Double win at the Performance Marketing Awards 2025

This year’s 2025 Performance Marketing Awards brought significant recognition for our work with the Financial Times, with wins in two key categories: Best Experimental Campaign and Best Lead Generation Campaign.

These accolades mark not only a continuation of our partnership with the FT but also a reflection of the strategic, technical, and creative ambition behind the work, from rigorous testing frameworks to a reimagined approach to first-party data collection.

Driving sustainable growth through experimentation

The award for Best Experimental Campaign recognised our partnership with the Financial Times in building and scaling an experimentation programme that has helped redefine how the FT acquires and monetises new audiences through first-party data.

The challenge was a familiar one across the industry: how to grow registrations without compromising subscription revenue. As embedded partners within FT’s Experimentation, Performance Marketing, and Effectiveness teams, In Digital helped shape a framework that allowed the business to test new approaches confidently, measure impact holistically, and move fast with clarity.

A key turning point was developing a predictive model that quantified the long-term value of registered users versus subscribers. This gave FT leadership the confidence to test alternatives to the standard paywall journey, targeting high-potential audiences with lower risk. Across two testing phases, we delivered results that shifted internal perceptions and unlocked a new model for audience growth:

• 600,000 new registered users by year-end (20% above target)
• £10 million+ in advertising revenue (up from £4 million baseline) driven by first-party data
• 14,775 registered users converted to subscribers, adding £2.8 million in revenue
• 1,067% increase in subscription conversion rates among registered users
• 26% drop in paid media CPA, driven by smarter audience segmentation and retargeting

The impact extended beyond performance. The testing framework is now embedded in BAU processes across multiple teams. It set a precedent for aligning commercial metrics with experimentation and future-proofed FT’s growth model in a post-cookie environment.

This was more than a successful test. It was a strategic shift powered by close collaboration, rigorous modelling, and a shared vision for data-driven growth. And for In Digital, it was a chance to help shape not just a campaign, but a new way of thinking.

Using a newsletter to build a high-value acquisition engine

The second award, Best Lead Generation Campaign, recognised the success of the FT’s US Election Countdown newsletter, a pop-up product that evolved into a long-term acquisition engine during a critical moment in the US political calendar.

Initially launched in early 2024 as a twice-weekly guide to the presidential election, the newsletter’s compelling editorial voice and clarity of purpose quickly made it one of the FT’s fastest-growing products. Following its early momentum, the newsletter was rebranded as White House Watch and continued post-election as a key audience channel, particularly for FT’s growth in the US market.

Led by the FT’s Paid Media and Product Marketing teams, the campaign combined smart media execution with a habit-forming editorial product to deliver:

• Over 70,000 new registrations in 2024
• Cost-per-registration 36% below target
• More than £1 million in business value generated through first-party data

In Digital played a supporting role in the campaign, with some team members seconded into the Paid Media and Product Marketing teams. While not centrally involved in media buying or editorial strategy, our primary contribution was in optimising the user journey at the point of conversion as part of the CRO/ Experimentation team. This included:

• Designing and testing landing pages to improve registration conversion
• Advising on paid social creative and targeting, particularly across Meta and LinkedIn
• Supporting the rollout of a LinkedIn lead-gen format, which delivered around 3,000 new signups

This campaign highlighted what can be achieved when content quality and performance rigour are tightly aligned. The FT team delivered a product that not only acquired users at scale but also built long-term engagement through thoughtful positioning and user experience.

While our role was focused and consultative, the work reflected one of In Digital’s core strengths: translating acquisition strategy into high-converting experiences. Supporting a campaign of this calibre and contributing where it mattered most was a privilege.

Reflections on cross-functional execution

Both campaigns demonstrate the value of tightly integrated, cross-functional ways of working where content, data, performance and product teams move in sync toward shared goals.

Neither relied on a single channel or tactic. Success came from sequencing strategy across the entire funnel from initial audience targeting and acquisition to registration, onboarding, and long-term value generation. What made these projects effective wasn’t just strong execution, but joined-up thinking across media, messaging, and measurement.

Crucially, they also reflect one of In Digital’s core offerings: secondments that create embedded, cross-functional teams. By working directly within the FT’s Experimentation, Paid Media, and Product Marketing functions in both deep and supporting roles, our team was able to move from insight to action quickly, with clear test frameworks and collaborative ownership.

This model has enabled some of our most effective work. In the Experimental Campaign, it meant leading the development of a scalable testing framework that changed how growth is approached at the FT. In the Lead Generation Campaign, it meant contributing targeted support where it mattered most in landing page optimisation and user journey refinement, while aligning with the broader goals of the internal team.

These campaigns were not just about performance. They were about building systems and processes that support long-term, sustainable growth, and doing so in a way that reflects the very best of client-agency collaboration.

Looking ahead

While these awards mark a milestone, the campaigns behind them reflect something more enduring: the principles we believe define effective performance marketing. Clear measurement. Creative use of data. The infrastructure to test, learn, and scale at pace. And above all, close collaboration between the right people, across functions, across teams, and often, across businesses.

These projects also reaffirm the value of our secondment model, embedding our team into client teams to create alignment, accelerate delivery, and build shared ownership of outcomes. Whether leading large-scale experimentation or contributing to focused performance optimisations, our aim remains the same: to help clients move faster, think more strategically, and grow more sustainably.

Looking ahead, we’re focused on continuing to evolve that partnership, building on the foundations laid over the past year to deliver not just impact, but innovation. The ambition is simple: to keep creating work that earns recognition, drives measurable results, and sets the standard for what performance marketing can achieve.

Thank you to the FT teams across Performance, Paid Media, Product Marketing, Experimentation, Martech and Effectiveness and to the In Digital team members who contributed across strategy, testing, media, and measurement.
We’re proud of what we’ve achieved together and even more excited about what’s next.

Interested in building experimentation frameworks or optimising lead generation like we did with the Financial Times? Get in touch to see how In Digital can support your team with embedded expertise, data-driven strategy, and performance that scales.

Eleanor Payne, Associate Director, Growth & Paid Media