01
Pickleball is new in India, so a large share of people are just trying the trend. Broad targeting brought lots of random interest, but very few people who wanted premium paddles.
Introducing Athletiq.
Athletiq is a performance-first pickleball brand from India, founded by Harsh Sharma, built around a simple idea: equip serious players with pro-grade paddles and gear that elevate spin, power, and control.
The Challenge.
02
The real buyers are serious, regular players who understand spin, power, balance, and face materials.
03
Legacy retailers sell generic paddles at less than half our price. We needed to clearly differentiate materials, build quality, and on-court performance to justify a higher AOV.
04
Early traffic skewed toward curiosity clicks rather than committed buyers. Purchase readiness was low.
05
Repeated questions—fiberglass vs carbon fiber, spin vs power bias, and entry-level vs pro—created friction and delayed decisions.
06
Standard interest targeting around 'pickleball' was too broad and pulled in fitness/general sports audiences.
Our Approach.
- 01
Started with Click-to-WhatsApp for high AOV
— for ₹10–14k paddles, a trained rep guided prospects through fit, feel, and specs in real time.
- 02
Structured the sales conversation
— the chat flow qualified playing level and style, recommended the right model, and scheduled follow-ups to close.
- 03
Turned FAQs into creative improvements
— objections captured on WhatsApp informed ad copy and visuals answering material differences and spin-vs-power bias upfront.
- 04
Built a creative pipeline with AI
— as a new brand with limited assets, we used AI image and video generation to produce on-brand creatives quickly.
- 05
Aligned the landing page to the decision path
— material explainers, model-by-player-level guidance, spec tables, and trust elements.
- 06
Transitioned to website sales after the first month
— budgets moved from CTW to conversion-optimized site campaigns to scale purchases.
- 07
Used proven formats, localized to Athletiq
— paddle face close-ups, motion demos, and crisp spec overlays adapted to the Indian market.
- 08
Tightened targeting with high-intent signals
— league players, spec-seekers, video engagers, WhatsApp-qualified lookalikes, and high-intent site audiences.
The ad creatives.
1.89× ROAS — grown from 0.75× in three months, with our best-performing campaign peaking at 3.94×.
“Best part of working with the HBF team was their professionalism and systematic approach towards the assigned job. Their ability to patiently listen to client's need and then come up with suitable solutions around that, is what sets them apart. HBF was the first agency that we on-boarded when we started the business and we could see an uptick in numbers from month 1 itself. We strongly recommend HBF as a go-to partner for any company looking to grow their numbers.”
Harsh Sharma · Co-Founder · Athletiq