Winning Over Consumers: How Branded Content Helped Cashrewards Build Trust And Increase Consideration

Brand and Campaign Objective
Cashrewards, a leading Australian cashback platform, partnered with Avid Collective to address two key goals: strengthening brand trust and increasing recall during high-shopping periods. Cashrewards aimed to position itself as the go-to platform for value-driven shopping, particularly during peak retail events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM). To achieve this, Cashrewards needed to build credibility among a diverse audience base and address the perception that cashback offers were “too good to be true.”
Audience Challenge
Cashrewards faced two significant challenges in achieving its objectives:
- Building Trust and Driving Consideration: Many consumers found the concept of earning cashback suspicious, perceiving it as too good to be true. This skepticism created a barrier for new user acquisition, as potential customers hesitated to engage with the platform. Establishing trust was essential for Cashrewards to drive meaningful consideration and encourage sign-ups.
- Recall During Key Shopping Events: The rise in consumer spending during November’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday presented Cashrewards with a major opportunity to increase user engagement and drive more frequent transactions. However, the retail market is especially crowded during this period, with numerous brands vying for attention with aggressive promotions. Cashrewards needed to stand out and ensure that consumers associated its platform with these key shopping events, driving recall and motivating shoppers to use Cashrewards for their purchases.
Why Branded Content Was Essential
Branded content emerged as a key component of Cashrewards’ strategy to break through the noise and effectively engage a wide array of audiences with varied shopping interests. The approach allowed Cashrewards to achieve several strategic objectives:
Attention: In a highly competitive retail environment, capturing and holding consumer attention was crucial. Branded content allowed Cashrewards to share its value proposition in a more engaging, story-driven format, which helped build positive memory structures that could drive recall when audiences were ready to shop.
Trust: Since some consumers viewed cashback offers skeptically, building trust was essential. By leveraging trusted publishers to communicate Cashrewards’ benefits, the brand was able to add a layer of credibility that would not be possible through direct advertising alone.
Education: Many consumers were unfamiliar with how cashback works, and Cashrewards needed to explain the concept in a digestible way. Branded content allowed for a more nuanced approach to educating consumers, providing detailed yet relatable explanations without overwhelming them.
Relevance: To build strong brand associations with key shopping moments, Cashrewards needed to appear in front of audiences during critical decision-making times. Branded content delivered contextually relevant messaging that aligned Cashrewards with BFCM and other high-intent shopping periods, making it easier for consumers to recall the brand when they were in the market to shop.
Content Strategy and Approach
Avid Collective developed a content strategy that combined always-on content with tactical bursts for peak shopping events such as BFCM and End of Financial Year (EOFY). This multi-layered approach enabled Cashrewards to maintain a consistent presence in consumers’ minds while also maximizing visibility during periods of high shopping intent.
Key elements of the content strategy included:
Audience Insights: Through continuous testing, Avid identified audience segments that were most likely to engage with Cashrewards, including mums, Gen Z, and value-focused professionals. These insights informed publisher selection and content style, ensuring that the messaging was authentic and resonated with each group.
Vertical Targeting: By analysing which shopping verticals (such as fashion, electronics, and home goods) attracted the most interest, Cashrewards tailored its content to connect with specific audience needs, driving relevance and engagement.
Tangible Examples: To make the concept of cashback more relatable, content included specific product and service examples available through Cashrewards. This approach made it easier for audiences to understand the benefits and take action.

Multi-Publisher Execution
To maximize credibility, engagement, and relevance, Avid Collective partnered with a range of trusted lifestyle publishers to deliver Cashrewards’ message to diverse audiences. Each publisher targeted a unique demographic, allowing Cashrewards to reach varied audience segments with tailored messaging:
Mum’s Lounge: Content was tailored to highlight relatable purchase examples and exclusive offers for mums, with Cashrewards Day adding urgency. This content achieved strong dwell times, showing high engagement among the target audience of mothers looking for value in their everyday purchases.

Mouths of Mums: Positioned as an advocate for savvy shopping, Mouths of Mums emphasized the quality of Cashrewards’ retail partners. With 90% of clicks coming from the sign-up link, this content demonstrated strong intent, effectively driving conversions among an audience focused on budget-friendly shopping.

Marie Claire: Targeting fashion-forward readers, Marie Claire highlighted the breadth of brands available through Cashrewards, particularly in fashion, beauty, and retail. This content had the highest click-through rate (CTR) in the campaign, successfully educating and converting an audience interested in premium shopping.

Daily Mail: The first article generated excitement for BFCM offers, positioning Cashrewards as the ultimate “shopping hack.” A second article focused on a “Parking Fines” PR activation, increasing brand awareness and driving urgency by framing the offer as breaking news.

Boss Hunting: Aimed at financially savvy single- and double-income professionals (SINKs and DINKs), Boss Hunting framed Cashrewards as a smart shopping tool for BFCM. With clear examples and simple sign-up instructions, this content resonated with value-conscious professionals, generating strong engagement and dwell times.

Time Out: Focused on urban lifestyle seekers, Time Out promoted Cashrewards’ range of experiences and retail options, attracting readers interested in both practical savings and entertainment.

This multi-publisher approach ensured that Cashrewards’ message was delivered through trusted voices to a broad spectrum of potential users, building credibility and reinforcing the brand’s association with smart shopping during key retail events.
Results and Impact
The campaign produced exceptional results across both the always-on and tactical content bursts:
Total Attention Time: The campaign generated over 772 hours of attention time, demonstrating that audiences were not only engaged but also spent substantial time absorbing Cashrewards’ message. This increased attention time was a strong indicator of message comprehension and brand recall.
Reduced Bounce Rates: Cashrewards saw a 25% reduction in bounce rates, indicating that audiences who engaged with content via Avid’s publications were more likely to stay on Cashrewards’ website, explore its offerings, and potentially convert.
Black Friday & Cyber Monday (BFCM) Success: The BFCM campaign drove almost 700 clicks to the Cashrewards sign-up page within a 4-day burst, highlighting strong intent from new customers. This tactical burst was highly effective in capturing new users during a peak shopping period.
EOFY Engagement: The EOFY campaign exceeded dwell time benchmarks on Time Out and Boss Hunting by 2.3x and 1.3x, respectively, reflecting the success of branded content in keeping audiences engaged during key shopping periods.
Client Testimonial
“Our partnership with Avid Collective has tripled the range and impact of what we would normally be able to achieve. Audiences are much more likely to stay and engage with our website now as a result of coming via Avid’s publications—our bounce rate is 25% lower. Plus, we are seeing stronger conversions as well.”
Conclusion
Cashrewards’ partnership with Avid Collective demonstrates the power of branded content in overcoming skepticism and building trust with new audiences. By leveraging trusted publishers and aligning content with high-intent shopping periods, Cashrewards effectively reached diverse consumer segments with messaging that resonated and drove action.
The results speak to the success of this approach, with increased attention time, reduced bounce rates, and high engagement during BFCM and EOFY. Through strategic use of branded content, Cashrewards not only reinforced its position as a credible, valuable platform for cashback but also significantly expanded its reach in a highly competitive market. This case study underscores how branded content, combined with data-driven targeting and publisher partnerships, can create meaningful brand impact in the competitive landscape of e-commerce and cashback services.