Social Media, Google Ads
We have collaborated with various service providers, but Arora Media’s approach to project management stands out. We first worked with Arora Media in 2024; they did an excellent job of understanding our needs beyond the initial brief we provided. They adjusted the campaign along the way to incorporate new insights, allowing us to reach more targeted audiences. When we partnered with them again in 2025, they applied all the key learnings and recommended best practices from the previous campaign. As a result, the number and quality of applications we received improved significantly; in 2026 we achieved the highest number of registered students per cohort since 2023.
Petunia Thulo, Communication and Marketing Manager, The Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town
LET’S SHINE SOME LIGHT ON THE MATTER
When the UCT approached us for their 2026 intake campaign, it wasn’t for a brand-new challenge, it was because year one went so well that they knew year two could shine even brighter.
Our first campaign together (for the 2025 intake) delivered strong results and, more importantly, valuable learnings about who their audience is, how they behave online, and what motivates prospective postgraduate students across Africa to take action.
The School needed to:
- Generate increased awareness for their academic programmes,
- Drive high-intent traffic to programme pages, And capture qualified leads (both locally and internationally) for their prestigious postgraduate diploma and related programmes — all designed for senior-level policymakers, practitioners, and leaders across the continent.
And that’s exactly where the light bulb moment sparked…
THE LIGHT BULB MOMENT
You know what they say: if it’s nice, do it twice… but better.
After analysing the 2024/2025 campaign results, the strategy became obvious. We didn’t need to reinvent the wheel. We just needed to build on what worked, optimise what didn’t, and scale the impact.
Our strategic “aha!” moment:
Double down on the channels and audiences that delivered the highest efficiency and engagement and refine them with precision.
What this looked like in practice:
Reinvesting budget into top-performing platforms:
Meta Lead Generation and Google Demand Gen — the two channels where prospective students consistently engaged, clicked, and converted.
Sharpening our targeting:
Using year-one insights, we refined audience segments and creative approaches to boost both visibility and intent-driven actions.
Leaning into Meta’s Lead Capture tools:
A major contributor to the surge in local and international leads, giving us direct access to warm, high-quality prospective students.
Driving high-intent traffic:
Google Demand Gen delivered exceptional reach and ultra-low CPCs, ideal for building awareness and getting the right students onto the website to explore programmes and apply.
The result?
A data-informed, audience-backed, insight-fuelled campaign that didn’t just repeat success, it significantly levelled it up.
YOU CAN’T MAKE LIGHT OF THESE STATS
Meta Lead Generation (Local + International Highlights
- 1,738 total leads generated across both markets.
- Local leads increased by 75% year-on-year, while international leads grew by 55%, showing strong performance on both fronts.
- International targeting outperformed local by 850+ leads, proving its scalability and high demand for the School’s programmes across Africa.
- Cost efficiency remained strong in both markets, with an impressive CPL of R3.31 internationally and R7.53 locally, both significantly below the industry benchmark of R12.
Google Ads Performance
- 4× more reach than the previous year (2,006,339 impressions). a massive 312% jump in visibility year-on-year.
- 76,574 clicks — up from 16,317.
- CPC dropped to just R0.10, beating industry benchmarks by miles.
- CTR climbed to 3.82%, outperforming benchmarks (0.53%) significantly.
