A year in the life of a Small Agency of the Year finalist

In the entertainment space, Arora Online was the digital marketing partner for The Promise – On Stage, the theatrical adaptation of the Booker Prize-winning novel. Leveraging social media and email marketing, Arora Online drove hype by providing audiences with behind-the-scenes content, interviews with cast and crew, plus teaser trailers. This was achieved through the agency’s thoughtfully crafted graphic designs and video edits. A robust paid media strategy across social and the Google Ad network enabled this content to reach the target audience. Data analysis powered an iterative approach to strategy, pivoting efforts to focus on channels and approaches providing the most cost-effective results.

The result that truly matters is that the production achieved sold-out tickets in both Cape Town and Johannesburg. The dazzling show was met with critical acclaim, and Arora Online’s efforts amplified the rave reviews. In just three months, the campaign achieved a reach of 1,023,839, with 447,698 engagements, and 277,196 video views.

After a very successful launch campaign for Alibaba’s philanthropic programme across the continent (Africa’s Business Heroes) that helped the brand break records for their applications, Arora Online was approached by the global e-commerce giant to develop two more influencer campaigns.

Phase two focused on getting the social audience to participate in an Instagram Live event hosted by top business influencer Ivy Mugo. This content reached over three million accounts, drove 1.4 million video views, and almost 10.5k engagements. To motivate the more than 27k applicants to keep pushing forward in the competition, Arora Online contracted a further 10 influencers to profile previous years’ finalists. Strategically, we adopted this approach since we understood from the client that there is a high drop-off rate of applicants after their initial application. Showing how participating in the competition raises your entrepreneurial profile and advances your business interests was highly effective. The twenty pieces of content accumulated over 1.2 million views, with a reach of 2.7 million and over 27k engagements, resulting in a 22% engagement rate. The KPI set by Alibaba was to achieve 300k reach, so it’s safe to say Arora Online exceeded expectations.

The final phase of the campaign revolved around getting business enthusiasts and aspiring entrepreneurs from across Africa to RSVP for the most prestigious business event of the year: The Grand Finale Event in Rwanda. Arora Online managed the influencer team which consisted of creators from 30 African countries. A staggering reach of 6.2m was achieved, with over 1.7m engagements. This resulted in 501k clicks from influencer content to the RSVP page on the website, at a cost of only R0.07 per click.

Sometimes we don’t simply work with influencers, we turn our clients into influencers. Such is the case with The Waterfront Theatre School. Arora Online launched the performing arts college on TikTok in 2020, and thanks to our strategic input, trend research and paid media management, their account now has over 48k followers. We guided the school to focus on this channel since we wanted to drive pester power from kids urging their parents to enroll them in the school. With an average monthly reach of over 200k, this approach is working, and the client has reported record-breaking applications.

Africa’s Eden is an association that connects a B2C and B2B audience to a network of tour operators in Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The brand enlisted Arora Online to uplift their Linkedin profile over the course of four months, in part to draw attention to a summit they were hosting.

Our strategic approach yielded excellent results for Africa’s Eden’s Linkedin account. Impressions rose by 993%, engagements by 172%, page views by 124%, new followers by 118%, and total followers by 40%. CEO and tourism luminary Jillian Blackbeard praised the collaboration, enthusing: "It was a delight working with Arora Online. They were professional and efficient and the work did really impact the successful outcome of the summit."

Doyenne of the South African dance landscape, Debbie Turner, invited Arora Online to be the digital marketing partner for her new ballet company, Cape Ballet Africa. The launch strategy saw us build the social accounts and website for the brand, develop the brand CI in an agile manner, and apply our creativity to generate compelling video content in order to catapult the company into the public’s imagination.

First an MVP website was established to help the brand acquire newsletter signups – a strategically sound investment to lower dependency on paid media to reach their audience in the future. In the background, Arora Online built an e-commerce site so that patrons can purchase memberships at various tiers, providing them with access to exclusive benefits. Once a membership is purchased, the user receives a series of automated mailers and is added to the appropriate audience segment that matches their membership tier.

We are a small agency made up of seven team members who take on big brands and SMEs with equal care and attention. No matter the size of the project or the brand with whom we are partnering, Arora Online works strategically to provide creative solutions that deliver results.

Collaborate with Arora Online to grow your business. Reach out to moc.asenilnoarora@ofni.

Visit Arora Online to read more about our work and how we can help light your digital path with our strategic creativity.