How to drive digital effectiveness on a shoestring

Mixing data-driven insights with programmatic targeting helped Australian swimming pool company Narellan Pools drive sales, cut ad spend and devise an IPA Effectiveness award-winning campaign. 

Working with Australian agency Affinity, the team cross-referenced five years’ worth of Narellan Pools’ first-party data, including sales, site analytics, leads and conversion rates, with five years of third-party data spanning the weather and consumer confidence.

The research found that sales for swimming pools typically spiked when there were two consecutive days with higher than average temperatures. Based on this insight, Affinity analysed weather across 49 regions in Australia, feeding real-time temperature data into the programmatic platform.

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When the right conditions were met an algorithm activated the campaign across search, pre-roll video, banner and social, targeting people who had already shown an interest in buying a swimming pool.

As Narellan Pools only advertised when the specific temperature conditions were met, the company was able to reduce its media spend by more than 30%. The campaign drove a 23% increase in sales and generated an incremental return of investment of $54 (£34) for every $1 (62p) spent. 

The campaign also went on to win the 2016 IPA Effectiveness Award special prize for best small budget campaign. 

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• Do you have an example of a campaign that has extracted maximum value with minimum spend? Enter the ‘Best use of a small budget’ category at Marketing Week’s Masters of Marketing Awards. For more on this and other categories go to www.themastersofmarketingawards.com