Equestrian, where the customer commits for years or not at all.

An equestrian facility in the UAE offering riding lessons, training and stabling — a category where a single acquired customer can stay for a decade, and the lifetime value dwarfs the cost of the first lesson.

Role

Marketing lead — Outbox Agency

Sector

Hospitality & Leisure

Location

UAE

Period

2024 — 2025

The brief

Stop optimising for the cheapest trial booking and start optimising for the parent who enrols a child for three years.

The situation

Equestrian is a category where one acquired customer can stay for a decade — or leave after the trial lesson and never return.
Marketing was optimised for the cheapest trial booking, which is exactly the wrong target when lifetime value is measured in years.
The buyer is usually a parent with no equestrian background at all, being sold to in the language of people who have one.
Distance decides retention in this category more reliably than price does, and the targeting ignored it.

What I did

Reframed around the beginner journey

The offer was rebuilt to speak to a parent with no background — what the first month looks like, what the child needs, what happens if they do not like it.

Optimised for enrolment, not trials

The target was changed from cheapest trial to the parent who enrols for a term, which reversed which audiences and creatives looked successful.

Targeted by realistic drive radius

Distance predicts retention here better than price does. Spend was concentrated on families close enough to still be coming in year two.

Made the trial a real entry step

Positioned as the first lesson of a programme rather than a discounted one-off, which attracts people who intend to continue instead of people collecting discounts.