Vodafone and TripleLift Prove Event-Based Ads Can Drive Purchase Intent — TRIPLE LIFT, INC. (TripleLift)

Event summary

TripleLift and Vodafone's London Marathon campaign exceeded goals, showing event-based ads can drive purchase intent.
The campaign achieved a 5x increase in purchase intent vs. industry benchmarks (+4 percentage points).
Vodafone excluded existing customers from targeting to focus on net-new prospects.
The strategy combined display and instream video with custom audience segments.
Video completion rate reached 84%, indicating strong engagement.

The big picture

This campaign challenges the traditional view that tentpole event advertising is primarily for reach. By combining audience intelligence with premium creative formats, TripleLift and Vodafone demonstrated measurable brand impact, including significant lifts in purchase intent—a metric notoriously difficult to move. The success suggests a shift towards performance-driven event marketing, where attention alone is no longer sufficient.

What we're watching

Scalability of Strategy: Whether TripleLift can replicate this success with other brands and events.
Industry Shift: How this campaign influences the broader advertising industry to move beyond reach-based event marketing.
Partnership Dynamics: The pace at which Vodafone and TripleLift expand their collaboration into other high-impact campaigns.