Case study

Hapag-Lloyd

February 14, 2025

The goal

Hapag-Lloyd, a leading global liner shipping company, set out to enhance brand visibility and attract new customers in their highly competitive B2B market. To achieve this, they explored new marketing channels, particularly focusing on Microsoft platforms to broaden their reach.

By partnering with digital marketing agency EPROFESSIONAL, Hapag-Lloyd aimed to drive new registrations and expand their customer base through a strategic approach of identifying and targeting previously untapped Microsoft Advertising opportunities and maximizing their potential.

The solution

The cornerstone of their approach was the successful implementation of the Universal Event Tracking (UET) tag, which provided essential data for performance measurement and optimization.

Funnel Expansion:

Lower Funnel: Brand keyword campaigns captured existing customer intent, ensuring Hapag-Lloyd remained top-of-mind for those already considering their services.

Upper Funnel: Non-brand search campaigns were launched in key regions to attract a wider audience, while audience campaigns targeted specific user segments in selected markets.

Continued Expansion: They expanded non-brand campaigns globally and introduced competitor and Performance Max campaigns to further enhance their reach.

Optimization: They consistently used a Target CPA smart bidding strategy to maximize registrations at a predetermined cost per acquisition (CPA).

“We were impressed with the results across different campaign types, which prove that Microsoft’s multi-faceted advertising products enable us to connect with a highly specific audience in a B2B environment. The ability to further scale and localize our efforts makes Microsoft Advertising a vital component of our marketing strategy."

— Mathias Firle, Digital Marketing Manager, Hapag-Lloyd AG

The results

Hapag-Lloyd's holistic approach leveraged a blend of search, audience, and performance-based advertising within the Microsoft Advertising ecosystem to capture leads at every stage of the customer journey, from initial awareness to final conversion. They not only achieved, but exceeded, their marketing objectives and set a new benchmark for industry success.