← Back to portfolio Case study · The Nightmare Factory · Wabash, Indiana

Half the ad spend. 50% more tickets.

The Nightmare Factory runs five haunted attractions in one night. For the 2026 season I rebuilt their full-funnel marketing: paid media across Meta, Google and TikTok, a 25-asset creative system, a creator program and weekly reporting that moved budget to whatever sold tickets.

Role: Marketing lead, consultant Meta Ads Google PMax & Search TikTok Ads Instagram & short-form video Sept to Oct 2026 season
921Tickets sold+50% vs. 614 in 2025
$11.4KAd spend−56% vs. $26.1K in 2025
$12.43Ad cost per ticketDown from $42.53 (−71%)
$14.66Best cost per purchaseLocal lookalike, Meta
The Nightmare Factory website: five haunted attractions, one full night of fear
The challenge

2025 spent heavily and sold too few tickets.

The prior season put $26,116 into Google and Meta and sold 614 tickets, about $42.53 of ad spend per ticket. Campaigns were optimized for clicks and reach, not purchases, and nobody could say which audience or ad actually sold a ticket.

For 2026 the goal was simple: sell more tickets with less money, and know exactly why.

Midway through the season, spend is down in every legacy channel, TikTok has been added, and ticket sales are already 50% ahead of last year.

Ad spend by channel, 2025 vs. 2026

    Paid media spend, Sept 1 to Oct 31 window. 2026 is season to date as of the latest tracker.

    Where the tickets came from

    Local audiences on Meta sold tickets for under $26.

    Across $13,165 of mid-season spend, the account averaged $62 per tracked conversion. The best ad sets beat that by 2x to 4x, and those are where the budget went next.

    Cost per ticket purchase by ad set (lower is better)

      Meta Sept 1 to 22, Google Sept 8 to 21, TikTok Sept 8 to 21, 2026. Platform-tracked conversions.

      Weekly optimization

      Every week, the money moved.

      I reported across all three platforms every week and made one call per line: scale it, cut it, or fix it.

      Scale

      Local audiences and PMax

      A Wabash and South Bend lookalike of people who visit nearby haunts sold tickets at $14.66. Local prospecting drove 63 purchases at $25.74, and Google PMax converted at $38.71. All three got more budget.

      Fix

      TikTok tracking

      TikTok showed 8 checkouts and zero purchases on $978 of spend. I flagged it as a tracking gap, not dead creative, and got the pixel fixed. Real data then showed which TikTok line converted ($126.87 retargeting).

      Cut

      Spend that didn't sell

      A Fort Wayne search campaign ($679, zero conversions) and a 180-day TikTok retargeting pool ($567, zero conversions) were paused. A click-optimized Meta traffic campaign was moved to purchase goals.

      Campaign architecture

      Five campaigns, each with one job.

      Three audiences for new buyers (locals, horror fans and Indianapolis day-trippers), warm retargeting with rising urgency, and a dedicated lane for testing new ideas before they get real budget.

      1. Prospecting

        Find new ticket buyers with hero, five-attraction and POV creative.

        Local broad · Haunt interests · Indianapolis "Worth the Drive"

      2. Retargeting

        Convert warm visitors with social proof and date urgency: This Weekend, Final Nights, Last Chance.

        Warm 30-day · Lapsed engagers

      3. Creative testing

        Test fear, value, night-out, POV and behind-the-scenes concepts before scaling winners.

        Broad local

      4. Creator

        Native creator-led content with a local creator: arrival, reactions and all five attractions.

        Broad local

      5. Past customers

        Bring prior guests back with "We're back," "What's new" and "Bring the crew."

        Previous purchasers
      Creative system

      Sell the experience, not only the scare.

      I planned 25 assets and a 30-shot filming checklist so every campaign had the right creative at launch. Vertical 9:16 first, filmed clean without baked-in text so it can be recut all season.

      1

      Five Attractions Reel

      Quick cuts across all five attractions. The value story and the control creative.

      9:16 · 15–20 sec
      2

      Season Hero Reel

      Best scares, actors, sets and guests, with a strong branded end card.

      9:16 · 15–25 sec
      3

      Guest Reactions

      Real screams, jumps and the laughter right after. Proof it's a great night out.

      9:16 · 10–15 sec
      4

      POV Scare

      Native, phone-style first-person walkthrough that drops the viewer inside.

      9:16 · 10–15 sec
      Worth the Drive (Indianapolis) Horror Challenge Actor & monster montage Behind the scenes: makeup & sets Group night out Social proof reviews Five-attraction carousel Urgency date templates Past-guest nostalgia
      Organic social

      The feed I run.

      I manage The Nightmare Factory's Instagram day to day: content planning, filming and editing Reels, copywriting, publishing and community management.

      Organic and paid share one creative system, so the Reels that earn attention on the feed become tested ads, and the best ads come back to the feed.

      Reels & short-form video Content calendar Copywriting Community management UGC & creator content
      @thenightmarefactorywabashThe Nightmare Factory · Wabash, IN
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      I'm open to senior marketing roles and to consulting, contract and fractional work. Let's talk about what I'd do with your budget.

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