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    All case studies

    How a Strategy Change Helped ASE Reach Its Candidate Profile with Zitec

    14M

    impressions (+366%) across all platforms

    1.8M

    reach (+335%)

    5.6M

    TikTok impressions

    The Impact

    Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE), a leading higher education institution in Romania and a longstanding partner of Zitec since 2022, needed to increase visibility and engagement during the competitive admissions season, targeting undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral applicants. With rival universities investing heavily in digital ads and a target demographic’s shifting interests, ASE needed to adapt its strategy to focus on platforms where Gen Z was most active, making visibility in both search results and emerging social media channels essential to attracting and converting prospective students.

    After implementing a readjusted, integrated PPC and social media strategy, the results were exceptional:

    • 14 million impressions (+366%) across all platforms; 1.8 million reach (+335%)

    • 134,000 users directed to landing pages

    • TikTok performance (new channel): 5.6M impressions, 350k reach, 14.5K profile visits, 14.7K likes, 3.7K shares, 400 comments, 2,500 followers

    These results kept ASE highly visible during the critical application period, supporting an admissions process that attracted over 7,000 students, and creating a strong digital footprint for future campaigns planned for the September–December period.

    The Context

    Since 2022, Zitec’s collaboration with ASE, Romania’s leading university of economics, has centered on PPC campaigns and promotional banners, a successful collaboration based on trust, clear communication, and adaptability. Together, we consistently met admission targets and delivered results each season. However, 2025 presented additional complexities. Here’s why:

    • While the institution already enjoyed strong offline recognition and a long-standing academic reputation, traditional word-of-mouth visibility was no longer sufficient to reach nationwide prospects who conduct their research partially online.
    • Audience dynamics have changed sharply; global reports reveal that teens’ preference for Facebook has been on a steady decline. This shift indicated that reaching prospective students required directing budgets to platforms where young audiences are truly most active.
    • Another challenge was audience diversity. High school graduates exploring undergraduate options and professionals considering postgraduate programs required distinct messaging and content formats. Without a tailored and integrated approach across PPC and social media, ASE risked losing engagement to competitors.
    • An extra layer of complexity came from the digital advertising environment, where universities and private institutions invest heavily in both search and social campaigns during admissions peaks. This surge in competition drove up costs-per-click and made it more difficult to capture attention around generic admission-related terms such as “faculty admissions” or “master’s admissions”.

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    The Challenges

    For ASE, the realities of this market translated into several concrete obstacles. While the broader context showed that digital competition was fierce and costly, ASE’s specific challenge was to remain visible in high-intent admission searches without overspending. Rivals were bidding aggressively on the same keywords, and without smart optimizations ASE risked losing qualified applicants at the very top of the funnel.

    Another challenge came from budget distribution. Unlike competitors that focused on a single program, ASE had to split its resources between undergraduate and master’s campaigns. Each audience group required distinct creative approaches, which made allocation and messaging consistency more complex. This challenge was amplified by the need to reassess how much of the budget should remain on established platforms like Meta versus being tested on emerging channels such as TikTok, where the younger demographic was increasingly active.

    Finally, ASE faced the pressure of converting visibility into measurable actions. In a context where awareness alone was not enough, the university needed to ensure that every impression could translate into link clicks, site visits, and ultimately applications. This demand for tangible results made performance tracking and continuous optimization critical throughout the campaign.

    “During the admissions season, competition for students’ attention is fiercer than ever, with many institutions investing heavily in digital campaigns. Together with Zitec, we monitored trends and adapted our strategy across PPC and social media, striking the right balance between paid and owned media. This approach delivered remarkable results and supported one of ASE’s most successful admissions campaigns, strengthening our online presence and making our programs more visible to future students.”

    Florina Mohanu
    Marketing & Communication Director, ASE

    The Solution

    Together with ASE, we developed an integrated digital marketing strategy that combined paid search, social media, and AI-powered content creation, using data-driven insights and a tailored approach to the admissions cycle.

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    "In our quest to find the right technological partner for our needs, we had several exchanges with different other companies in the market. We were immediately attracted by the technological architecture proposed by Zitec, as well as by the team brought forward."

