2021 success stories with Microsoft Advertising

Across industries big and small, the way we're doing business is changing. Companies are increasingly investing in digital marketing strategies to reach new customers. Over the last eighteen months, Microsoft Advertising has partnered with thousands of businesses, spanning Retail, Automotive, Financial Services, Telco, and Travel, to help them engage with and empower customers online. The results speak for themselves: in 2021, strengthening relationships has shown to be critical to success. Read on as we shine a spotlight on some of the innovative companies growing their businesses with Microsoft Advertising.

Retail

When the COVID-19 pandemic escalated into a global emergency, shutting down business operations around the world, retailers had to double down on digital to stay connected to their audiences. Even companies with strong digital presences had to rethink their approaches to accommodate the explosion of online sales.

• Brazilian furniture retailer MadeiraMadeira deployed Microsoft’s Advertising Intelligence tool to analyze users’ search behavior and the relevance of new search terms, while the Microsoft Audience Network allowed the company to tailor its messages to specific buying behaviors. The result? A doubling of user volume and a 300% increase in revenue.
• Netherlands-based retailer vidaXL achieved similar results when it used Microsoft’s Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) to tailor advertisements to specific demographics and customer queries.
• German coffee company Tchibo experimented with automated bidding strategies to streamline its digital marketing campaigns, resulting in a sevenfold increase in the return on advertising spend. Microsoft Advertising also supported philanthropic campaigns spawned by the pandemic.
• When shoe company Crocs gave away over 860,000 pairs of shoes to frontline healthcare workers, leveraging Microsoft Teams proved essential to managing the project.

Travel

The past two years have been challenging for the travel industry. When the pandemic forced people to get creative with how they plan and take trips, Microsoft Advertising helped companies of all kinds understand their customers’ transportation needs and provide opportunities to plan the vacations of their dreams. Microsoft Audience Network innate flexibility and ease of implementation made it a natural choice for storied French airline Air France, which saw increased conversions and profits thanks to the innovative partnership. And, thanks to its relationship with Microsoft Advertising, RVshare, an Airbnb-like RV rental marketplace catering to over 11 million households in the United States, was able to drive 76% more traffic to its website in the summer of 2020 compared to the previous year.

Financial Services

As more investments and transactions happen online, financial services companies of all sizes were able to better service old and new customers using Microsoft Advertising’s suite of tools.

• Well-known credit reporting bureau Experian partnered with Microsoft Bing to discover potential customers searching for high quality credit reporting services.
• Emerging fintech player Harmoney has used LinkedIn Profile Targeting to infer individuals’ loan eligibility status before serving them ads.
• The Motley Fool, one of the nation’s most respected investing advice platforms, leveraged search engine marketing techniques to reach knowledge-hungry audiences working from home, making 2020 its most successful year for digital advertising yet.

Telco

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the importance of staying connected, putting pressure on the telecommunications industry to provide customers with the highest levels of service. Australian telco giant Telstra successfully harnessed several Microsoft Advertising features to educate customers on its unique plans and offerings and increase online sales. Microsoft Audience Network helped the company discover new audiences, In-market Audiences helped Telstra customize an audience outreach plan, and LinkedIn Profile Targeting helped match messages to specific customer needs, resulting in a 700% increase in conversions.

Automotive

It’s not just in retail where Microsoft Advertising has helped build and sustain relationships, delivering impact in the automotive industry as well. Hedin Bil, one of the Nordic region’s largest automobile marketplaces, had dipped its toes into digital marketing several years prior, but the family-owned company still depended on in-person, face-to-face methods for most of its sales. The pandemic forced Hedin Bil to change its outlook and ad tactics: the company expanded paid search operations by leveraging Microsoft-designed tools designed to use broader keyword variations paired with specific, highly targeted ads. Hedin Bil saw dramatic results—within only ten days, the company saw a huge boost in website traffic and a 68% increase in its e-commerce conversion rate.

Small Businesses

Microsoft Advertising solutions don’t work only for large enterprises. Thanks to competitive prices, accessibility, and exceptional customer service, our solutions can make an impact on small businesses too.

• Take French Address, a boutique luxury homeware and accessories retailer that exports Gallic goods crafted by under-the-radar artisans to connoisseurs across the Atlantic. Partnering with Microsoft Advertising proved game-changing: not only in its suite of campaign-building tools that yielded much-needed customer insights, but also in its excellent value and user-friendly approach.
• Artist-run boutique The BLK Gallery benefitted from an innovative pilot for multichannel campaigns ran paid search and social on a shoestring budget—all on a single platform.
• Emerging edtech player SplashLearn leveraged auto-bidding to get its products in front of parents looking to empower their kids with the right tools for growth and success. Even better, Microsoft tools allowed SplashLearn’s program to meet strict privacy guidelines, ensuring that the program remained fully COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) compliant.

In an ever-expanding digital landscape, relationships matter more than ever, and Microsoft Advertising is committed to connecting businesses with audiences to help more people get things done.