Filling the Room: A Paid Social Campaign for UBC Sauder’s Alumni Engagement in London, UK

How a single Facebook ad transformed an underperforming alumni event into a sold-out international engagement opportunity for the Dean of the Sauder School of Business.

Industry
Higher Education

Headquarters
Vancouver, Canada

Geo targeted
London, UK

Institution Size
50,000+ students / 360,000+ alumni

The Challenge

The Dean of UBC’s Sauder School of Business was scheduled to host a lecture and alumni reception in London—an important stop on an international tour to deepen relationships with alumni and prospective donors. Despite an initial email campaign sent to the London alumni network, registrations plateaued at just 12 guests, well below expectations for an event of this significance.

With the date fast approaching and limited options left, it became clear that new channels were needed to spark interest and drive turnout. The challenge was not just to fill the room—but to do so cost-effectively and with the right audience, in a city with a highly mobile and discerning alumni base.

The Approach

To turn things around, we built and launched a hyper-targeted Facebook ad campaign focused on UBC alumni living in the Greater London Area. Using custom audience filters, the campaign honed in on Sauder alumni by combining geolocation data with interest categories tied to business education, university affiliations, and known engagement behavior from past communications.

The creative was straightforward but strategic: a bold image of the Dean, a clear call-to-action (“Meet the Dean in London”), and concise event details. The messaging emphasized the exclusivity of the opportunity—positioning the event as a rare chance to connect in person with UBC leadership abroad.

Despite this being UBC’s first experiment with paid social for alumni events, the risk paid off. Registrations climbed steadily within the first 48 hours and crossed the 100-guest target ahead of schedule.

The Results

Thanks to the agility and precision of paid social, we transformed what was shaping up to be an empty room into a full-house networking success.

📈 733% increase in registrations (from 12 to over 100 attendees)
📍 100% of RSVPs from Facebook were from the London area—validating targeting accuracy
📊 First-ever paid alumni engagement campaign at UBC—used as a future case model
🧠 Proof of concept that shaped digital engagement strategy for future alumni roadshows