The market-i Activ8 team recently had the opportunity to support an international mixed martial arts event, Cage Warriors Fighting Championship, in their last minute effort to promote a fight event in Dubai.
The event had been scheduled months in advance for Dubai’s World Trade Center, but the municipal approvals, allowing the event to be promoted and proceed were received only 10 days before fight! Hosting an international MMA event is no small undertaking and Cage Warriors Fight Night 4 involved complex logistics surrounding 28 fighters, trainers, coaches, referees, MCs, medical staff, cage equipment, sound & lighting, and CW staff. All told, a fight event is a costly endeavor. Ticket sales are a critical input in cost recovery.
By the time the market-i Activ8 team were given the go ahead there were 8 days remaining. The marketing assets provided included the Cage Warriors website, www.cagewarriors.com, a Facebook page, and a promotional video.
The immediate challenge was deciding on how to reach a sufficient number of MMA fans, and potential fans within 8 days to create awareness and interest in the event. There was insufficient time to negotiate any substantive outdoor, print or radio campaigns; furthermore, our initial research on MMA fans revealed that they represent a male demographic age 18-34, who virtually live online. Trying to reach them and inspire them with static or non-visual media was pointless.
We opted for a FaceBook blitz which harnessed FaceBook advertising to direct MMA fans and potential fans to various online assets. FB provides a number of targeting tools including demographic, geographic, and member interest. We used these tools to prioritize target audiences, and within each we varied the ad spend approach between CPC (cost per click) and CPM (cost per thousand impressions). Additionally, we varied the ad headline, visual thumbnail, as well as click destination, which included the Cage Warriors FB page, the Cage Warriors website, the YouTube promo video, and the online ticket purchase page.
Our campaign went live with seven unique thumbnails and 192 hours later achieved 16.9 million impressions across 1.9 million FB members, with 14,400 clicks! Our FB CTR was .09% well above the FB estimated average of .05%. Furthermore, across the different thumbnail executions we witnessed CTRs as high as .14%. From the point of view of ticket sales, the event reached 75% of full capacity!
Another fascinating spillover of the FB campaign was that during the time we were live, the Cage Warriors FB page views skyrocketed to 9 million, which then receded once the campaign was completed. We investigated this phenomenon with a statistically reliable sample drawn from event attendees and found that consumers use the FB search to investigate Ad credibility, which highlights the importance of a dedicated FB page accompanying FB advertising. Consumers review FB page commentary and use it as a form of Word of Mouth (WOM) advocacy to support future actions.
FB advertising proved itself a highly effective communications platform. The advertising reach, impressions, and CTRs speak for themselves. The ticket sales performance also confirms a causal link between FB advertising and desired consumer behavior. Additionally, buttressing the FB campaign with a FB page appears to have facilitated a WOM mechanism whereby consumers validate ad claims against actual consumer commentary.
