A Las Vegas Cultural Institution
Reaching and Converting Local and Drive-In Audiences for a Multi-Day Cultural Event
Paid media performance for a one-month event campaign
A Las Vegas cultural institution that produces a multi-day, ticketed experiential event celebrating the city’s architecture, design, and history, staged across iconic venues citywide. BTV Marketing manages the client’s paid media.
This is an in-person experiential product, so the realistic audience is local residents and nearby drive-in markets within driving distance. In a one-month window before the event, the goal was to reach and convert both audiences efficiently and sell tickets for a mission-driven cultural event competing for limited leisure attention and spend.
Key Performance Highlights
Across a one-month campaign, paid media drove efficient ticket sales from both the local and drive-in audiences. Paid search returned 533% on ad spend at a $4.71 cost per action, more than 90% below the $50.40 industry benchmark, while paid social reached the two audiences across the full funnel and delivered the largest share of tracked purchases.
Our Approach:
Built for an Experiential Product
Paid Search: Conversions Far Below Benchmark Cost
Google Ads drove 287 conversions and $7,207 in revenue on $1,352 in spend, a 533% return on ad spend. Cost per action came in at $4.71, more than 90% below the $50.40 industry benchmark, an efficient performance that brought in-market and drive-in buyers to the ticket page at low cost.
Paid Social: Full-Funnel Reach Across Local and Drive-In Audiences
Meta (conversions)
The top conversion driver, with 1,259 tracked ticket purchases at about $20 each. Video creative clearly outperformed static, reinforcing a dynamic-content approach.
TikTok (efficient reach)
Over 10,900 clicks at a $0.72 cost per click and a 1.3% click-through rate, especially effective with younger audiences.
LinkedIn (credibility)
Fewer clicks at a higher $3.65 cost per click, but access to a professional and cultural audience that reinforced the event’s credibility.
Premium national publications (brand profile)
Placements in leading design and architecture titles delivered click-through rates of 0.04 to 0.05%, in line with benchmarks, and elevated the event’s national profile.
Programmatic display (awareness scale)
More than 500,000 impressions at a $4.60 CPM extended top-of-funnel reach.
Local trusted media (home-market reach)
A luxury lifestyle publication drove a 0.57% click-through rate through custom email and web placements, while local public radio, a local news podcast, and out-of-home placements provided trusted, community-level awareness for the home audience.
Conversions: 287
Revenue: $7,207
CPA: $4.71
Conversions: 1,259
Cost: $20 each
Revenue: $25,180
Clicks: 10,900+
CPC: $0.72
CTR: 1.3%
CPC: $3.65
Impact: More qualified leads
