Case Study
University of San Diego
Combining brand and performance campaigns to drive incremental engagement and conversions

The Challenge
Increase Awareness for USD Online Offerings to Combat Competition
Since 2020, the number of and availability of online education programs has exploded, leading to increased competition and consumer confusion around providers and course options. Town Hall has partnered with the University of San Diego’s Professional and Continuing Education team for several years, and we collectively saw an opportunity to test how launching targeted upper-funnel campaigns with a refreshed creative look and messaging would impact conversion-focused program enrollment campaigns.
What We Did
- Paid Media Strategy
- Paid Media Execution
The Solution
Launch Upper- and Mid-Funnel Media During Key Audience Decision Periods
Leaning on our knowledge of the qualified applicant profile and key decision periods during the enrollment cycle, we developed new creative that centered on the prospective student and deployed these messages in key placements and geographic areas to connect with our target audience of 35-45 year old working professionals. Placements included digital out of home (DOOH) and connected TV (CTV) flights, a six-month Google Ads branded search campaign, and a traditional billboard located near the USD campus in downtown San Diego. Our experienced creative team leveraged learnings from program-level ad campaigns to deliver engaging brand creative assets, across all platforms.
The Impact
Attention, Engagement, and Incremental Conversions
This campaign provided conclusive findings that the ‘air cover’ provided by the additional brand-level placements drove additional awareness, engagement, and conversions.
7%
increase in time on site from brand campaign visitors
23%
increase in likelihood of clicking on a Google paid search ad by CTV viewers
20
incremental leads for various programs