Participants listening to a talk at an Innovations Hub Foundation event

Case study

How Innovations Hub generated 200+ leads from paid ads with AdLume

Lumy, AdLume's AI performance marketing specialist in Slack, ran Meta and Google Ads for the foundation's Incubation Program. Here is what it did and what it brought.

IndustryNon-profit, startup education

ChannelsMeta Ads, Google Ads

Duration8 weeks

ProductLumy in Slack

[Photo to be provided]

[Quote from Innovations Hub: to be provided]

[Name], [Role], Innovations Hub Foundation

200+leads from Meta and Google

$3.19per lead

2xmore applicants than last edition

8+ hourssaved per week

40%of participants from paid ads

Summary

Case study in short

Innovations Hub Foundation needed applications for its Incubation Program before recruitment closed. Lumy, AdLume's AI agent for paid ads, ran the campaign on Meta and Google from a Slack channel shared with the team.

For 8 weeks, Lumy checked the ad accounts every day, posted what it saw and proposed the next move. It tested a Meta lead form against the website form, added an age question to the form and moved the budget to what brought leads. When costs went up, it asked for fresh creatives. For the final days of recruitment, it prepared a plan. Lumy also set up a Google Search campaign for people looking for startup support.

Result: 200+ leads at $3.19 per lead, twice as many applicants as the last edition and 8+ hours of manual work saved every week.

Sign-ups moved to a short Meta lead form that opens inside the app.
One age question kept out people the program could not take.
Daily checks caught rising costs early, and fresh ads went live the same day.

Client

About Innovations Hub

Innovations Hub Foundation is a Polish non-profit that helps young people build startups. It has been active for 5+ years, has run 4 editions of its Incubation Program and has supported 150+ startups along the way.

Its Incubation Program is for students and young scientists who want to turn an idea into a company. Program events include a bootcamp and the Innovations Hub Summit.

Who can apply

Students and young scientists at an early stage.
Teams with at least one member under 30 years old.
People without a finished idea or a full team. Both can be built during the program.

What teams get

Mentors and a community of founders.
Help with a pitch deck.
Market validation and a first prototype.

Every team keeps full ownership: the program is equity-free, so the foundation takes no share in the startups it supports. Ads for the program had to say all of this in a few seconds and reach a narrow group of young founders before recruitment closed.

5+years

4program editions

150+startups supported

Challenge

Reaching young founders before the deadline

Recruitment had a fixed closing date. Every week counted, so there was no time for slow tests or problems found too late. Four things made this campaign hard.

A narrow audience

Students and young scientists are a small group to target on Meta and Google. On top of that, each team needs a member under 30, so many people who signed up could not join.

A long sign-up form

Registration on the website had three steps on a separate page. Each step is a place where people drop off, and leads from the website form were getting expensive.

A small budget

Every dollar had to bring in people who could really apply. There was no room to keep paying for a form or an ad that had stopped working.

Ads that wear out

A campaign of several weeks shows the same ads to the same people again and again. If nobody changes them in time, cost per lead goes up.

How it ran

Six moments in Slack

Lumy works in a Slack channel with the team. It reads the Meta Ads and Google Ads accounts, posts what it sees and proposes the next move. Here are six threads from this campaign, in order.

Lumy proposes a form test

Leads from the website form were getting expensive. Lumy spotted this in the account data on its own and saw that Meta's lead form had not been tested yet.

It proposed a split test: the same audience and the same ads, with only the form different. One version sent people to the three-step form on the website. Another used Meta's lead form, which opens inside Facebook or Instagram with basic details already filled in.

Result: the test went live and showed which form to keep.

Slack thread: Lumy proposes a split test of the website form against a Meta lead form; the proposal is approved.

An age question as a filter

Too many sign-ups came from people over 30 years old, and the program needs a team member under 30. Lumy proposed one new question at the start of the Meta form: are you under 30?

Anyone who is 30 or older sees a polite thank-you screen and the form ends. People who cannot join find out in seconds, and the team gets fewer contacts to sort by hand.

Result: the form now keeps out people the program cannot take.

An audit moves the budget

Lumy compared the two forms side by side. Most of the budget sat on the website form and had brought one registration. A small part on the lead form had brought 25 leads.

