Digital Brands Group dropped a head-turning performance stat on September 24: its collegiate licensing brand AVO grew revenue 221% year over year between August 1 and September 11, while digital marketing spend fell 78%. The same release cited a 3.65x return on ad spend and a 442% lift in weekly net revenue among universities added in 2026.
One thing is missing from every figure: dollars. No actual revenue, spend or margin was disclosed. That makes this a perfect case study in how to read, and pressure-test, ad efficiency claims.
The headline numbers
AVO sells licensed college merchandise online. The measurement window spans six weeks, covering the return to campus and the start of the college football season. CEO Hil Davis framed the result as a question of efficiency and said the company wants to reach a 5x ROAS before scaling ad investment again.
New universities added in 2026 drove a 442% weekly net revenue increase from Week 1 to Week 6. That is a fast ramp, but the release does not say how many schools are included or what share of AVO revenue they represent.
Why marketers should slow down
The percentages are not interchangeable. The 221% figure covers total revenue, while the 442% figure covers net revenue for a subset of new schools. New schools had no August 2025 base, so their sales make year-over-year growth look stronger. The football calendar adds another tailwind.
The missing pieces that matter most:
- Revenue base: Is the 3.65x ROAS based on platform-attributed revenue or all AVO revenue over all spend?
- Attribution model: Which channels and lookback windows credited the sales?
- Gross margin: At 3.65x, ads only pay for themselves if gross margin exceeds roughly 27.4%; at the 5x target, about 20%.
- Same-store split: How much growth came from existing schools versus newly added ones?
If total revenue grew 3.21x while spend dropped to 0.22x of last year, revenue per ad dollar rose about 14.6x. That implies last year’s equivalent blended ROAS was roughly 0.25x, about four dollars spent for every dollar earned. It could reflect a brand building at a loss, or it could be an artifact of mixing metrics. Without dollar figures, nobody can tell.
What to do with ROAS claims
This is the latest in a long line of ROAS disputes: inflated Meta returns, Amazon’s attribution methodology change, and agencies pushing incrementality over attributed conversions. The lesson for growth teams is simple: a ratio is an output, not proof.
Before a board deck or budget shift, ask for the numerator, the denominator, the attribution model and the margin. If a case study cannot produce them, it is an anecdote dressed as learning. AVO may be genuinely more efficient, but the evidence so far is a set of percentages during the strongest demand window of its calendar.
Source: PPC Land
