Lessons from award-winning global paid media campaigns

Running global paid media campaigns takes more than big budgets. It demands extreme attention to detail, adaptable strategies, and the discipline to keep complex projects running smoothly. When I managed international campaigns including the award-winning re-release of Coraline, I learned exactly what separates good campaign management from true excellence at scale.

Keeping meticulously organised

International campaigns bring unique challenges, as what works in one market rarely fits all. We’ve managed campaigns across more than 100 countries and up to 15 languages at once. This required grouping countries by language, careful budget mapping, and obsessive quality checks, especially as we moved assets between platforms and teams.

I keep detailed spreadsheets for every budget split and country grouping. I also stick to my old-school habit of handwritten to-do lists and a physical diary. It’s a simple practice, but essential. Without a clear written record, things can quickly overwhelm even the most seasoned of paid media specialists!

Bulk management routines to prevent costly mistakes

Handling campaigns in bulk is not just about multiplying effort. It means rethinking structure, automation, and the entire process. If you make a typo or set the wrong spend value, it’s very easy to make a mistake with budgets and end up overspending, especially at scale. Grouping assets by language, tracking campaign stages with clear checklists, and ticking-off each step by hand helps me stay two steps ahead.

Early in my career I heard a cautionary story about an incorrect budget entry that turned a £65,000 lifetime budget into a £65,000 daily budget! Double and triple checks are baked into my workflows to make sure simple advertiser settings are configured correctly.

Data, audiences, and platforms

Campaign strategies must adapt by country, language, and audience. I segment territories into tiers based on market maturity and advertising costs, then test different creative and audience options for each. Something that works in Brazil won’t necessarily work in Germany - it’s not always a one-size-fits-all.

For the *Coraline* re-release campaign, we went beyond established fan groups to test fresh audience segments. Reaching parents, production professionals, and genre-specific movie fans surfaced new pockets of demand. These so-called “cold” audiences sometimes outperformed warmer, established groups, reminding me to never stop experimenting, even with familiar brands.

Choosing the right platform is equally important. Meta and Google remain strong performers for film and event campaigns, but my decisions are rooted in researching each project’s social audience sizes and digital habits. I make it a point to supplement client data with my own research. Lately, I have also used AI tools to help quickly surface new targeting options or niche communities worth trialing.

Tracking conversions in a fragmented world

Few industries face a conversion tracking challenge quite like global film releases, where every cinema chain handles tickets on its own site. Instead of focusing on completed purchases, I rely on tracking “ticket clicks” which for this example, measures when a user clicks a showtime on the landing page. This custom event is the best consistent metric available across dozens of countries.

Our focus remains on the data we can control. If a campaign shows a spike in ticket clicks, it often signals a positive trend, even if full sales attribution isn’t possible in every territory.

Discipline, adaptability, and the human element

Time-bound, event-driven work injects every campaign with urgency and focused momentum. It’s one reason I find paid media for entertainment projects so rewarding. After years of classical ballet training, I bring that same discipline into my campaign management routines. Structure is crucial but so is adaptability. Campaigns are puzzles that need real-time adjustments and creative thinking to solve.

Motivation comes not just from professional pride, but the excitement of working on cultural events that matter. The chance to drive real audience engagement, across all sorts of regions and demographics, keeps the work fresh and fulfilling.

Practical lessons for global marketers

International paid media is never just about scaling up. For anyone stepping into this space, my recommendations are as follows.

Staying meticulously organised

Use a blend of spreadsheets and physical notes to track every moving part. Major errors often stem from overlooked details.

Experiment beyond the obvious

When we explored new audiences for Coraline, parents and genre fans turned out to be surprisingly strong responders.

Use automation judiciously, but check everything yourself

Technology speeds things up, but human oversight catches errors, especially with budgets and targeting.

Segment and localise with care

Audience behaviour varies widely. For instance, Facebook thrives in some countries yet underperforms in others.

Document your process

One person cannot remember every detail of a campaign with 100+ countries. Rely on your own management systems to avoid errors and optimise over time.

From my experience, these habits helped us earn recognition as European Paid Media Campaign of the Year, but more importantly, they consistently result in real business and audience impact.

Ready to take your campaign global?

If you want to elevate your own global campaigns, or discuss new approaches for paid media success, I’d love to connect. Getting the details right makes all the difference, no matter the scale. Contact Times One Hundred to start the conversation.