With a small budget, a gap this big matters more than any change to the ads themselves. Lumy recommended moving most of the budget to the lead form, and the team agreed in one reply.

Result: the budget moved to the lead form.

Slack thread: Lumy's audit shows the lead form wins; the team says to do it; Lumy confirms.

Rising costs, fresh creatives

Lumy flagged that cost per lead was about twice as high as before. Same ads had been shown to the same people for weeks. This is ad fatigue: people stop reacting to ads they have seen many times.

Lumy does not design the ads. It asked the team for new creatives, and the team shared fresh reels and graphics. Lumy added them to the running ads and launched them.

Result: the fresh ads went live the same day.

Slack thread: Lumy flags higher cost per lead and asks for fresh creatives; the team shares a link; Lumy adds them to the ads.

A plan for the final days

Innovations Hub added budget for the last three days of recruitment. Lumy proposed a plan for them: a last call ad, the new creatives as the main ads, and spend raised step by step.

Every morning Lumy checked the results before adding more money. A bad day would show up early, before it used much of the budget.

Result: nothing changed until the plan was approved.

Slack thread: the client adds budget; Lumy proposes a plan for the last three days and asks for approval.

Final results and a report

Lumy posted the final results as recruitment closed: 200+ leads, $3.19 per lead and 8+ hours saved per week. Numbers from Meta and Google were in one place, in the same channel as the rest of the work.

Lumy then offered to turn the results into a PDF report for the client.

Result: the PDF was prepared for the client.

Results

What the numbers mean

200+

Leads from Meta and Google

People who left their details through a Meta lead form or a Google ad. On Meta, each of them had passed the age question.

$3.19

Cost per lead

Average cost of one lead across both channels for the whole campaign, including the busier final days.

More applicants than last edition

Twice as many people applied to the Incubation Program as in its previous edition.

8+ hours

Saved per week

Daily account checks, audits, changes in Meta and Google, reports and client updates. Lumy handled this work in Slack.

What worked

Why it worked

A short form for the right people

Meta's lead form opens inside the app, so people sign up in seconds. Almost all of the budget reached people on phones, where a short form is easy to finish. One age question kept out people who could not join.

Budget follows results

Lumy compared forms and ads on real numbers and moved the money to what brought leads. On a small budget, this mattered more than any single ad.

Daily checks catch problems early

Lumy saw cost per lead climbing and asked for fresh ads while there was still time to fix it. Waiting for a weekly report would have cost days.

A plan for the last days

Extra budget works best with a plan: a last call ad, fresh creatives, spend raised step by step and a check every morning.

FAQ

Questions about this case study

What is Lumy?

Lumy is AdLume's AI performance marketing specialist. It works in Slack and reads your Meta Ads and Google Ads accounts every day. It explains what it sees, proposes the next move and asks for approval before risky changes.

How did Innovations Hub get 200+ leads from paid ads?

Lumy ran Meta Ads and Google Ads for 8 weeks. It moved sign-ups to a short Meta lead form, added an age question to filter out people who could not join, moved budget to what worked and refreshed tired ads. In total, the campaign brought 200+ leads at $3.19 per lead.

Why did a Meta lead form beat the website form?

A Meta lead form opens inside Facebook or Instagram and fills in basic details from the profile. Registration on the website had three steps on a separate page. In this campaign, most of the budget on the website form brought one registration, while a small part on the lead form brought 25 leads.

How do you filter out leads who cannot join?

Add a question at the start of the lead form. Innovations Hub needs a team member under 30, so Lumy proposed one question: are you under 30? Anyone who answers no sees a polite thank-you screen and the form ends.

What is ad fatigue?

Ad fatigue happens when people see the same ads many times and stop reacting to them. Cost per lead goes up. In this campaign it rose to about twice the earlier level. Lumy flagged it, asked the team for new creatives and launched them the same day.

Does Lumy create the ads?

No. Your team makes the creatives. Lumy tells you when ads wear out, adds new creatives to the running ads and launches them.

How much time does Lumy save?

For this campaign we estimate 8+ hours per week. That covers daily account checks, audits, changes in Meta and Google, weekly and final reports, and client updates.

Next step

See Lumy in your Slack

Book a short call and see how Lumy reads your Meta and Google Ads accounts and proposes the next move.

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