Case Study
COVID-19 Recovery
Digital Ad Relaunch Strategy Helps With COVID-19 Business Recovery
The Challenge:
The COVID-19 pandemic led to a lockdown that shuttered several brick-and-mortar businesses. During this time, digital advertising was not a priority for many of the businesses that were forced to shut down operations, essentially halting revenue.
When lockdown restrictions lifted and doors reopened, this Las Vegas-based client was particularly nervous and cautious about returning to a regular digital advertising strategy for several reasons:
- Many people had negative feelings about easing pandemic lockdown mandates, which could leave the client open to backlash for promoting social activities.
- The client’s industry had very high ROAS expectations of revenue generating 4x the spend.
The Solution
In order to avoid as much criticism from those who felt businesses reopened too quickly, our team put together a strategic relaunch campaign that focused on PPC display and search ads that would promote the business with a sensitive approach to minimize controversy.
- Display Ads – We used creative display as the role of “introducer” and targeted individuals who were planning a trip to Las Vegas, those who reserved a Vegas hotel room, and those who booked a flight to Las Vegas.
- Search Ads – The role of our search ads was “director” to drive individuals to the most relevant page. Based on the user’s search terms, search ads helped to direct these users to a highly optimized booking page to push conversions for our client.
We decided to minimize social advertising. Social media platforms tended to be where heated debates on pandemic-related and politically-charged topics were happening.
The Results
The display ads worked with our search ads by inspiring specific searches that branded search campaigns later converted. We were able to exceed ROAS expectations for the client and help boost brand awareness through the digital advertising relaunch campaign. Despite the public still feeling cautious about COVID-19, the client was able to make a strong business recovery.