Case study by Google

1. Google Adwords Case Study
Islamic Relief, by using YouTube In-Stream
advertising and tightly targeted Google Display
Network campaigns, saw a 51% reduction in CPA
and an increase of 17% in online donations year-on-
year.
About Islamic Relief: Islamic Relief is an international aid and development charity, which aims to alleviate
- International aid and development the suffering of the world’s poorest people. Their vision, inspired by their Islamic
charity faith and guided by their values, is to develop a caring world where communities are
- Aim to alleviate the suffering of the empowered, social obligations are fulfilled and people respond as one to the suffering
world’s poorest people
of others. The month of Ramadan is hugely important in the Islamic Calendar, and the
- Annual Ramadan campaign to
encourage fundraising and build Ramadan campaign is a major fundraising -promotion for the charity.
awareness Through this campaign they aim to engage with their core supporters and also
recruit new patrons. Hassan Imtiazi, Digital Media Specialist explains, “ We have
Their goal: a holistic advertising approach for our Ramadan campaign, encompassing online,
- Develop a successful online strategy to
broadcast, print and radio, specifically targeting ethnic communities. Although
promote Ramadan campaign
- Increase year-on-year online donations online donations have been increasing in recent years, the majority of income
during the campaign still comes through offline channels. Our goal this year was to increase online
donations through advertising on the Google Display Network and YouTube.”
The campaign:
- Leveraged their TV assets across
YouTube
- Ran YouTube In-Stream video ads
- Expanded their reach across the
“Being able to reach
Google Display Network through various
targeting methods hundreds of thousands of
donors, which was difficult
The results: and costly through other
- Significant increase in conversions marketing channels, was
- Reduced their CPA by 51% compared made possible through
to desktop search our YouTube and Google
- 17% increase in online donations year-
on-year
Display Network strategy.”
Hassan Imtiazi,
Digital Media Specialist
Complementing TV advertising with TrueView In–Stream ads
Islamic Relief run TV advertising as part of their offline advertising strategy to build
brand awareness and appeal for donations. When looking at ways to increase brand
awareness online, YouTube was discussed as a medium for leveraging their existing
TV assets. Hassan explains that the level of targeting on YouTube was unique to that
of TV, and this enabled them to reach the right audience at a fraction of the cost of TV
advertising. “With video usage increasing online, we felt that YouTube was the next
step for us to raise brand awareness. The engagement value of video on YouTube
excites us, as users are actively choosing what they want to watch and are therefore
more attentive to our call to action.”

2. Using Google Analytics and YouTube insights reports they were able to easily
About Google AdWords
Google AdWords is a performance
identify their target audience and tailor their message to each audience group.
based advertising program that enables Islamic Relief ran TrueView In-Stream campaigns lasting two months prior to, and
businesses large and small to advertise during, Ramadan. TrueView In-Stream ads enable advertisers to reach an engaged
on Google and its network of partner audience by only paying when a user chooses not to skip their ad.
websites. Hundreds of thousands of “Initially the campaign was to engage users with the Islamic Relief brand but it
businesses worldwide use AdWords for
text, image, and video ads priced on a
actually turned out to be a great direct response medium.”, said Hassan. Advertising
cost-per-click (CPC) and on YouTube drove a significant number of conversions, which reduced their CPA by
cost-per-impression (CPM) basis. Built on 51% compared to desktop search.
an auction based system, AdWords is a
highly quantifiable and cost-effective way Clever targeting on the Google Display Network (GDN)
to reach potential customers.
For more information, visit Islamic Relief successfully trialed GDN campaigns previously, and after noticing
http://adwords.google.co.uk an uplift in online searches for their brand, they were keen to use the GDN for the
Ramadan campaign. As Hassan explains, “The number of people we can reach
on the GDN is phenomenal. Also, as there is no minimum budget commitment
and as we are able to make changes while the campaign is live, we maximize the
campaign.”
Islamic Relief implemented a number of targeting options including interest category
marketing, remarketing and layering keywords with topics. They focused on ethnic
interests including Arab and Middle Eastern food and countries such as Iran, Turkey
and Palestine. In addition, they also set up a remarketing campaign allowing them
to target people who had already visited their website. Knowing they had previously
been to the site, Hassan was able to create more tailored ads with clear call to
actions.
The combined campaigns drove significantly higher donations in 2012, representing
a 17% increase compared to 2011 and a 45% increase from 2010. Reflecting on
the campaigns Hassan said, “The number of opportunities provided by Google
is enormous; all you have to do is to explore it. It is impossible to get that level of
reporting from offline channels compared to online. We achieved cost efficiencies
with our limited charity budget and saw outstanding results.”
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