Five digital marketing campaigns that turned strategy into results
The best digital work rarely starts with a platform. It starts with a problem.
That problem might be a lack of awareness, a difficult customer journey, an audience that is reluctant to act or a new brand trying to earn its place in a competitive market.
The role of digital marketing is to find the most effective way through that problem. Sometimes that means combining paid media, search and social content.
Sometimes it means using behavioural science to make a message more persuasive. In other cases, the real opportunity sits in digital PR, a better website experience or a more relevant creative idea.
With audiences moving between an ever-growing collection of websites, apps and platforms, as explored in Ofcom’s Online Nation research, it is becoming harder to separate digital activity into neat, isolated channels. People do not experience brands according to the structure of a marketing department. They encounter an advert, conduct a search, read an article, visit a website and return later when they are ready to act.
This is what Google’s research calls the “messy middle” of the customer journey. Effective digital marketing needs to work across that journey, giving people the information, motivation and confidence they need at each stage.
Here are five examples from our work that show what this looks like in practice.
Making complex technology relevant for Indra
When we began working with Indra Renewable Technologies, electric vehicle adoption was growing, but the category still came with uncertainty.
The challenge set to us
Indra needed to build awareness of its smart home chargers while explaining unfamiliar technology to several distinct audiences, including EV drivers, installers and fleet managers.
The answer was not a single campaign or channel. It was a long term, integrated communications strategy spanning digital marketing, paid social, PPC, SEO, organic social, PR and creative.
The digital strategy
Search content helped Indra answer questions throughout the purchasing journey. Social content translated technical subjects into clear, engaging stories. Paid campaigns reached new EV drivers and retargeted people who had already shown an interest. PR and thought leadership connected Indra with wider conversations around energy prices, sustainability and the transition to electric vehicles.
The “Made for Modern Life” campaign then brought this thinking together through paid social, display advertising and YouTube. Instead of leading with product specifications, the creative showed how Indra’s chargers fitted naturally into everyday life. Technical benefits such as durability and weather resistance became relatable reasons to choose the product.
The results
The results demonstrate the value of consistency across the whole customer journey. Our work delivered a 300% increase in monthly website visitors, a number one search ranking for “Smart EV Charger” and significant growth across Indra’s social channels. The paid campaign generated 69% more leads from paid social users, while Meta advertising achieved an 8.04% click through rate.
Read the full Indra digital marketing case study.
Helping students see a future with University College Birmingham
Digital campaigns need to understand the emotional context surrounding a decision, not simply the demographic profile of the person making it.
The challenge of COVID
For University College Birmingham, that context was particularly challenging. During the pandemic, prospective students faced enormous uncertainty about their education, careers and future. College applications were lower than previous years, and both students and parents needed a reason to feel optimistic.
Our strategic approach
Our audience insight led to the “Level Up with UCB” proposition. It was positive, recognisable and connected with the language and culture of the people UCB wanted to reach. Bold campaign creative used confident young models, neon style imagery and course related objects to present further education as a way for students to move forward.
The media strategy combined Spotify audio advertising, Google Display, user generated content, TikTok and Facebook. Each channel had a specific role, from building familiarity and memorability to generating website visits and applications.
Crucially, we did not allow imperfect attribution to obscure the bigger objective. It became clear early in the campaign that the application journey made it difficult to attribute every submission to an individual channel. We continued to manage and optimise performance each week, but measured overall success against website traffic and total applications.
The results
That approach reflects an important measurement principle. As the IAB UK measurement guidance demonstrates, marketing effectiveness cannot always be reduced to one platform metric or attribution model.
The campaign generated a 50% increase in website traffic, a 30% uplift in social media engagement and applications finished 60% above target.
Explore the full University College Birmingham campaign and our wider education marketing experience.
Turning smoking cessation awareness into action
Behaviour change campaigns have to do more than attract attention. They need to make the desired action feel possible.
