Candlefox x Adcore: Breakthrough with Google AI Max for Search

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It’s always an honor to present a case study at the Google Marketing Live event. Being selected to showcase our work on such a global stage is a strong indication of the impact and innovation behind this campaign. This case study is a testament to the power of strategic collaboration, data-driven execution, and results that speak for themselves.

The case study presented at the Google Marketing Live 2025 event.

Campaign Goals

The campaign aimed to overcome Candlefox’s stagnating Search performance by reducing rising acquisition costs and boosting lead volume. With the education peak season approaching, the goal was to drive cost-efficient growth at scale across key marketplaces. To achieve this, Candlefox and Adcore set out to rethink their Search strategy by testing Google’s new AI Max capabilities.

Executive Summary

Our goal was to help Candlefox overcome rising acquisition costs and stagnating Search performance in a highly competitive education market.
We identified Google’s AI Max for Search suite as an opportunity for growth.
30 day A/B experiment proved that AI Max outperformed baseline campaign setup.
The AI Max trial campaign dramatically outperformed the control campaign, resulting in a 30% increase in conversions and a 17% reduction in Cost / Conversions.

+30%

Conversions

AI Max campaigns significantly outperformed legacy setups

-17%

CPA

Significantly reduced Cost Per Acquisition via ad optimization

+13%

Gross Margin

Higher lead quality drove better business outcomes

+17%

Lead Volume:

Reached more users without additional spend

Challenge

Candlefox’s existing Search strategy was no longer delivering. They faced:

Increasing CPA and limited campaign scale
Competitive pressure during education’s peak season
Saturated keyword landscape with diminishing returns
Lack of in-house resources

Adcore's Main Actions

Candlefox faced several challenges as they tried to scale their Search campaigns efficiently:

- Performance plateau: Existing Search strategies were no longer delivering improved results, with diminishing returns over time.
- Rising acquisition costs: Cost per lead was increasing, threatening overall campaign profitability.
- High competition: The education vertical is highly competitive, especially during peak season, making it harder to stand out.
- Need for innovation: To sustain growth, they had to rethink their approach and embrace advanced AI-driven solutions.

Solution

To overcome rising costs and stagnating performance, Candlefox and Adcore adopted a forward-thinking strategy centered on AI Max, Google’s latest suite of AI-powered Search capabilities. The main insight: AI can unlock scalable efficiency and smarter targeting in saturated search environments.

The solution included:

Running a 30-day A/B test to measure AI Max performance against standard campaigns.
Activating Search Terms Matching for better query relevance and intent alignment.
Enabling Automatically Created Assets (ACA) to boost ad variation and CTR.
Utilizing Final URL Expansion to dynamically match the best landing page per query.

Adcore Australia Elite team with Candlefox marketing team at Google Marketing Live 2025 event.

About Candlefox

Year established: 2010
Website: candlefox.com

With over 60 employees spanning across Australia, New Zealand and the UK, Candlefox facilitate valuable connections between education providers and learners.

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