OANDA: Efficiency Meets Impact

Context

Oanda, a global leader in online trading, wanted to make a real mark in Germany. We needed to bridge the gap between people registering on the app and actually starting to trade. We focused on Germany’s biggest financial hubs with a clear mission: "efficiency meets impact." Our goal was to put Oanda right in front of sophisticated traders using high-attention, data-driven placements. We didn't just want brand visibility; we wanted to spark action. We mapped out the German financial landscape to catch high-value prospects during their daily commutes and professional routines.

Connection

We pivoted to a "less is more" strategy. Instead of a thin presence everywhere, we went for high-impact execution where it counted. We gave Oanda four tiered media options, using heatmaps to find high-density financial areas and busy commuter hubs. We narrowed the focus to Frankfurt, Munich, and Berlin to ensure we dominated the space. We used digital motion towers with three to seven synchronised screens, creating a visual punch that was impossible to ignore. We delivered a concentrated four-week burst in Frankfurt and Munich, plus a high-impact week in Berlin. By using benchmarks from previous June data, we picked the best railway stations and city centres to ensure maximum engagement.

Challenge

We hit a few hurdles early on. Oanda initially wanted an eight-week run across four major cities—Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin, and Hamburg—with a $50,000 budget. We ran the numbers and gave it to them straight: it was "mathematically impossible" to hit that scale while maintaining the quality needed to actually move the needle. We also had to work with a limited number of creative formats to keep things moving fast. We needed a precision-engineered plan to maximise every dollar, achieving dominance without a massive range of assets.

Impact

The results were huge. Our OOH activity acted as a "force multiplier" for Oanda’s digital channels, especially on Google. In our target cities, conversion from registration to live trading jumped by 9%—crushing the 4% increase seen in the rest of the country. We saw an 8.2% growth in live apps in our hubs, with Berlin, Munich, and Frankfurt delivering 13% of all new German live apps. We also made the budget work harder, cutting the cost per New Trading Account (NTA) by 17%. Germany became Oanda's primary growth driver, with a 15% month-on-month increase in NTAs for June. Digital performance soared too, with a 15% rise in Google search brand clicks and a 5% boost in live apps from search. We proved that by focusing on impact, we could turn a $50,000 budget into a massive commercial success.

• +9% Conversion
• +8.2% Growth in live apps