Engineering Growth for a Multi-Category Experiential Platform: How We Scaled 81 Events Using Data-Led Campaign Strategy and Full-Funnel Systems
Jul 21, 2025
Industry: Experiential Events
Platform: Meta Ads
Campaign Duration: September 14 – December 31, 2022
Scope: Performance marketing for 81 unique events across 10 experience categories
Project Overview
A curated experience platform offering offline events across art, music, wellness, food, fitness, and entertainment set out to scale its operations. Each event—ranging from sushi-making masterclasses and poetry nights to FIFA screenings and paint-and-sip workshops—had a unique identity, timeline, price point, and target audience.
The challenge? Each event behaved like a standalone product, with its own positioning and funnel requirements. We took charge of building a robust, repeatable digital marketing system to profitably acquire users at scale—without compromising on event-specific nuance.
Performance Summary
Metric | Value |
|---|---|
Total Ad Spend | ₹4.75L |
Purchases | 687 |
Avg. CAC | ₹696.3 |
Impressions | 7.3 million |
Landing Page Views | 22,000 |
Avg. Conversion Rate | 3.1% |
Avg. AOV | ₹742.8 |
Avg. CPM | ₹65.8 |
Strategic Framework: Building a Funnel That Works 81 Times
We divided our approach into three distinct phases:
Stage 1: Audience Intelligence at Scale
Each event category was mapped to niche interest groups using a structured research methodology. These became our Lifetime Audiences (LFTs)—audience groups that repeatedly delivered high-quality traffic and conversions across different events.
Examples of Category-to-Audience Mapping:
Music Events → ‘Artist’ and ‘Indie Music Fans’
Food Events → ‘Anime & Movie Show’ viewers
Fitness Events → ‘Tai Chi & Martial Arts’ enthusiasts
Reading/Poetry Events → ‘Gathering Place’ and ‘Dating Interest’ segments
Stage 2: Creative Testing System
We deployed a 3x3 Creative Grid combining message formats (Event Detail, Offer, Breakdown) and creative types (Poster, UGC, Host Content). When creative assets were limited, we used Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO) to run structured tests at scale.
Creative Learnings:
UGC dominated across categories like Food, Music, and Reading
Event posters and info breakdowns worked well for Art and Stand-Up
Host-led reels helped humanize Fitness and Wellness sessions
Stage 3: Funnel Design & Retargeting Cadence
We introduced a phased launch system:
Top-of-Funnel (ToF): Early in the week, campaigns focused on traffic and engagement
Bottom-of-Funnel (BoF): Nearer to the event, we launched conversion campaigns targeting warm audiences
Example Success:
The event “Sip, Sing, and Sway” sold out within 8 days using this sequenced funnel structure.
Performance by Category
Category | Events | Avg. CAC (₹) | CVR (%) | Top Creative | Top Audience |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Music | 22 | 690.1 | 3.6 | DCO + UGC | ‘Artist’ |
Food | 10 | 634.0 | 4.0 | UGC | ‘Anime & Movie Show’ |
Health & Fitness | 15 | 966.1 | 1.8 | Host + UGC | ‘Tai Chi & Martial Arts’ |
Art & Craft | 9 | 584.4 | 3.4 | Event Breakdown | ‘Street Art’, ‘Art Style’ |
Reading | 4 | 351.3 | 4.1 | UGC + DCO | ‘Gathering Place’, ‘Dating’ |
FIFA Screenings | 1 | 47.3 | 5.8 | Event Detail | ‘Football’ |
Games | 4 | 663.0 | 4.3 | UGC + DCO | ‘Chess’ |
Stand-up Comedy | 2 | 444.8 | 13.0 | Event Explainer | ‘Stand Up’, ‘Poetry’ |
Parties | 13 | 2,568.7 | 0.6 | DCO + Poster | ‘Christmas’ |
High CAC in party events was attributed to poor timeline planning, misaligned creatives, and funnel drop-offs due to free-entry complexity.
Tactical Insights That Drove Performance
1. Retargeting by Day of Week
Engagement spiked closer to weekends. We shifted ad types accordingly—building traffic pools early in the week and converting via retargeting Thursday onwards.
2. Funnel Leakage via Generic Landing Pages
Many users were clicking on one event and purchasing another. Attribution loss was flagged, and the solution was to build event-specific landing pages that preserved message match and tracked ROAS accurately.
3. Lead Time + Creative Diversity = Lower CAC
Events with longer lead times (>6 days) and at least 3 creative variations had significantly lower CACs—proving that planning and variation beat urgency and repetition.
Creative Execution System
We designed a scalable Creative System Grid, customized by event type.
Theme | Poster | UGC | Host Content |
|---|---|---|---|
Event Detail | Info Poster | Attendee Testimonials | Organizer Reel |
Offer | Promo Image | Discount Reel | Price Breakdown Clip |
Breakdown | Timeline Poster | Walkthrough + Text Overlays | Talking Head Intro |
Platform & Tech Stack Enhancements
Analytics Setup: Introduced UTM-layered tracking and audience segmentation for post-campaign insights.
Technical Hygiene: Identified and flagged site-level malware that paused Google Ads eligibility.
Campaign Naming Standardization: Enabled consistent reporting across 81 events.
Strategic Recommendations
Start Campaigns Early: Minimum 14-day pre-event runway is critical.
Invest in UGC Libraries: The best-performing creative across categories.
Launch Category-Specific Funnels: One-size-fits-all pages led to attribution loss.
Test Higher AOV Events: Events like Sushi Masterclass and Atsumaru Retreats showed better ROI with longer lead time and pre-launch strategy.
Expand on Repeatable Audiences: Lifetime Audiences (LFTs) should be baked into future segmentation logic.
Final Thoughts
Running ads for 81 unique events in 4 months isn’t just a media buying challenge—it’s an operational system design problem. This project proved that experiential events, despite their variability, can be marketed like scalable products when backed by rigorous audience research, modular creative systems, and funnel-focused decision-making.
Performance at scale is possible—even in event marketing. But only when you treat every campaign as an orchestrated play, not a one-off experiment.