Case Study
Driving Performance with Flat Budget
The Bullock Texas State History Museum offers rotating historical exhibits, blockbuster IMAX films, seasonal programs, and event rentals. Located in Austin, Texas, the museum competes daily with a dense mix of entertainment, cultural venues, live events, and attractions.
For more than five years, the Museum has partnered with EXL Media to run an always-on advertising program using paid search and programmatic digital buys to drive attendance across all of its offerings.
The Challenge
Throughout the engagement, the paid media budget remained flat. Despite this constraint, both the Museum and EXL Media set aggressive performance goals — increasing total clicks and click rate while simultaneously reducing cost per click. The challenge was to extract as many high-quality results as possible from the same budget.
The Strategy
EXL Media relied on historical performance data combined with audience research to identify which segments were most likely to convert for specific museum offerings. The team made a strategic decision to reallocate budget from programmatic display to Paid Search, capitalizing on high-intent user behavior to intercept audiences closer to conversion. Within the programmatic campaign, investment shifted from video to higher-performing mobile and standard display inventory, generating stronger click-through rates and more site traffic.
Audience Targeting
DMA: Austin
- Parents/Families
- Women aged 25-54
- Geo-fencing around University of Texas
Timing:
- Annual Advertising Campaign
The Tactics
Campus Geo-Fencing
Geo-fencing around the University of Texas campus promoted IMAX films directly to students, reinforced by geo-targeted messaging in residential zip codes to drive awareness and conversion.
Audience-first Targeting
Paid media placements targeted women aged 25–54 as the primary decision-makers for family outings, aligning messaging to the audience most likely to drive museum attendance.
Intent-Driven Paid Search
Budget was shifted to search campaigns captured high-intent moments when Austin residents and visitors were actively searching for movies, exhibits, museums, venue rentals, and local events.
Programmatic Optimization
Budget was shifted from video placements to higher-performing mobile and standard display inventory, improving click-through rates and driving more qualified site traffic.
The Results
