AC Milan, one of the most decorated football clubs in Europe and the world, has experimented with Meta's AI-based marketing solutions to achieve better e-commerce results. Meta's tools have enabled the Rossoneri club to grow online sales while simultaneously increasing return on advertising investments.
During the Christmas period, AC Milan used Advantage+ shopping campaigns for the first time. This solution leverages the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning to reach a broader audience, optimize setup times, and manage campaigns on Meta's apps more efficiently.
Thanks to this innovative product, AC Milan streamlined the campaign setup process, which typically consumes a significant amount of time. In contrast to manual Shopping ads, which require manual testing of various elements like budget, creatives, and audience to find the best combination, Advantage+ shopping campaigns require fewer inputs, thus streamlining the creative management process.
Through Advantage+ shopping campaigns, the club managed to combine potential and existing customers within a single campaign structure, reducing target overlap. Machine learning enabled them to reach people potentially interested or inclined to purchase a product, without being confined to narrowly defined parameters.
To measure the effectiveness of the new campaigns launched during the Christmas period, between November and December 2022, the Rossoneri club conducted a comparative test against previous campaigns. Thanks to Advantage+ shopping campaigns, AC Milan achieved significant results compared to a normal campaign setup, recording a 48% increase in sales on the online store and a 49% increase in Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS), along with a 34% decrease in Cost Per Acquisition (CPA).
"Today, brands increasingly recognize the importance of new technologies in creating successful marketing campaigns," stated Francesca Mambretti, Head of Sales, Mid-market at Meta in Italy. "That's why we decided to invest in artificial intelligence to offer companies solutions like Advantage+ shopping campaigns, which represent an added value for the online sales sector.
The success of AC Milan's campaign further confirms the potential of these tools to optimize brand's digital marketing strategy, helping them allocate their resources more effectively and ensuring a higher return on investments."
"Despite the Christmas holidays being one of the most competitive and crucial periods for e-commerce, with our paid media campaign, we were able to increase traffic to our website and boost sales. Thanks to the personalized targeting approach, we were able to reach the right audience segments at the right time, with a significant return on investment," stated Luca Colombo, Head of Digital Strategy at AC Milan.
Advantage+ shopping campaigns
These are solutions designed for brands seeking to increase online sales with the best possible return on investment. Compared to manually set ads, Meta's AI-driven tools require fewer inputs during campaign creation, simplifying audience targeting and creative management processes. Recent tests have also shown that Advantage+ shopping campaigns have led to an average 32% increase in Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS). The features of Advantage+ shopping campaigns include:
Combining potential and existing customers in a single campaign structure
Using machine learning to identify and target the most significant customers with minimal input
Eliminating manual steps in ad creation and reducing the marketer's decision-making from 11 to 2
Simplifying campaign management and setup by publishing fewer campaigns without changes or updates
Automatically testing up to 150 creative combinations and optimizing ads for maximum performance.
Source: Meta Press Office (via Milan Press)
