About the brand
Our esteemed client, Autodesk, offers a cloud-based software platform for individuals and remote teams. This software platform revolutionises collaboration for architects, engineers, construction teams, contractors and building owners.
Their innovative software enables real-time communication to ensure that designs follow strict budgets and time constraints, while also streamlining the entire building process for the timely and high-quality completion of projects.
The challenge: Driving traffic and increasing awareness
The software platform was launching in BETA mode and our experts were challenged to drive traffic to Autodesk’s designated landing page, generate awareness for their software, and capture valuable data and insights before its commercial launch.
While Autodesk had previously run a small traffic-driving campaign, this was their first significant investment in paid media. They were hoping to target both men and women aged between 45-64 in English-speaking countries across the globe, specifically:
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Australia
- Canada
- New Zealand
The campaign utilised multi-device targeting, focusing on specific user personas, such as:
- AEC firm specialists
- Technical leaders
- Technical specialists
- Commercial leaders
- Developers
- Director of Operations
- Facility managers
- BIM specialists/managers
Creating powerful multi-platform campaigns
As soon as we received the brief from Autodesk, our social media masterminds sprang into action, pooling their extensive resources and planning a comprehensive strategy. They held a planning session with our teams and Autodesk’s partner agency to carefully outline the roles and responsibilities of each team member. With everyone on the same page, we developed a compelling campaign plan to present to the client.
Our knowledgeable social media experts drew from their extensive experience to create an engaging campaign plan. They identified LinkedIn and Facebook as the optimum platforms to drive the best results.
Strategic targeting and engaging ad formats
In each channel, we recommended the best targeting options to fit the brief, suggested how to manage the budget between each segment, and discussed the possibility of implementing AI audiences once we had gathered enough data from the campaign launch.
Once we had that nailed down, our experts presented an asset approach, encompassing a broad mix of ad formats such as carousel, videos, statics, and more platform-specific assets, including LinkedIn Spotlight Ads, Facebook and Instagram stories. Following this, we suggested an initial launch budget and provided a forecasted return on investment based on our extensive experience.
After receiving approval from Autodesk, we then created an asset matrix document, aligning all the existing assets they provided with different channels and drafted complimentary copy. We also briefed the partner agency on asset best practices and requirements, including video lengths, ratios, and how we could optimise existing assets for placements by using creative editing.
Breath-taking results
From our first campaign (the traffic driver), we managed to decrease cost per action (CPA) by a whopping 56.9% and increase the click-through rate (CTR) by 40%. As the campaign continued into March, lead volume increased from 776 to 964 – an astounding 24% increase – and a 39.7% reduction in CPA.
But that’s not all, in April, Facebook’s CPA reduced further to an average of $14.41 (previously $30.49) and LinkedIn also reduced from $315.01 to $172.97.
The campaign is far from over. We are now preparing even more impressive campaigns for the commercial launch in May and expanding our channels to include SEM and YouTube ads.
Invaluable insights we learnt
Here are some key lessons we’ve learnt from each channel, these insights will shape our future campaigns:
- Video assets generated the most form submissions and the lowest CPA
- 30-second videos performed the best
- Mobile placement ads drove the best results with 96% of delivery weighted vs desktop
- Video ads generated the most form submissions and user engagement
- 20-second duration videos performed best
- Static ads were the best all-round performer
With careful planning and collaboration, we executed a highly successful campaign, delivering exceptional results for Autodesk.