Educação
Estácio cuts CPC by 74% and reaches 41x ROI
Brand bidding hurt Estácio's campaign performance — 74% CPC reduction and 41x ROI.
- 74% CPC reduction
- 57% CTR increase
- 41x ROI
About the client
Estácio is one of the largest and most traditional higher education institutions in Brazil, offering undergraduate, graduate and extension courses in both on-site and distance formats. Founded more than five decades ago, Estácio maintains a presence in every region of the country, impacting thousands of students with quality education and a focus on innovation.
Beyond leading the education market, Estácio stands out for its digital marketing initiatives, with consistent campaigns to attract students and reinforce its brand in a highly competitive environment.
The challenge
Brand Bidding became a critical problem for Estácio, directly affecting the performance of its digital campaigns. This practice involves the improper use of brand-related terms by competitors in paid search campaigns. By using keywords like "Estácio", competitors captured the traffic of users interested directly in the institution, diverting potential students and inflating brand campaigns' Cost per Click (CPC).
The impacts of this unfair strategy were broad and significant. First, the higher CPC raised total digital campaign costs, reducing investment efficiency. Second, direct competition in searches harmed brand visibility in the digital environment, making it harder to capture qualified leads. Finally, the practice hurt the user experience — they were often led to other institutions' ads without realizing it.
With aggressive competition growing, Estácio needed a solution that would protect the brand, optimize costs and maximize return on investment (ROI). Beyond mitigating negative impacts, it was essential to turn the challenges into an opportunity to strengthen the institution's digital competitiveness.
The solution
BrandMonitor and Cadastra joined forces to develop and implement a robust and personalized strategy, tackling the Brand Bidding challenges and optimizing Estácio's digital campaigns. The work began with continuous monitoring of brand-related keywords on the main search engines. This approach quickly identified competitors who improperly used the "Estácio" name to divert traffic, hurting the institution's digital campaign performance.
After identifying infringers, direct negotiations were conducted, including formal notifications and specific talks, ensuring immediate cessation of unfair practices. These actions significantly reduced improper competition in keyword auctions, restoring brand control over related searches and, consequently, optimizing campaign costs.
In parallel, institutional campaigns were optimized with dynamic adjustments, prioritizing click efficiency and ad relevance. The strategies focused on improving user experience and expanding engagement. The combined actions led to an expressive 74% reduction in institutional Cost per Click (CPC). On top of that, there was a 57% increase in CTR (Click-Through Rate), showing the positive impact of eliminating unfair competitors and continuously improving Brand Bidding campaign management.
The strategic integration between BrandMonitor and Cadastra was essential to maximize the financial return of Estácio's digital campaigns. ROI reached 41x the investment, proving that combining brand protection with campaign optimization is an effective approach to turn challenges into sustainable growth opportunities. This partnership strengthened Estácio's digital competitiveness and consolidated the efficiency of its marketing investments.
The partnership with BrandMonitor and Cadastra was decisive to turn the challenges of Brand Bidding into concrete, expressive results. Brand protection and the optimization of digital campaigns consolidated Estácio's presence in the market and lifted the efficiency of its marketing investments.