Global Partner Growth Award: 1UP Digital

Have you ever wondered what makes a Microsoft Advertising Celebrated Partner special? How they utilize Microsoft Advertising to drive business and reach new customers? Or how they drive business growth in an ever-changing digital marketplace? We caught up with 1UP Digital, our Global Partner Growth Award winner and September 2022 Celebrated Partner, to get an inside look at the amazing work that earned them this exclusive title in the first place!

What are the Microsoft Advertising Partner Celebration Global Awards?

The Microsoft Advertising Partner Celebration Global Awards is a bi-annual recognition program for our Partner tier members that aims to recognize outstanding, creative, and effective work by our Partners. This program was expanded globally to all enrolled Partner tier members in September 2022 and highlights exceptional work across three awards.

You could be a Celebrated Partner, too! Apply to enroll in the Microsoft Advertising Partner Program for a chance to become a Celebrated Partner during our next round of nominations starting April 3, 2023.

We had the opportunity to interview the CEO/Co-Founder at 1UP Digital, Philip Caines. 1UP Digital is our September 2022 Microsoft Advertising Celebrated Partner and Global Partner Growth Award winner.

Q: Tell us a little about 1UP Digital—history, current size, audience, and business objectives

A: 1UP Digital Marketing is a people-focused company that helps good companies do better online. We differentiate ourselves by finding the right balance of leadership, technical skills, and communication to ensure our clients know what we’re working on and what the plan is, while also keeping an eye on results.

We’re growing and currently recruiting to add to our team of 10. We work with medium-sized businesses across North America that are looking to grow by viewing their account spend as an investment and not an expense as long as there is an increased return on investment (ROI). Our ideal partners are Senior Executives of medium-sized businesses in the e-commerce, technology, tourism, or medical industries.

We’re carbon-negative, and we have a zealous and diverse team from around the world making a positive impact and serving organizations with top-level digital marketing services.

Q: What is 1UP Digital’s vision, mission, or specialization?

A: Our purpose is helping good organizations grow online. We help organizations that are focused on making the world a better place, growing their positive impact, and influencing others, all while creating one of the best places to work. We specialize in performance marketing and driving the most value out of digital marketing spend.

Q: What impact to your business have you been able to drive with Microsoft Advertising?

A: We’ve seen great success in Microsoft Advertising for our clients, which has given other clients the confidence to add Microsoft Advertising to their marketing strategy. The specialized targeting has been a great selling feature for our business-to-business (B2B) clients in particular. These two components combined have strengthened our ability to pitch for diversified advertising opportunities with potential clients.

Q: What are your favorite tools or features within Microsoft Advertising and why?

A: We like the ability to target users by industry and job function, and also to target specific companies with positive bid adjusters applied accordingly. This really helps with more B2B and account-based marketing, as several of our clients aren’t business-to-consumer (B2C) focused. Our team also likes Microsoft Clarity for user behavior insights. We’ve moved many clients from costly, site-slowing alternatives to Microsoft Clarity because of its amazing heat mapping and recording tool. This has helped us leave a positive impact on our clients!

Q: What’s your greatest success with Microsoft Advertising so far?

A: Over the past 12 months, one of our clients saw a 9,440% increase in conversions with an 819% increase in ad spend. Another one of our clients saw an increase of 1,525% in conversions with a 198% spend increase. With these numbers, we’ve been able to show our clients and potential new clients the value that Microsoft Advertising offers, and grow our client base by 30%. We wouldn’t have been able to achieve these results for our clients without our partnership.

Q: How do you see your relationship progressing with Microsoft Advertising and why?

A: Our team is grateful for the growth opportunities offered by Microsoft Advertising and is intrigued to see how Multi-platform with Smart Campaigns will allow us to extend client advertising across Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Instagram, all from one channel.

We see our relationship continuing to grow as we show the value Microsoft Advertising offers to our clients. We look forward to exploring more exciting Microsoft Advertising opportunities with our clients as they become available.

Q: Have you had any positive experiences or working relationships with people who work within Microsoft Advertising or Microsoft Advertising Support?

A: Every experience and encounter with those working within Microsoft Advertising has been positive, responsive, and resourceful. We also have access to Microsoft Advertising Specialists to go through the suggested optimizations for key accounts, which proves to be helpful with results.

Q: How does your company embody the Global Partner Growth Award?

A: There’s one thing we can count on in digital marketing: Constant change! We believe this provides us with the ultimate ability to grow, especially when working with partners like Microsoft Advertising that not only keep up with, but lead change. We strive to be leaders of change and growth in digital marketing.

We embody growth through one of our core values, “We Lead”. Leading growth for our clients and team is something we strive to achieve every day.

“We Care” is another one of our core values that drives our team. In this industry, and during these remote times, it’s easy to forget that it’s the people behind every business. Many companies focus solely on metrics and results, while neglecting the relationships and people behind the business.

While we pride ourselves on driving fantastic results, we also prioritize open communication, empathy, humor, and transparency, which lead to great relationships with our clients. We know caring about people, both internally and externally, will empower people to grow and prosper.

Q: How has Microsoft Advertising been able to help you reach new customers and grow your business?

A: Over the past 12 months, we’ve seen significant client growth with the help of Microsoft Advertising. Our team has developed our Microsoft Advertising skills by completing the certifications to become Microsoft Advertising Certified Professionals, which has amplified our abilities and shown impressive results for our clients.

We enabled our clients to not only survive but thrive through the tumultuous, unprecedented times of the COVID pandemic, and expand our client base from mostly the tourism industry to increased tech, software as a service (SaaS), and e-commerce clients.

We’ve grown our client base by 30% and have tripled ad spend with Microsoft Advertising over the past 12 months. This increase in clients and ad spend has enabled us to see a huge increase in conversions during this transitionary time for our clients.

Thank you to Philip Caines and the team at 1UP Digital for walking us through how they utilize Microsoft Advertising, which products they use to drive results, and how partnering with Microsoft Advertising has positively impacted their business!

Don’t miss out on our other Partner Celebration Global Award Winner spotlights—Wriggle Marketing and Trader Interactive—or your next chance to become a Celebrated Partner during our next round of nominations starting April 3, 2023.

If you haven’t enrolled in the Microsoft Advertising Partner Program yet, make sure that you apply at microsoftadvertisingpartners.com so you’re eligible for the next round.

If you’re an enrolled Partner, stay connected with us and up to speed on all things Partner-related by joining the Microsoft Advertising Partner Community on LinkedIn.

Help us improve Microsoft Advertising

Your comments and feedback are integral to shape and improve our product. You can use the Microsoft Advertising Feedback portal, in-product feedback, Twitter, or Instagram. You can also email us at advertising-feedback@microsoft.com or contact Support.