The client

The Euro Hockey League is the top European men’s field field hockey club competition, organized by the European Hockey Federation since the 2007/08 season. It brings together the best clubs on the continent in a Champions League-type format, with KO16, FINAL8 and special tournaments.

Key points of the value proposition

  • Top level European field hockey tournament, with the best teams and players of the continent.
  • Attractive competition format, with decisive phases concentrated in iconic venues.
  • Own digital ecosystem: EHLhockey.tv platform, online ticket sales and activations with sponsors such as ABN AMRO.

The challenge

EHL sought to drive online sales of tickets and products associated with the tournaments.The company is also activating its partners’ brands in key markets (mainly the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany). The key objectives:

  • Monetize the short ticketing windows for the ABN AMRO EHL FINALS and other events.
  • Generate sufficient volume of qualified traffic to EHLhockey.tv and ticketing pages.
  • Maintain a competitive competitive CPA in international campaigns with multiple markets, languages and devices.
  • Correctly measure the return per channel and campaign to decide future investments.

Business objectives

  • Increase online online purchases linked to EHL events.
  • To achieve a sustainable sustainable ROAS that allows scaling investment at times of peak demand.
  • Improve metrics of CPC, CTR and CPA against internal benchmarks and sports entertainment benchmarks.
  • Have a measurement model that connects campaigns, purchases and revenue by country and device.

How we did it

Strategy

A paid media conversion-oriented paid media strategy was defined in two main blocks:

  1. Ticketing and direct conversion (tickets and products) through Google Ads and Meta.
  2. ABN AMRO sponsorship activations focused on visibility and attributed sales in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

Lines of work

  • Google Ads (Search + Performance Max) to capture high intent around EHL, field field hockey and ticket terms.
  • Meta Ads (Instagram and Facebook) with traffic, sales and remarketing campaigns on audiences of field hockey fans and sports in general.
  • Creativities with focus on:
    • Excitement of the finals and KO rounds.
    • The value of experiencing live the highest level of the official European field hockey tournament.
    • Visible partnerships with ABN AMRO and other sponsors.

Key activations

  1. Google Ads – Conversion Campaigns
  • Campaigns PMAX y DGEN focused on sales, with dynamic creatives and high intent signals covering all available channel advertising space.
  • Results and main KPIs:
    • 390,367 impressions and 11,469 clicks. 
    • Average CPC 0,41 €, CTR 2,94 %.
    • 265 attributed purchases, average CPA of €17.8 and ROAS of approximately 4.57x. 
  1. Meta Ads – International Ticketing
  • Traffic and conversion campaigns for ticketing with segmentation by interest in field hockey, sports and related hobbies.
  • Ticketing” block in Meta:
    • 1,510,091 impressions, 27,190 clicks.
    • CPC 0.18 €, CTR 1.8%, CPM 3.29 €.
    • 203 online purchases, CPA 24.49 € and ROAS 3.47x.
  1. Meta Ads – Activations in collaboration with major sponsors such as ABN AMRO
  • Targeted campaigns for ABN AMRO in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, combining outreach, traffic and conversion pieces.
  • ABN AMRO” block in Meta:
    • 2,741,382 impressions, 8,611 clicks.
    • CPC 0.81 €, CTR 0.31 %, CPM 2.54 €.
    • 189 purchases, CPA €36.80 and ROAS 1.85x.

Technology and measurement

  • Using Looker Studio as a unified dashboard for Google Ads and Meta, tracking impressions, clicks, conversions and revenue.
  • Standard of UTMs per campaign, country and target in order to cross-reference ticketing and activation data.
  • Tracking by device and ageThe vast majority of purchases come from mobiles and 25-44 year-olds.

Results

Visibility and activity

  • 4,656,248 impressions and 56,617 clicks across all campaigns.
  • Average CPC 0,31 €, CTR 1,22 % and CPM 3,74 €.

Conversion and business

  • 657 online purchases attributed to paid media, with an overall conversion rate of 1.16%.
  • Total attributed revenue: 51.663,86 €.
  • Average cost per purchase (CPA): 26,52 €.
  • Overall ROAS on media investment: 2,96x.

Top channels by volume/efficiency

  • Meta Ads
    • 4.25M impressions and 35,801 clicks, with an average CPA of €30.4 and a combined ROAS of 2.53x, combining ticketing and ABN AMRO campaigns. 
  • Google Ads
    • 390k impressions, 11,469 clicks and 265 purchases, with an average CPA of £17.8 and ROAS of approximately 4.57x.

What made the difference

  • Approach full funnelReach and visibility for key events combined with highly targeted conversion campaigns at sales moments.
  • Segmentations by country, age and device aligned with the actual EHL fan, prioritizing mobile devices.
  • Double work block: direct ticket sales and partner activations, with separate reading of results for each objective.

Apprenticeships

  • The combination of Google Ads (high intent) y Meta Ads (reach + remarketing) works especially well in sports with an event-driven calendar.
  • The CPA and ROAS change by country and type of campaignIt is therefore advisable to separate pure ticketing from sponsorship activations in order to make investment decisions.

Designing mobile-first mobile-first is key when the majority of purchases and site visits come from this device.

"If you are looking for results, with CRONUTS.DIGITAL you will find them. We have achieved an incredible presence in PAID MEDIA, with results from the first minute."

O
Oriol Peremiquel
The Euro Hockey League