The challenge set to us
Birmingham City Council and Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council asked us to increase awareness and engagement with local smoking cessation services. We had three weeks to develop and launch an integrated campaign capable of reaching six diverse audiences
Our “Light up your Life” concept focused on the positive health and wellbeing benefits of becoming smoke free. Instead of relying on fear or judgement, the campaign presented quitting as a positive step towards a better life.
This thinking was informed by behavioural science. The Behavioural Insights Team’s EAST framework explains that an action is more likely when it feels easy, attractive, social and timely. Our campaign combined a motivating proposition with a straightforward route to local support.
The digital strategy
Digital was central to that route. We designed and built a multilingual campaign website with dedicated information for Birmingham and Solihull residents. More than 60 assets were then created for outdoor advertising, radio, digital display and social platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.
The results
The campaign directed more than 5,800 unique visitors to the website. Research also found that 73% of smokers considered the campaign motivating, rising to 90% among those aged 25 to 34. Forty one per cent said it encouraged them to quit, while 66% reported that it had sparked conversations about quitting within their social circles.
See how we helped smokers go smoke free and discover our wider health marketing work.
Using local relevance to get Birmingham talking about sexual health
Some subjects are difficult to discuss openly. When the subject is sexual health, discomfort and embarrassment can become genuine barriers to action.
The undiagnosed
Umbrella, part of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, wanted to increase awareness of its STI self-sampling kits. The service allowed people to complete a test at home, return it and receive their results by phone or text.
Our research found that open conversations could help normalise the subject and encourage greater use of the kits. We therefore created a campaign that people might actually want to mention to their friends.
The creative concept
The idea combined humour, local familiarity and the generation effect, where information becomes more memorable when someone has to complete or interpret it themselves. Birmingham landmarks were turned into playful innuendos, creating adverts that felt unmistakably local and invited the audience to participate in the joke.
Testing showed that this use of wordplay strongly resonated with regional participants. The campaign is a useful reminder that digital effectiveness is not only about targeting settings or media optimisation. The message still has to earn attention and make the desired behaviour feel socially acceptable.
Building search authority and demand for Eat Drink Meet
Eat Drink Meet launched with a useful proposition: helping people discover bars, restaurants and pubs through filters such as dog friendly, nearby landmarks and suitability for celebrations.
The background
As a new platform, however, it needed visibility, credible backlinks and reasons for people to visit.
Our strategy connected digital PR with SEO, social media, influencer activity and paid promotion. Rather than treating press coverage as an isolated awareness tactic, every story was selected partly for its potential to increase search authority and generate meaningful website activity.
The New Hat Method of PR for SEO
We used search trends and seasonal behaviour to identify timely stories about the venues people were already looking for. This included subjects such as the best places for outdoor dining and, during a period of unusually warm weather, the best beer gardens across the UK.
The stories provided journalists with relevant, data supported content while naturally creating reasons to link back to Eat Drink Meet. Influencer partnerships and social media activity extended the reach and gave people more ways to discover the platform.
The results
The results went beyond media coverage. Eat Drink Meet’s domain authority increased from zero to 18. The campaign generated 73 pieces of national and regional coverage with backlinks, an influencer reach of 362,250 and 114,624 website visits. It also produced 26,614 key events over four months, including 1,034 attributed directly to digital PR.
Discover how we launched Eat Drink Meet through digital PR and explore our hospitality and leisure marketing experience.
What our best digital work has in common
These campaigns involved different audiences, sectors and combinations of channels. However, the principles behind them were consistent:
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Start with the audience and the behaviour you need to influence
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Give each channel a clear role within the wider journey
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Make complex or sensitive messages easier to understand
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Connect awareness with a straightforward route to action
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Measure success against the real objective, not the easiest available metric
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Use performance evidence to learn and improve as the campaign develops
Good digital marketing is not defined by how many platforms appear on a media plan. It is defined by how effectively strategy, creative, technology and measurement work together.
At Leopard Co, we build digital activity around what a business or organisation genuinely needs people to think, feel or do. If your digital marketing is generating activity but not enough meaningful progress, get in touch with the pack and let’s find out where it could work harder.