Assignment
Setting Clear Objectives
- Drive Student Applications: Aim to increase applications for various programs at the University of Windsor.
- Increase Brand Touchpoints: Boost the visibility of the University’s brand despite challenges like the Coronavirus pandemic by leveraging awareness channels (digital audio, YouTube, connected TV).
- Improve Media Performance Efficiencies: Focus on reducing costs and enhancing media performance metrics across channels.
Approach
Strategic Innovations and Diversification
- Diversified Social Media Investment: Expanded beyond traditional platforms like Facebook to include Pinterest, Snapchat, and Instagram, tailoring content to the behaviors of targeted prospective students.
- Video First Creative Strategy: Employed long-form video creatives (30 seconds) to effectively convey the University of Windsor’s unique value proposition, engaging users in a mobile-first environment.
- Data-Driven Audience Targeting: Utilized first-party data to construct lookalike and retargeting audiences, improving campaign effectiveness and quality of site traffic.
Implementation
Tactical Deployment and Optimization
- Ad Formats and Automation: Integrated Responsive Search Ads (RSA) and Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) which dynamically generate ad content based on site data to enhance generic search performance.
- Programmatic Advertising: Leveraged a unified buying strategy across display, video, audio, and connected TV, maximizing touchpoints through geolocation and proximity-based targeting.
- Full-Funnel Social Strategy: Implemented a structured approach from awareness to conversion, using video content to nurture interest and guide potential students towards application.
- Bidding Strategies: Tested various bidding strategies to optimize for new student applications, focusing on maximizing ROI across campaigns.
Outcome
Results and Impact
- Significant Application Increases: Domestic graduate program applications grew by 39%, and international graduate applications by 14%, highlighting the effectiveness of the strategic approach.
- Challenges with Undergraduate Applications: Despite a 29% drop in international undergraduate applicants, the overall strategy helped mitigate larger declines seen by competitors.
- Brand Building and Awareness: Enhanced brand visibility and impression share, particularly in search environments, contributing to a strengthened market position.
New Approaches and Tactics:
New Approaches and Tactics:
- Expanded Social Media Coverage: Introduced conversion campaigns on Pinterest, benefiting from new pixel implementations that allow for precise tracking and measurement of new student acquisition.
- Innovative Programmatic Strategies: Utilized Gmail Sponsored Promotions and expanded location-based targeting to reach prospective students directly in their Gmail inboxes and near educational institutions.
- Enhanced Paid Search Tactics: Deployed Max Conversion bid strategies and expanded targeting geographically across Ontario, incorporating mid-funnel conversion actions to cultivate more qualified audience pool