About the Project
We’ve worked with Watford Palace Theatre for a few years now – while we didn’t build their website, we took over management when the original developers could no longer support them.
While we were originally approached by the Theatre because of our extensive Spektrix integration knowledge, we’ve always been on hand to help with all sorts of digital advice – including digital marketing support.
We were delighted, then, when Watford Palace Theatre became another addition to our growing portfolio of Google Ad Grant clients within the UK theatre sector.
The Challenge
Like many theatres across the country, Watford Palace was eligible for Google Ad Grants, but did not yet have an active Google Ad Grants account. This meant they were missing out on up to $10,000 per month in free Google Ads spend that could be used to promote their shows and community initiatives.
The first step in the setup process was getting approval for the grant account. While this can sometimes be time-consuming and challenging to get approved, Watford Palace met all the requirements, allowing us to set up and get their account running in a relatively short timeframe.
With the Christmas season – one of the busiest periods in the theatre calendar – fast approaching, launching campaigns quickly was key to early success. Not only did this support ticket sales during peak demand, but it also accelerated the Google Ads data learning, enabling campaign smart-bidding to optimise quicker through higher conversion numbers.
As with most theatres we work with, the key challenge was not simply spending the grant budget, but ensuring it was used to reach users genuinely interested in the theatre’s events. Alongside this, there was a broader objective to increase the overall awareness of the theatre.
The Solution
Our experience in managing Google Ad Grants for arts and culture organisations has given us a proven track record in addressing these challenges. We understand which keyword strategies tend to perform well within grant accounts, and which are often too competitive to gain visibility.
For example, terms such as “venue hire near me” or “local charities” can be valuable to charities, but they are highly competitive and often difficult to gain impressions for within grant accounts. Instead, we focused on areas where we know grants can drive strong performance, particularly around ticketing and local discovery searches.
Campaigns were structured around key themes such as event-specific searches (e.g., “pantomime shows in Watford”), genre searches (e.g., “family shows near me”), and more top-of-funnel discovery terms (e.g. “things to do in Watford”).
Alongside the campaign setup, we also worked on amendments outside of the Google Ads platform itself, improving the relevance of landing pages to ensure that where users landed aligned with their search queries.
Combining Grant Ads with Paid campaigns
A common question we receive is whether or not organisations can run paid Google Ads alongside a grant account. The answer is yes, and it’s the approach we implemented for Watford Palace Theatre.
While the grant account provides significant free ad spend, it is limited to search campaigns only. This means that if an organisation wants to utilise more outbound marketing methods, such as display, YouTube, or remarketing, a paid account is required.
This approach proved particularly effective for one of Watford Palace’s spotlight productions, The Mesmerist, starring Rufus Hound. The show ran for a three-week period, so there were plenty of tickets to be sold.
To support this, we launched a dedicated Demand Generation and Display campaign using video trailers, image assets, and audience targeting based on local theatre interests, along with Remarketing (users who had previously visited the Watford Palace website). This allowed us to reach potential attendees even if they were not actively searching for the show, serving ads across YouTube and other Google placements to build awareness and interest around the event.
Importantly, this was not a “set-and-forget” campaign. As the production began receiving strong early reviews from preview performances, we quickly incorporated these reviews into the advertising creative. Including prominent five-star reviews within the ads helped build social proof and endorse the event.
Head of Marketing and Communications
Watford Palace Theatre
The results
So, how did it go? We’re super pleased with the results we’ve delivered so far, not only from the grant ads, but from the paid ads too.
Here’s a quick breakdown.
Paid Ads Campaign (for one specific spotlight event)
- 81 purchases (145 including view-through purchases)
- 1,011.8% ROAS (excluding view-through conversions)
- 1,894.6% ROAS (including view-through conversions)
A view-through purchase/conversion is when a user views an Ad, does not click it, but then purchases later, within a specific time period.
All in all, from quite a minimal spend, the theatre were able to achieve 10 times as much in revenue.
Grant Ads Campaign (from 4 months of management)
- Average monthly spend of $7,432 each month, from the $10,000 allocation since management.
- 148 average monthly purchases from all campaigns.
- £12,000 average monthly purchase value from all campaigns.
- 6,074% ROI – For every £1 spent on their Google Ads Grant retainer with us, £60.74 was returned in revenue to the theatre.
We’re proud to work with Watford Palace Theatre and look forward to continuing to drive meaningful results, from growing awareness of the theatre to delivering ticket sales across both Grant and Paid Google Ads activity.
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