Transforming a Department into a Standalone Profit Center
Reposition Hudson Grafx, originally an internal vehicle-wrap department for into a standalone profit center with its own brand identity, website, and revenue stream independent of HBS sales.
Objective:
Grafx began as an internal department of (HBS), providing vehicle wraps exclusively for buses sold by HBS. However, bus sales were cyclical, and leadership sought to diversify revenue streams and explore whether certain departments could operate as standalone profit centers.
Vehicle wraps presented a clear market opportunity: growing demand from commercial fleets and small businesses, high margins, and regional competitors already running aggressive digital campaigns. Hudson Grafx had the operational capacity but lacked a dedicated marketing engine to acquire customers beyond HBS.
Problem Statement
How can we validate Hudson Grafx’s ability to:
Acquire customers independently of HBS sales,
Do so profitably with measurable ROI, and
Build a repeatable growth model to justify long-term investment as a standalone business unit?
Approach
Strategic Separation: Developed Hudson Grafx as a distinct brand with its own digital presence, sales funnel, and go-to-market strategy.
Performance Marketing Launch: Designed and executed a full-funnel Meta Ads campaign, managing creative direction, media planning, buying, and lead integration with sales operations.
Revenue Model Validation: Aligned marketing execution with financial metrics to validate Hudson Grafx’s standalone profitability within 60 days.
Strategy
1. Brand Separation & Infrastructure
Created Grafx as a distinct brand with its own website, sales funnel, and lead qualification system.
2. Lead Generation Campaign
Designed a full-funnel Meta Ads strategy targeting local businesses and commercial fleets.
Managed creative direction, media buying, budget allocation, and performance optimization.
3. Sales Integration
Linked ad-driven leads directly to the sales team for quoting, follow-up, and closing, creating a closed-loop marketing funnel.
Execution Funnel
Ad Impression → Lead Form → Sales Qualification → Quote → Close → Vehicle Wrap Completed
We tracked every step to measure cost efficiency, conversion rates, and revenue impact.
Ad Spend: $1,180 across 5 ads
Revenue: $16.7K
Gross Profit: $8.26K (7.0x profit return)
Close Rate: 29%
CAC: $169 per customer
ROAS: 14.15 → every $1 spent generated $14 in revenue
Financial Insights
Average deal size significantly outpaced CAC, creating strong unit economics.
ROAS profit of 7.0x indicated sufficient margin for reinvestment in marketing and brand expansion.
Business Impact
Validated lead generation as the growth engine for Grafx’s transition to a standalone profit center.
Created a repeatable, data-driven acquisition framework for future scaling.
Proved the business case for diversification beyond bus sales within HBS.
Next Steps
Scale Meta campaigns with larger budgets and A/B testing for ad creatives.
Expand to SEO, local partnerships, and referral programs for lower CAC over time.
Explore applying this “spin-off” growth model to other HBS departments for diversified revenue streams.