Profitable growth in 20+ markets
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Karhu is a Finnish sports brand with a long history of performance products, ranging from skis to running shoes. The latter category remains the core of the brand. Today, Karhu operates globally, with a strong presence in Europe, North America, Australia, and Japan. The brand focuses on two distinct categories: Running and Lifestyle. Running technology is also increasingly being incorporated into Lifestyle sneakers.
Karhu's figures
SCALING INTERNATIONAL GROWTH
Karhu wanted to grow further internationally through e-commerce, but the existing campaign structure inhibited that growth. Budgets were used inefficiently, daily budgets were depleted early and a large portion of Search Impression Share was lost.
In addition, markets were managed separately, leaving data fragmented and lacking economies of scale. The challenge was therefore to set up a scalable international strategy in which budget, data and campaigns work better together and growth can be scaled up profitably.
Our approach
The cooperation with Karhu started with campaigns in Germany. With our native German specialists, we were able to connect directly to the local market, which was an important reason for Karhu to work with Tomahawk. From this base, the cooperation quickly grew to multiple European markets and later to the US.
In early 2025, we were given full responsibility for the Google Ads account. From then on, we redesigned the campaign structure and strategy to make international growth scalable and profitable.
To achieve this, we built the strategy around three pillars:
- Scalable campaign structure and international scale-up
Instead of optimizing per country, we set up campaigns based on categories (Running and Lifestyle) and bundled markets. This created more data volume and enabled central control and international scaling. With the migration to Channable, we also centralized feed management and expanded it to multiple countries, allowing campaigns to be managed more efficiently and scaled up faster. - Data-driven optimization
We added behavioral data such as shopping cart actions and implemented server-side tracking. This provided stronger signals to the algorithm and made it possible to optimize bidding strategies on actual value. - Expansion into new channels (Meta)
From May 2025, we also took over campaign management at Meta as a full part of the strategy. By bundling European markets and working with various creatives and ad formats (such as video, carousel and dynamic product ads), we were able to increase reach and generate new demand beyond search.
From Germany to the US: strong revenue growth with profitable campaigns
The strategy differs by region, as do the results. Below is an overview of the most important results.
United Kingdom
- Lifestyle: +50% revenue growth
- Running: 5× growth compared to 2022
United States
- +9% revenue growth
- +21% higher ROAS (focus on profitability)
Europe
- +13% revenue growth with stable profitability
Social (Meta)
- EU: +304% revenue growth
- EU: +282% purchases
- EU: +136% higher ROAS
- US: +22% higher ROAS
Customer experience
"Tomahawk understands our business strategy well and translates it into effective campaigns. In doing so, they go beyond campaign management. An important project was the Channable integration for multiple domains and stores. That process took longer than planned due to external factors, but Tomahawk continued to work carefully and did not skip any steps. In addition, they look beyond ROAS. We want to grow internationally, and Tomahawk is really thinking about that long-term growth."
Edgar Minks, Karhu
The experience of Tomahawk
"Karhu is one of our most international customers, so with our knowledge of crossborder business, Karhu and Tomahawk are a strong match. The culture in meetings is positive and constructive, so action items are picked up well. What makes Karhu special is the international team. We have contact with many different people from different countries. Despite this mix of people, languages and cultures, communication always runs smoothly. In addition, Karhu is of course just an incredibly cool brand with fat shoes."
Claudio Atzeni, SEA Marketer
