Design Mumbai Sold 10,000+ Tickets in Under 2 Months
Design Mumbai is a design and architecture exhibition in India that brings together architects, interior designers and premium home brands. It runs one edition a year. This event marketing case study shows how Meta and Google campaigns sold more than 10,000 tickets in under 2 months per edition, inside a tight pre-event window.
- 10,000+tickets per edition
- <2 monthsper edition
- £7,751Meta spend, 2021 to 2024
- 39.5Mpeople reached
The Wall Label
Design Mumbai
- Client
- Design Mumbai
- Industry
- Design and architecture exhibition
- Country
- India
- Visitors
- Architects, interior designers and design-conscious homeowners
- Channels
- Meta Ads + Google Ads
- Timeframe
- One edition a year, tickets sold in under 2 months per edition. Meta data covers 19 Oct 2021 to 19 Nov 2024
Campaign by EmergingAds · Client contact: Michael Dynan, Director
Curator’s Statement
Sell a high volume of tickets, inside a tight pre-event window, to three audiences who do not read the same feeds, search the same words or buy for the same reason.
Architects
Professionals who go to see materials, products and peers. They need a reason that is worth a working day.
Interior designers
Looking for brands, suppliers and ideas to bring to clients. Visual, quick to judge, and very used to beautiful ads.
Design-conscious homeowners
Premium buyers planning a home or a renovation. They come for inspiration and the brands on show.
Reaching this professional and premium audience at scale needed precision targeting beyond generic event advertising.
The Floor Plan: Every Stand Is One Part of the Campaign
This is how we build a ticketing campaign for an exhibition on Meta and Google. It is the method, not a list of extra results.
Three audiences, three ad sets
Architects, interior designers and homeowners each get their own ad set and their own creative. Professional signals like job titles and design media for the first two; premium home and decor interest for the third. Lookalikes seeded from past ticket buyers where the data exists.
Creative that shows the show
Exhibitor brands, installations and the venue, cut as Reels and carousels. A design audience scrolls past stock images.
Search for people already looking
Event-name, design exhibition and architecture expo searches, so demand created on Meta does not leak to resellers or other events.
Retargeting the browsers
People who watched, clicked or reached the ticket page see exhibitor line-ups and dates until they buy.
Pacing into a short window
With a tight pre-event window there is no time for a slow learning phase. Budget starts on the audiences most likely to buy, and every few days moves toward whatever is selling tickets at the lowest cost. Late in the run, search and retargeting carry more of the spend, because that is where the ready buyers are.
Count tickets, not clicks
Ticket purchases tracked back to Meta and Google, so both platforms optimise toward buyers and all spend can be judged on tickets sold.
The stand layout is a way of explaining the method. Design Mumbai’s exact audience settings and budget split are not published.
The Gallery Wall
Tickets from the event report and ticketing platform. Ad figures from Meta Ads Manager.
One of the fastest-selling design industry events we have supported.
“The EmergingAds team generated ticket sales for our event through a focused digital campaign.”
The Catalogue: Three Years of Meta Data
The Design Mumbai ad account in Meta Ads Manager, 19 Oct 2021 to 19 Nov 2024. That covers the yearly editions, across 26 campaigns.
- Cat. 0139.5MReach (39,498,518 people)
- Cat. 0259.9MImpressions (59,933,235)
- Cat. 03118,492Link clicks at £0.07 each
- Cat. 042.75M3-second video plays (2,752,599)
- Cat. 05£7,751Total spend (£7,751.29)
- Cat. 062.96MPage engagement (2,956,055)
Also in the report: CPM £0.13, CTR 0.20%, frequency 1.52.
The Audio Guide for Founders
Four stops worth pausing at if you sell tickets, seats or anything with a date on it.
- 01Stop one
Split your audience before you write an ad
If three kinds of people buy, run three sets of ads. One message for everyone usually lands with no one.
- 02Stop two
Show the real thing
For a visual audience, real stands, brands and spaces beat polished graphics. Your best creative is often already on your exhibitors’ phones.
- 03Stop three
A short window needs faster decisions
When you only have weeks, review results every few days, not every month. Move budget to what sells tickets and stop what does not.
- 04Stop four
Keep Google on for your own name
Social ads make people curious, and curious people search. Make sure the first result for your event is your own ticket page.
Related Services and Stories
- Meta Ads managementFacebook and Instagram campaigns for tickets and salesService
- Google Ads managementSearch campaigns for people looking for your eventService
- B2C marketingPaid ads for consumer brands and eventsIndustry
- Our clients85+ brands across several countriesClients
- Success storiesMore case studies and resultsStories
Questions About This Event Marketing Case Study
Can paid ads sell thousands of exhibition tickets?
Yes, when the targeting and creative fit the audience. Design Mumbai sells more than 10,000 tickets per edition in under 2 months, with Meta and Google Ads doing the selling. Across the 2021 to 2024 editions, total Meta spend was £7,751. Results depend on the event, the price and how much interest already exists.
How do you target architects and interior designers on Meta?
With professional signals such as job titles, design and architecture media, design tools and trade brands, plus lookalikes of past buyers where you have that data. Each group gets its own ad set and creative, so you can see which one actually buys.
Why run Google Ads as well as Meta for an event?
Meta creates interest. A lot of that interest then turns into a search for the event name, and Google makes sure the search ends on your ticket page rather than a reseller or another event.
How long before an exhibition should you start advertising?
As early as you can sell tickets. A short window works, as Design Mumbai shows, but it means faster decisions and less room for testing. Starting earlier gives the ads time to learn before the final rush.
How do we work with EmergingAds on an event?
Start with a free audit. We look at your past campaigns, tracking and ticket page, then tell you what is realistic for your date and budget. Engagements run on a 3-month minimum.
Book a Free Audit Before Your Next Event
We will look at your Meta and Google ads, your tracking and your ticket page, and show you where buyers are dropping off before your date.