ad performance and address marketing challenges while continuing to compete, evolve, and grow.

Meta (Facebook & Instagram)

Audience Segmentation + Persona-Based Targeting:

To connect Rumored’s offerings to the right buyer, we targeted audiences with specific persona-based interests, including:

  • Festival-Goers — Individuals who regularly attend high-profile music festivals (e.g., Lollapalooza, Coachella, Bonnaroo) and seek dynamic, trend-forward fashion.
  • City Dwellers & Urban Trendsetters: Those embracing the “fall girl” lifestyle—keen on Starbucks, pets, and everyday style—seeking on-trend pieces to elevate their urban routines.
  • Fashion Publication Readers: Consumers who actively follow fashion magazines, blogs, and sources like Vogue, Elle, or Cosmopolitan for the latest style insights.
  • Stylist Combos: Professionals within the fashion industry (personal stylists, stylist assistants, etc.) who aim to stay current on fresh styles and designer offerings.

We segmented the campaigns to engage both style-conscious and cost-conscious consumers, tailoring messages that resonated with each group.

Building a Full-Funnel Strategy:

  • 90% of budget was allocated to net-new customer acquisition
  • 10% focused on strategic retargeting—site visitors, cart abandoners, and past purchasers—translating initial curiosity into conversions.
  • This balanced mix consistently brought in newcomers while ensuring past browsers returned to purchase.

Hand-Selected Quality & Product Drop Cadence:

A key differentiator for Rumored is the owner’s personal touch in hand-selecting each piece of clothing, ensuring high quality. We capitalized on this by focusing marketing efforts on regular product drops, which kept the audience engaged and maintained a steady flow of traffic to the website. With each new drop, we reinforced the brand’s value, allowing customers to experience and trust the quality firsthand.

Google Campaigns

Shopping + Search Strategy:

  • Broke out brand vs. non-brand terms and applied advanced bidding strategies.
  • Restructured PerformanceMax campaigns to separate prospecting from remarketing.
  • Implemented customer acquisition bidding and excluded purchasers from prospecting sets.

Competitor URL Targeting:

  • Built audiences based on traffic to key competitors and emerging brands—beginning with early competitors like Princess Polly and reaching up market to Revolve and Aritzia as the brand image evolved.
  • Targeted “people who visit these sites or are like them” to expand reach efficiently.

Capsule Collections + FOMO Tactics:

  • Built seasonal drops into Google campaigns for mini collections: Valentine’s Day, date night, wedding season, weather-based styling edits.
  • Used content refreshes + remarketing lists to notify past customers of new sales (especially pieces they'd viewed), while encouraging them to take advantage because they were likely to sell out quickly.

Swimwear Launch Campaigns:

  • Launched 1st-time offering for curated swimwear collection.
  • Built travel-based and travel in-market affinity audiences based on the psychology of a swimwear buyer:
  • Travel affinity: travel buffs, beach goers, and nightlife enthusiasts.
  • Travel in-market: trips by destination (tropical), cruisers, vacation packages, and vacation rentals.
  • Targeted geo-specific audiences: Miami pool parties and Las Vegas day clubs—where Rumored’s new swimwear shined and many of recently targeted audiences were likely to go.

The Results

the rumors are true

by the numbers

Under DOE Media’s direction, Rumored made significant strides over multiple years, translating an ambitious vision into measurable outcomes:

Over 130% Growth in the First 30 Days

By channeling early efforts into top-of-funnel prospects, Rumored quickly boosted sales in the initial month of partnership, setting a strong precedent for the longer term.

revenue growth over time

+120%

Increase year-over-year (YoY) from Year 1 → Year 2—demonstrating how a robust funnel strategy and historical data usage propelled the brand forward.

+180%

Increase YoY from Year 2 → Year 3— underscoring Rumored’s evolving product lines and audience targeting.

+500%

Overall revenue growth in the first three years since partnering with DOE Media, underscoring the brand’s flourishing success.

Top Performing Collections

Capsule collections and sale refreshes helped maintain engagement and drive seasonal spikes across platforms.

Strong Funnel Performance

  • Meta + Google combo resulted in high conversion from new users and returning buyers.
  • Remarketing lists grew consistently and provided efficient ROAS at scale.

Lowered Customer Acquisition Costs

  • First-time buyer CPA dropped over time due to refined audience targeting and platform segmentation.
  • Retargeting CPAs remained low due to consistent email and ad synergy.

Celebrity Spotlight: Taylor Swift

  • Taylor Swift wore Rumored’s top (in two different colors) during her album rollout for The Tortured Poets Department and her 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards speech, unknowingly catapulting the brand into the global spotlight.
  • At first, the purchase flew under the radar, as Swift used an alias when shopping through Facebook ads. Once the brand recognized her in photos and videos, DOE Media quickly shared the news across social channels and ramped up retargeting, driving a sudden sell-out the next day.
  • The episode demonstrated how timely marketing and celebrity exposure can yield a dramatic, short-term spike in both revenue and brand awareness.

Operational Growth &
Sustainable Ad Spend Scaling

Capitalizing on rising revenue, Rumored scaled daily ad spend by 3200% while preserving profitability—an indicator of the brand’s robust product-market fit paired with DOE Media’s consistent, data-driven management.

Opened a third warehouse to keep up with rising demand.

What’s Next?

After effectively navigating iOS changes, building a multi-layered ad funnel, and capturing new audiences, Rumored’s future is brimming with opportunities and shows no signs of slowing down. Here’s what’s ahead:

New Product Lines + Seasonal Drops

DOE is supporting future drops, holiday collections, and exclusive edits to keep buzz high and carts full while making sure to stay ahead of trends.

Expanding Into New Markets

DOE is supporting future drops, holiday collections, and exclusive edits to keep buzz high and carts full while making sure to stay ahead of trends.

Platform Diversification

Investing in content marketing, influencer partnerships, and broader platform tests to deepen community engagement.

Retention & Personalization

DOE is building personalized post-purchase flows and dynamic remarketing strategies to delight first-time buyers and keep loyal fans returning—all while increasing lifetime value.

Rumored’s journey is a masterclass in thoughtful scaling—taking the right risks, investing in clarity, and staying true to their unique voice. In just two years, Rumored nearly quadrupled its revenue, proving that data-backed decision-making, a full-funnel approach, and creative audience targeting can transform a bold vision into a thriving reality.

With DOE Media behind the strategy, what started as a niche brand grew into a fashion powerhouse seen on timelines, red carpets, and top search pages alike.

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