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491%

Click Through Rate across Generic terms

162%

Increase in Conversion Rate YoY

69%

Bounce Rate on Clearing pages YoY.

10%

Pages per session for Clearing pages YoY.

Possiblist moment!

We integrated activity across City’s diverse portfolio of courses, driving maximum benefit from a mix of owned and earned media with a wide range of paid for channels.

Objective

City, University of London (City) is a global institution committed to academic excellence with a focus on business, management and the professions and a historic relationship with the institutions of the Square Mile.

The project stakeholders held high expectations of a targeted, integrated and cost effective approach to media buying – which we were happy to match. 

We integrated activity across City’s diverse portfolio of undergraduate courses, driving maximum benefit from a mix of owned and earned media.

They required specialist knowledge of, and strong relationships with, the main domestic and international media channels/owners in order to deliver campaigns in all major City and Cass markets.

As well as expert knowledge of digital technologies and a future-focused approach including in-campaign optimisation tools and emerging technology guidance

Solution

Our partnership with City started at a key turning point for Higher Education recruitment, commencing in March 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Working across nine departments and a central team; aip delivered a thorough onboarding process to understand the needs and objectives of each department. An agile and reactive team of experts were introduced to support each department with a central overview across the wider university. 

With a client keen to push the boundaries, we took a proactively consultative approach to media buying, pioneering across the latest channels and leveraging consumer trends to engage audiences for effective recruitment funnel conversion, delivering over 80 strategic campaigns.

We integrated activity across City’s diverse portfolio of courses, driving maximum benefit from a mix of owned and earned media with a wide range of paid for channels:

  • Print.
  • Advertorial.
  • Mobile/In-app.
  • Direct marketing.
  • Outdoor.
  • Paid search and social. 
  • Display.
  • Affiliate.
  • Real time bidding/programmatic/PPC.
  • Re-marketing.

During our research and analysis phase, we also uncovered a number of channels City had not utilised before but were key to our target audiences. These included Tik Tok and Snapchat (UG), Discovery ads (UG/PG) and new LinkedIn ad formats (PG). 

Ingesting City’s historical media data, CRM and web analytics data into their own Knowledge Central we benchmarked their position against the market and their competitors via our Market Intelligence report.

Results

On Clearing Day we significantly upweighted budget in the very early hours of the day – when demand is high but universities have not yet noticed, and traffic is therefore cheaper. This put City front of mind before the market was saturated.

We activated our own proprietary technology, Clearing Monitor for the day of Clearing, and the Year on Year the impact on Clearing has been phenomenal:

  • 491% leap in Click Through Rate across Generic terms Year-on-Year.
  • 162% increase in Conversion Rate YoY

On the day itself:

  • 13.2% decrease in CPC YoY on key Clearing head terms such as “apply to clearing” 
  • 30% increase in Conversion Rate on the same Clearing head terms.
  • 34% cut in Generic head term Cost-per-Acquisition YoY.

Beyond the click, the Clearing page web visits we achieved came at greater cost efficiency – and converted at a higher rate. Improvements in audience targeting, continuously funneling spend to the most engaged users, drove knock-on effects of engagement and conversion:

  • 69% decrease in Bounce Rate on Clearing pages YoY.
  • 10% increase in pages per session for Clearing pages YoY.

 

Our ongoing partnership with Anything is Possible was incredibly productive in Clearing 2020. The team’s refreshing strategic perspective, innovative new tools, highly collaborative and flexible approach, and excellent results made a huge difference to City, University of London’s success during a Clearing unlike any other.

Carl Whinder Marketing Manager, City, University of LondonUniversity of London

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