A new marketing leader two and a half weeks before Black Friday
In November 2025, when Cassi Rodriguez joined Pura Vida Bracelets, the plan was only to help the brand execute at a high level during the holiday season. That quickly turned into a full-time leadership role. When she started, Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) was about two and a half weeks away. The promo calendar, agencies, and the internal team were already in place, so her job was execution and optimization. She put her focus on paid media and email, the brand’s two biggest revenue drivers, with one goal: growing top-line revenue.
She was starting from zero. After 18 years in marketing, she knew what good looked like, but knew nothing about the business yet.
“I had no history. I was new to the brand. I didn't know their marketing mix very well. I didn't have KPIs, but I did have my experience, which is going on 18 years now.” — Cassi Rodriguez, Director of E-commerce & Marketing, Pura Vida Bracelets
Getting up to speed the usual way meant working through one platform after another. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) came first, and what it shows depends on how each company sets it up. Then came Google’s paid platform, Meta, TikTok, and Klaviyo, the brand’s email service provider. Cassi would have to work through all of it and learn which source the team trusted most, with the clock already running.
“I was fully expecting GA4 not to be set up the right way that I needed it, or that I was used to. It’s so variable for each organization, and I wasn’t looking forward to that. To me, it did feel like a huge ask to figure out what their source of truth is, what they’re looking at, and what they’re using.” — Cassi Rodriguez, Director of E-commerce & Marketing, Pura Vida Bracelets
From first login to a BFCM roadmap on day one
On day one, a teammate sent Cassi a Triple Whale login. She had never used the platform, so she started clicking around and found a BFCM Command Center in the left navigation. Triple Whale had prebuilt it for the brand ahead of the holiday season, so it was ready to use out of the box. The data fit the holiday period and was easy to read. It did two things: it showed what had been working, and Moby AI made very clear recommendations of actions that needed to be taken.
She estimated that building the same picture by hand would have meant about a week of digging through every platform. Instead, she left her first session with a roadmap and clarity.
“I didn't have to go into all of those platforms, start from zero, and spend many hours and late nights just to get the data and insights I needed. Triple Whale put it all in front of me. And Moby was making it actionable.”
The BFCM Command Center was especially useful for email. Cassi’s background is mainly in paid media, so email was the less familiar side of the job.
“I had a good idea of what was going on, but it was the email component that I really wanted help with.” — Cassi Rodriguez, Director of E-commerce & Marketing, Pura Vida Bracelets
Moving the first BFCM email from Wednesday to Monday
Pura Vida already knew which offers worked. The BFCM Command Center unlocked a major insight that changed the timing of their BFCM promotions. The 2025 calendar had the sale starting the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. The data, which included Pura Vida's earlier start in 2024, showed that was too late. It pointed to Monday, or even the weekend before. That matched what she saw in shopper behavior: people spread gift buying over several weeks and no longer wait for one day.
The calendar wasn't hers to change, but she used the Triple Whale data to make the case for starting on Monday, November 24, and the team agreed. The BFCM Command Center also suggested a different tone, so the team wrote to customers as VIPs and made the emails feel exclusive. The email that was planned for Wednesday of BFCM went out on Monday. Pura Vida sent an email every day that week, either a new campaign or a resend, and segmented carefully across millions of profiles. One offer ran from the Monday before through Cyber Monday. Starting Monday added two full days to the sale. Those two days brought in nearly a fifth of BFCM revenue, 2.4x the same two days the week before.
“Our 2025 calendar had us starting on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Triple Whale was saying that's too late. You have to start earlier. You have to start on Monday, or even the weekend before. I used that data to make the case for Monday, and it worked.”
Keeping Black Friday the peak
A longer run created its own problem. In a long sale, the first and last days are usually strongest, and Cassi wanted Black Friday in the middle to be the peak. Triple Whale's insights on subject lines and segment messaging helped the team make creative changes that carried momentum throughout the entire week.
Black Friday was Pura Vida's biggest day, followed by Cyber Monday. Every day of the run outsold every day in the months leading up to it. For a brand known for summer beaches and boardwalks, the results changed how Cassi sees the holiday season.
“With the insights and recommendations from Triple Whale, we were able to see the transformation from a seasonal product to more of a gifting moment.”
Making the spend call on Black Friday
Executing at a high level on Black Friday is a completely different challenge. Blended ROAS was lower than Cassi wanted, so she set a target of 3x to 4x. On Black Friday, budgets were close to capping out right around golden hours, and the team had to decide whether to spend more. Justin Lindh at Granular Marketing, Pura Vida’s paid agency, checked real-time data in Triple Whale to size the increase. With that data in hand, the CFO immediately approved.
Because the data was available in real time, the team could act while the moment still mattered. Waiting could have meant wasting time and missing a major chance to grow top-line revenue.
“The insight from Triple Whale allowed us to make quick decisions on that very day on Black Friday.”
Cassi's read on the results
Cassi said Pura Vida reached its 3x to 4x blended ROAS target during the period. Google was the standout paid channel, with ROAS up 32% from 2.52x to 3.33x, and TikTok ROAS improved 46%. She credits the result to Justin at Granular, the Google team, and Triple Whale for helping them make fast decisions on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
Results: A holiday sprint that became a shared source of truth
- Cassi left her first Triple Whale session with a roadmap and the confidence to act, with two and a half weeks until Black Friday
- The first BFCM email moved from Wednesday to Monday, and one offer ran through Cyber Monday. Black Friday was the biggest day, followed by Cyber Monday.
- Top-line revenue grew 175%+ during BFCM vs. the prior period.
- Total email revenue grew 246%, with campaign revenue up 302% and flow revenue up 166%
- Pura Vida reached its 3x to 4x blended ROAS target, with Google as the standout paid channel (ROAS up 32%)
- Pura Vida’s agencies and finance teams now work from the same reporting in Triple Whale.
Email reporting moves to Triple Whale
The shared reporting started with email. Early on, the email agency was reporting Klaviyo revenue, which didn’t match what Cassi saw in Triple Whale. She asked the agency to report in Triple Whale so the team could look at paid and email together.
“You have to come over to Triple Whale because Triple Whale is our source of truth.”
A habit that outlasted the holiday
That habit stayed after the holiday. Pura Vida's financial model is built on Triple Whale data, and Granular, the paid agency, works from the same model. When a new finance team member joined, Cassi introduced him to Triple Whale first. The team uses it to track retention and new customer acquisition. Since launching Shopify POS, Pura Vida has also brought its retail data into Triple Whale.
Granular, Pura Vida’s paid agency, also uses Moby, Triple Whale's AI teammate, to build reports. On any Monday, Cassi can ask where the brand is pacing for the month and how it stands against its goals.
“The Granular team is in Triple Whale, and in Moby, getting answers for me. So when we meet, he's got a full report answering all my questions.” — Cassi Rodriguez, Director of E-commerce & Marketing, Pura Vida Bracelets
From contractor to full-time role
Cassi's seasonal contract was due to end on December 31, 2025. In January 2026, Pura Vida offered her a full-time role as Director of E-commerce & Marketing. Triple Whale and Moby have become essential to her day-to-day.
"Every day, we go to Triple Whale and Moby AI to get answers. I can't do without them."
