ASUS Programmatic Campaign: Market Share 0.3% to 3%, a 10x Gain
A real-time, cart-data-integrated programmatic buying strategy that intercepted competitor-phone shoppers at the moment of purchase intent, without increasing media spend.
Published October 31, 2020 · Updated September 29, 2026
At a glance
Client: ASUS
Service line: Paid Media & Performance Marketing
Problem:
Solution:
Result:
ibs Fulcro's role:
Objective
ASUS held a measly 0.3% share of the Indian smartphone market. With 34% of all mobile sales happening online, and more than 35 competing handsets in its price segment, ASUS needed a way to win the customer right at the buying stage, not just build awareness and hope it converted. The brief was to revive ASUS through an insight-led programmatic buying campaign, and keep the brand from fading out of a brutally crowded category.
Solution
For the first time, ibs Fulcro integrated cart data in real time, feeding the effectiveness of each creative-and-audience combination back to ASUS via OCMPID, targeting users at the exact moment of purchase.
The insight behind the approach: when a shopper has something in their cart, there's a strong chance they're close to buying it, but also a real chance they'd switch for a better-fitting deal. So the campaign targeted shoppers based on what was actually sitting in their cart.
ibs Fulcro targeted competitor phones directly, building ad creative around them to reach shoppers precisely at the point of purchase intent. The audience was segmented by smartphone price range, feature set, and buying behavior on Flipkart.
Because of this real-time integration, every time a shopper added an ASUS smartphone to their cart, the system reported back the effectiveness of that specific creative-and-audience combination. Bids were increased programmatically for combinations that performed, and reduced for those that didn't, with ads reaching consumers on a real-time basis.
Example: a shopper with a OnePlus 6 (3300mAh battery) in their cart would be served an ad for the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1, 5000mAh battery, at an even better price.
The result of this real-time programmatic approach: ASUS met its target of selling more than 1 million units per quarter with no increase in budget, as targeting efficiency rose 3x.
A 10x share gain came from targeting precision, not more spend
ASUS moved from 0.3% to 3% share with a 3x lift in targeting efficiency, which points at how the budget was aimed, not how much of it there was. If your programmatic spend feels flat despite reasonable budget, efficiency is usually the first place to look before the number goes up.
Results
In less than a year, ASUS's market share went from 0.3% to 3%, a 10x increase.
Frequently asked questions
ASUS held just 0.3% share of the Indian smartphone market, competing against 35+ handsets in its segment. With 34% of all mobile sales happening online, the brand needed a way to intercept and convert shoppers at the actual moment of purchase intent, not just at the awareness stage.
ibs Fulcro integrated cart data in real time, feeding back the effectiveness of each creative-and-audience combination via OCMPID. When a shopper had a competitor phone in their cart, ASUS served an ad for a comparable or better-specced Zenfone at a stronger price. For example, a shopper with a OnePlus 6 (3300mAh battery) in their cart would be shown an Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 (5000mAh battery) at a better price.
The audience was divided into segments based on smartphone price range, feature preferences, and buying behavior on Flipkart, then targeted with ads built around specific competitor phones.
ASUS met its target of selling more than 1 million units per quarter with no increase in media budget, as targeting efficiency rose 3x. Within less than a year, ASUS's Indian smartphone market share grew from 0.3% to 3%, a 10x increase.