Tactical use of pay per click advertising (PPC) from

Slumdog Millionaire to the travel downturn

Presented by Nick Beck, Managing Director

Ad:tech September 23rd 2009

2 Networks for Displaying PPC Ads

The Search Network The Content Network

The Google content network comprises hundreds of thousands of high-quality websites, news pages and blogs that partner with Google to display targeted PPC ads.

Serve ads on Relevant sites. Choose by theme, or specific sites.

Formats: more than just text ads

Standard Banners on Content Network

Standard text Ads on Search Network

Standard text Ads on Content Network

Local Business ad on Google Maps Mobile text Ads

Click to play video AdsOn Content Network

Ways you can use PPC tactically

• Turn on & off to meet supply & demand• Day part to fill capacity• Create short awareness bursts• Take advantage of business opportunities• Advertise time sensitive deals• Take advantage of great PR• Test messaging• Test new products

Take advantage of PPC’s immediacy and the ability to optimise campaigns in near real time

Take advantage of unexpected PR

Key outtakes for using PR

• Use good PR in the ad copy

• Bid on relevant keywords

• Optimise keywords hourly/daily

• Drive on site to story and/or product

• React immediately - PR burst is short lived

Take advantage of an unexpected opportunity

Travel City was the largest UK Florida package tour operator.

It went bust when parent company XL filed for bankruptcy 13/09/08.

Ocean Florida wanted to garner a big chunk of re-bookings for 2008 and 2009.

Take advantage of an unexpected opportunity

Aggressive Tactical Advertising We created eye-catching PPC ads for Travel City- related searches and launched them the morning the story hit the press.

Landing page for Travel City's former customers We helped them to build a page that explained consumer rights and offered helpful advice. The re-booking messaging promised to match or beat the cost of the original booking.

Outtakes

• First to market when the story breaks reaps rewards

• CPC can increase quickly

• Analyse results & profits and agree CPA on the fly

• Be prepared to increase budgets and bids

Results

In the first day of the campaign, Ocean Florida took a full month's revenue

They built a database of new happy customers

The customer-friendly landing page converted more than 50% of enquiries into sales in the first 72 hours after the XL bankruptcy news broke.

Overall, the PPC campaign resulted in a click-through rate of more than 20% and an ROI of 1,100%.

Take advantage of an unexpected opportunity

React to news & bring a new product to market

Key outtakes from MJ campaign

• Speed to market is important

• Broad terms were a waste of money– Specific MJ t-shirt keywords only

• CPCs high at first but optimised down

• Sales increased as range breadth increased

A short burst of Awareness support

Pathe had developed a suite of online marketing collateral, including a viral, a widget and a trailer-focused microsite to support the opening of Slumdog Millionaire.

The objective was to use online marketing to build awareness while also targeting niche audiences, such as Bollywood movie-goers and Danny Boyle fans.

To make this happen, Pathe had to find a cost-effective way to gain an online share of voice in the competitive January release season as well as create engagement and drive traffic to their online assets.

Developed a PPC campaign on Google.co.uk, targeting relevant searchers, and tested and improved ad copy weekly, adding Bafta Award and Box office hit messaging when appropriate.

Launched targeted banners across the Google content network to build awareness (Free eyeballs) and worked with Google to create click-to-play trailer ads.

Pathe only paid when the surfer clicked through to the microsite. Banner and trailer views were free.

We also put in place a tactical SEO programme focused on the film title to ensure top positioning for the difficult-to-index Flash microsite

A short burst of Awareness support

Results• PPC drove more than 75,000

new visitors to the official site

• Over 73,000 people watched the click to play video trailer.

• More than 21 million ad impressions were served and viewed by targeted audiences.

• These terrific results cost just £13K over five weeks.

• The film went on to smash UK box office records and win seven Baftas and eight Oscars.

Key Outtakes• Small budgets can still drive

awareness & engagement

• Targeting by interest can maximize budgets

• Innovative content ad formats are effective

A short burst of Awareness support

Work with your agency on a tactical campaign

• Agree your objectives

• Investigate cost per click averages

• Create loose cost per acquisition target

• Prepare keyword list - Broad & Longtail

• Create & test ads with different benefits

• Target your audience

• Manage daily budget at campaign level

• Launch and manage closely

• Optimise hourly/daily - prune keywords

• Learn & react quickly

A tactical PPC campaign can be prepared & launched in a few hours

Tug Details

Nick BeckManaging Director

Tug 61 Charlotte RoadShoreditch, LondonEC2A 3QT

T 0207 0336930E nick@tugsearch.co.uk