DSD

Contact Me

Case Study 

Storytelling at The Core of a Paid Campaign

Storytelling + Strategy

Overview: How the Campaign Came Together
Brief
The problem, the audience, and what was at stake.
Jump To Section
Strategy
How we decided to reach them and why.
Jump To Section
The Work
The ads, the pages, and the thinking behind each.
Jump To Section
The Results
What changed when the story held together.
Jump To Section
Learnings
What this campaign taught me for the next one.
Jump To Section

The Brief

Medical residency is the finish line every med student races toward, but crossing it comes with a financial reality most aren't fully prepared for. Relocation costs, licensing fees, and a gap between graduation and a first paycheck create real pressure at the worst possible time. The challenge was reaching newly matched students while they were celebrating, and making financial assistance feel like a resource, not a last resort.

Role

I led creative strategy and execution across paid social and search, writing the copy for Meta ad creative, designing the ads across all formats, and extending that story through to the landing page, which I also wrote and designed.
The ads were only part of the problem. The bigger question was whether the story held together from the first impression all the way to the application. Once we started treating each channel as its own audience with its own emotional context, everything started to perform better.
-Daniel

Strategy

Rather than pushing a product, we mapped the emotional journey of a med student on Match Day and built a campaign that followed them through it.
  • Treat each channel as a separate audience. Google and Meta users are in completely different mindsets, so each platform got its own creative approach and message strategy.
  • Google was problem and solution. These were high-intent searchers who already knew they had a financial need. The job was to show up clearly and be the most credible answer.
  • Meta was emotion first. Without the context of active searching, ads led with the Match Day moment to build connection before introducing financial assistance information.
  • Never break the story. Every ad had one job: earn the click and make the landing page feel like a natural continuation.

The Work

Match Day is one of the most emotional moments in a med student's life and within 48 hours, the financial reality of residency sets in. This campaign had to meet them in both moments.
Step 1

Ads

Platform

Where they were
Google

Ads

What they saw
High-intent, non-branded campaign focused on people that are problem-aware and might be searching using:
  • "financial help for medical residency"
  • "loans for med school graduates"
  • "residency relocation assistance"

Story

Why we made that choice
Intent was everything. We led with message over visuals — matching the exact language searchers were already using, then building enough intrigue to make clicking feel like the obvious next step.

Platform

Where they were
Meta

Ads

What they saw
1.91:1 (1200x628px)
1:1 (1080x1080px)
9:16 (1080x1920px)

Story

Why we made that choice
We didn't lead with the product. We led with the moment — Match Day celebration, relief, pride. Emotion first, financial reality second. That sequence made the message land instead of interrupt.
Step 2

Landing Pages

Page

Platform-based
Google

Story

How it concludes
Conclude the start of the story at the ad level with providing thorough information while using dynamic headlines to increase ad relevance.

Page

Platform-based
Meta

Story

How it concludes
Conclude the story from the ads, but explaining more about loans, and showing them next step in applying.
Step 3

Results

Google

By meeting high-intent searchers with language that mirrored exactly what they were looking for and carrying that message through to the landing page — we saw a ~10% lift in application fills. When the story doesn't break between the ad and the page, people follow through.

Meta

Celebrating Match Day wasn't just a creative choice — it was a strategic one. By tapping into the emotional high of the moment before introducing the financial reality, we created enough trust and curiosity to drive a ~20% lift in application fills. The ad opened the story. The landing page closed it.

What Did I Learn

  • Google and Meta aren't just different formats, they're different psychological moments. Designing for intent vs. interruption changes everything from headline choice to visual tone.
  • Continuity of message and tone between the ad and the page was directly measurable in conversion lift.
  • Leading with Match Day celebration on Meta wasn't a feel-good choice, it was what made the financial message land without resistance.