Case Study · Higher Education
American University in Bulgaria: Scaling international student acquisition across 21 markets
Performance campaigns across 21 markets turned AUBG’s online recruitment into a repeatable acquisition engine—delivering the university’s best results in seven years.
- Client
- American University in Bulgaria
- Category
- Higher Education
Campaign Snapshot
Online Student Acquisition
Market-weighted budget allocation and a unified media mix produced a 55% year-on-year lift in online applications.
- Application Growth 55% (7-Year Record)
- Markets Activated 21
- Award Bright Awards Gold
Replaced one-off international recruitment pushes with a unified, data-driven acquisition engine.
Focus
- Student Acquisition
- Performance Marketing
- Lead Generation
- Market Research
- Funnel Optimisation
The challenge
AUBG’s challenge wasn’t volume. It was consistency. Each market behaved differently, budgets were fragmented, and previous recruitment efforts relied on one-off campaigns that could not scale year after year.
My brief was to design and operate a recruitment engine that respected local nuance while scaling globally: align budgets to market potential, tailor messaging to audience motivations, and keep the funnel efficient from first touch to submitted application.
- Media consumption varied significantly across all 21 markets
- Messaging had to be localised without fragmenting the overall strategy
- Competition within international higher education is intense and well-funded
- Success meant converting cross-border interest into completed applications, not just leads
Key decisions
Decision 01 Centralise intelligence, localise execution
Market weighting, segmentation, and data-driven budget logic ensured every euro worked harder in high-propensity regions.
Decision 02 Design one acquisition engine, not 21 campaigns
Unified funnel logic and multi-channel orchestration allowed me to manage complexity without losing local relevance.
Decision 03 Optimise for completed applications, not clicks
Conversion optimisation, continuous funnel testing, and lead quality scoring focused efforts on students actually likely to enroll.
Implementation
Market analysis & segmentation
Built a market-weighting model across 21 countries using behavioural and demand signals to guide budget allocation.
Multi-channel execution
I ran coordinated social, search, and programmatic campaigns using shared messaging frameworks and market-specific creatives.
Funnel optimisation
Continuously tested landing flows, retargeting cadence, and lead handling to maximise completed applications.
The results
- 55% Application Growth
- 21 Markets Activated
- Bright Awards Gold Award
- Best in 7 Years Performance
The programme marked the university's strongest performance in seven years, winning a Gold Bright Award for best digital campaign and delivering the university's strongest international recruitment performance in seven years.
The programme replaced fragmented international recruitment with a scalable acquisition system the university could repeat year after year.
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