Traffic Campaign for AWS/Azure Console Users Using Custom Intent Audiences via Google DV360

Client Overview

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) is the enterprise cloud platform from Oracle Corporation, now counted among the four major cloud hyperscalers alongside AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. OCI serves thousands of enterprise customers globally, including organizations running mission-critical Oracle Database workloads, AI/ML training clusters, and general-purpose compute. The platform differentiates on price-performance: OCI pricing runs up to 75% lower than equivalent Azure instances, with data egress costs at roughly one-tenth of AWS rates, and 10 TB of free outbound data transfer per month.

Campaign Objective

The campaign aimed to drive qualified traffic to Oracle’s OCI landing pages – specifically the free trial sign-up, the OCI vs. AWS comparison page, and the OCI vs. Azure comparison page – from users actively working with competing cloud platforms. DV360’s Maximize Clicks bid strategy optimized for the highest volume of landing page visits within a fixed daily budget, concentrating delivery on users whose search and browsing behavior signaled active cloud infrastructure decision-making.

The campaign sought to shift competitive perception among cloud engineers and IT architects who default to AWS or Azure out of familiarity rather than informed evaluation. Serving OCI’s pricing and performance messaging to users during active cloud console sessions would position Oracle as a credible alternative worth benchmarking, seeding future migration conversations even among users who did not click through immediately.



Audience & Targeting

Custom intent audiences were the campaign’s core targeting layer. DV360 used keywords and URLs to identify users actively researching competing cloud platforms. Keywords focused on high-intent searches such as AWS pricing, Azure costs, cloud comparisons, and migration estimates, capturing users in the evaluation stage rather than passive readers.



Platform & Channels

Media ran across a curated inclusion list of developer, cloud computing, and enterprise IT publishers: The Register, TechTarget’s SearchCloudComputing, InfoWorld, The New Stack, DevOps.com, and Hacker News. Open exchange inventory was restricted to pre-approved technical domains verified through DoubleVerify. YouTube placements ran on curated lineups covering cloud tutorials, infrastructure benchmarking, and DevOps tooling content.



Creative and Formats

Each competitor segment received tailored messaging. The AWS-targeted creative track led with OCI’s cost advantage: “75% Lower Compute Costs vs. AWS. 10 TB Free Egress.” Supporting copy highlighted Oracle’s Always Free tier and the elimination of hidden data transfer fees that inflate AWS bills. The Azure-targeted track led with performance: “Deterministic I/O. No Noisy Neighbors. No Burst Penalties.” Supporting copy emphasized OCI’s bare metal isolation and the Azure Interconnect for hybrid deployments.



Geo-Focus

The United States served as the primary market, accounting for 60% of the budget. The United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and India received the remaining 40%, reflecting Oracle’s strongest enterprise cloud adoption corridors outside the US. Within the US, bid modifiers elevated spend in metros with the densest concentration of cloud engineering talent: the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, New York, Austin, and Northern Virginia (AWS US-East-1 region proximity).