UNest

Challenges

No Bandwidth to Launch a New Channel

Like compound interest on a smart investment, UNest’s popularity was snowballing. The app made investing for children as easy as calling an Uber, and parents were loving it. Thousands followed its development on financial publications like Forbes and registered accounts with the tool.

Chief Operating Officer Mike Van Kempen oversaw the growth strategy at UNest. He was pleased with the response they were getting on Facebook and Instagram, but new platforms were catching his eye.

“I was very familiar with Facebook, Instagram, and even Snapchat and Google Ads. But TikTok was new. It was blowing up, and the 30-plus demographic was growing quickly.” – Mike Van Kempen, COO

To reach their target audience of young parents among TikTok’s trend-obsessed users, UNest would need a specialized creative strategy. However, like many fast-growing companies, UNest’s team was already running at full capacity.

“I wanted someone with experience in a channel like that to take it on, but we didn’t have the bandwidth internally to launch a new channel. We needed help to get started on TikTok without a long, drawn-out process of trying to hire and train someone.” – Mike Van Kempen, COO

UNest started looking for a partner who could:
1. Develop specialized creative concepts for TikTok ads
2. Own the content production
3. Launch and optimize the channel quickly

While familiarizing himself with top performing content on TikTok, Mike came across ads by his friend’s company. He reached out to them and learned they were working with adQuadrant.

“adQuadrant was getting great results on TikTok for my friend’s company. They were also Southern-California based, like us. It made sense to give them a shot and see if this would be a viable channel.” – Mike Van Kempen, COO

Solution

A Unique Creative Strategy for TikTok

To turn TikTok into a high-performing channel for UNest, adQuadrant started with discovery research. They needed to understand the product positioning, user personas, and advertising goals.

“We wanted to optimize the campaigns for funded accounts. So, we walked our adQuadrant team through the major events in our user flow and focused on the step where a customer links their bank account.” – Mike Van Kempen, COO

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Once the campaign objectives were determined, the channel experts went to work crafting concepts that would hit the right segment of users to drive more completed accounts on the app.

One-Stop Campaign Shop

“We were looking for a partner who could not only do the campaign management, but also strategize and produce the creative,” – Mike Van Kempen, COO

adQuadrant wowed UNest by turning around solid concepts and ready to use assets just days after their discovery meeting.

“They drafted scripts, got our approval, and shot the videos. We went live within a week.” – Mike Van Kempen, COO

Top Performing Ads

adQuadrant’s concepts hit the bullseye with UNest’s target audience on TikTok. They explored everything from breaking the fourth wall and seamless transitions to leveraging trends and pop culture moments like Squid Game. Several of their concepts performed so well that they earned mentions in TikTok’s Top Ads.

“The Squid Game ad was especially edgy, and that’s what we wanted. It was one of the ads that won best engagement. Another highlight was a campaign with an influencer who was a parent and a finance specialist. He was very charismatic, and filmed UGC- type content for our ads. His ads performed exceptionally well.” – Mike Van Kempen, COO

Rapid Optimization

On top of winning critical recognition, the UNest campaigns were strong converters, quickly driving their cost per install below their goal.

“My TikTok rep showed me the benchmarks for Fintech in general. We were getting about 20 to 30% better.” – Mike Van Kempen, COO

adQuadrant also managed to scale the ads exponentially without losing efficiency. UNest even shifted spending into the TikTok platform from less profitable channels because the wins kept climbing.

Expert Channel Management

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Even while scaling fast, the team kept their eye on the total budget. They helped UNest maximize every dollar by updating old creative to maximize engagement and install rates, while continuing to ideate and produce new creative concepts.

“They educated us on TikTok as a platform, and they showed us new ideas that could work in our other channels.” – Mike Van Kempen, COO

Outstanding Partnership

Mike appreciated the relationship he and his colleagues developed with their account management team.

“They worked really closely with us and it felt like we were all one team.” – Mike Van Kempen, COO

In addition to productive biweekly meetings, adQuadrant’s daily communications made the partnership painless.

“We had a Slack channel with our account managers. They would send new creative for our approval or suggest adjusting the spend on certain ads, and I could just send them a quick reply.” – Mike Van Kempen, COO

He felt that UNest’s great results on TikTok were directly connected to the positive working atmosphere at adQuadrant.

“I actually liked working with these people and getting on calls with them. They seemed to really enjoy their job. With other agencies, we’ve had a new account manager every week. ” – Mike Van Kempen

Results

A Successful New Channel and Dialed-In Strategy

Within just 1 week of hiring adQuadrant, UNest had ads up and running on TikTok. And within 5 months, they had reduced their cost per install by 77% and smashed industry benchmarks by as much as 30%. Mike was thrilled.

“TikTok proved to be a great channel for us. Now, we want to work on phase two of our growth plan.” – Mike Van Kempen, COO

Next, UNest will be launching a crypto investing feature. Their adQuadrant team is already planning the TikTok campaign. Going from brand new on the channel to getting recognized in TikTok Top Ads was more than just flattering.

“Getting named in Top Ads was great. It showcased our content to other creators and got us verified on TikTok. As a tiny company, that’s a big thing. adQuadrant went above and beyond to help our brand get out there.” – Mike Van Kempen, COO

One of the most telling aspects of the channel’s success was that the performance kept driving more and more scaling.

“As we saw the positive results come in, we kept increasing the budget. The channel grew into something really great. We were very happy with the results and the work being done.” – Mike Van Kempen, COO

Would he recommend adQuadrant to other marketers looking to launch on TikTok?

“Working with adQuadrant was cheaper, easier, and much more effective than trying to recruit and onboard a full-time TikTok specialist. I would do it again. It would be a no-brainer.” – Mike Van Kempen, COO

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