     

    Key elements of the strategy:

    • PPC as the engine for immediate visibility, focused on awareness, remarketing, and nurturing. In addition to Google Ads and Meta, we expanded the presence to TikTok to capture younger audiences where they spend the most time.
    • A social media calendar aligned with admissions milestones, supported by an AI bot we built in ChatGPT, called ‘Vocea ASE’, modeled after the target persona and designed specifically for content testing and strategy.
    • Platform-specific content formats (Instagram carousels and Reels, Facebook posts and videos) optimized with Metricool data to maximize reach, engagement, and link clicks.
    Visuals illustrating student facilities which brought 12k views, a reach of 5k, and over 400 interactions.
    1.ASE-Admitere-Iulie-2025
    2.ASE-Admitere-Iulie-2025
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    4.ASE-Admitere-Iulie-2025
    Beneficii-la-ASE
    Bucurestiul-prin-ochii-unui-boboc-ASE

    The Process

    In hindsight, it’s clear that they weren’t only looking for a new eCommerce platform. They were seeking a strategic partner who could help them rethink their digital operations while maximizing ROI.

    “Digitalization has always been seen as a fundamental part of our strategy, not a response to a specific challenge. From the beginning, we set up a strong infrastructure to support both our back-end systems and customer-facing technologies. Partnering with Zitec and adopting the VTEX platform has positioned us to scale efficiently while keeping operations smooth. The success of this project came down to the close collaboration between our teams and Zitec’s capacity to understand our brand core and communicate openly and professionally, focusing on results. The results have been outstanding, positioning us as leaders in digital service in Romania.”

    The company’s Senior eCommerce Manager

    This transformation was part of a broader initiative to modernize operations in response to new consumer demands, amplified by the pandemic and informed by successful strategies from similar markets. Here’s what followed:

    1. At first, we listened.
    2. Then, we took on a consultative approach to audit the operations.
    3. We engaged with key stakeholders, from external and internal tech teams from Zitec and VTEX, to the business teams and their vendors, for a smooth and efficient transition that met the retailer’s goals.
    4. We rolled out a plan that addresses the essentials: immediate needs, scaling capabilities, cost efficiency, and future feature enhancements.
    5. Transparency was non-negotiable. We worked closely with the retailer to evaluate the total cost of ownership for a set of solutions so that no hidden costs or surprises would arise down the line.
    6. Instead of jumping straight into a major overhaul, we assessed other options, including upgrading the existing system.

    The decision to move to VTEX was grounded in real-world analysis that showed it to be the most flexible, cost-efficient, and scalable option for the retailer.

    Thanks to our agile, iterative approach, we launched an MVP in just four months (half the projected time) without compromising quality. This allowed for real-time market feedback, customer testing, and continuous platform refinement.

    The Result

    Our collaboration ended in amazing results, which serve as an example for how a strong, integrated digital marketing strategy can create a significant visibility increase under a tight time constraint:

    • 14 million impressions and 1.8 million unique reach across platforms. The campaigns kept ASE in front of students throughout the admissions season.

    • TikTok was added to the activity in 2025. It delivered 5.6M impressions, 5.4M reach, and 2,500 followers in the first year, quickly proving its value in reaching younger audiences.

    • 134,000 users visited admissions landing pages. Campaigns went beyond visibility and brought students directly to where they could apply.

    • Instagram reach grew by 244% (Apr–Jul 2025 vs 2024). Carousels and Reels worked best, helping ASE connect with younger applicants in a format they prefer.

    • Facebook follows increased by 233% (Apr–Jul 2025 vs 2024). Even though Facebook is less popular with Gen Z, the campaigns still built a larger audience and kept ASE visible.

       

      Facebook-followers-April-July24-vs-April-July25

       

      Facebook followers increase:
      April – July’24 vs April – July’25
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      Facebook views, reach, content interactions & link clicks:
      April – July’24 vs April – July’25

      Instagram-views-reach-April-July24-vs-April-July25

    Instagram reach & link clicks increase:
    April – July’24 vs April – July’25

    “We are thankful to our partners at ASE for their trust and openness, which made these results possible. Their commitment to innovation and their deep knowledge of their audience allowed us to align strategy, creativity, and technology in a way that delivered remarkable results. This partnership strengthened ASE’s digital presence and inspired future candidates to see themselves as part of this community.”

    Alina Aldea
    Digital Marketing Lead, Zitec