Growth Bully drove 1,840 online sales at €2.79 each for Liquigas on Meta Ads, and a 3.8x return over almost three years, by building a full three-stage funnel, awareness, consideration, and conversion, before launching a single ad. The strategy identified specific moments when Maltese consumers were most likely to consider switching energy suppliers, then intercepted those moments with targeted creative at each stage.
The Challenge
Liquigas is one of Malta’s most established energy brands, serving households and businesses across the island. Despite strong brand recognition and market presence, they faced a common challenge: how to translate offline brand strength into measurable digital growth. Their previous digital marketing efforts had produced inconsistent results, and they needed a partner who could deliver a clear, data-driven approach to Meta advertising.
When Liquigas came to Growth Bully, the brief was straightforward: prove that Meta ads can drive real business results for an established brand in a small market.
The Approach
Starting with Strategy, Not Ads
Before launching a single ad, we spent time understanding Liquigas’s business model, customer journey, and competitive landscape. In Malta’s energy market, brand switching is relatively infrequent, customers don’t think about their gas supplier every day. This meant our campaigns needed to intercept people at the moments when they were most likely to consider a switch: moving to a new home, experiencing service issues with a competitor, or seeing a compelling offer.
Building the Test Funnel
We designed a focused test funnel with three stages. At the top, awareness-stage creative introduced Liquigas’s value proposition to a broad Maltese audience, using engaging video content that highlighted reliability, convenience, and local service. In the middle, consideration-stage ads retargeted people who had engaged with the awareness content, delivering social proof through customer testimonials and service comparisons. At the bottom, conversion-stage ads presented a specific offer with a clear call to action, targeting the warmest audiences with direct-response creative.
This full-funnel approach respects how people actually make decisions. You can’t ask someone to convert before they know who you are and why they should choose you over their existing supplier.
Creative Strategy
For a brand like Liquigas, trust is everything. The creative strategy centred on local credibility: real customers, real service scenarios, and the practical benefits of choosing Malta’s most trusted energy provider. We avoided generic “switch now” messaging in favour of specific, reassurance-led communication that addressed the real barriers to switching.
The Results
The campaigns delivered 1,840 online sales at €2.79 each. Over almost three years of Growth Bully campaigns, Liquigas has seen a 3.8x return on its ads, with the best quarter at 5.83x. These are online orders, not clicks or reach.
More importantly, the test funnel generated a rich pool of first-party data: custom audiences of engaged prospects, video viewers, and website visitors that could be used to build even more efficient campaigns in subsequent phases.
What This Case Study Demonstrates
Full-funnel strategy outperforms single-stage campaigns. Had we launched only conversion campaigns targeting cold audiences, the results would have been significantly weaker. The awareness phase built the audience quality that made conversion campaigns efficient.
Creative strategy is inseparable from media strategy. The right message at the right stage of the funnel is what drove performance, not simply spending more.
Small markets can produce exceptional ROAS. Malta’s concentrated audience and relatively lower CPMs create conditions where well-structured funnels can dramatically outperform global benchmarks.
First-party data compounds. The pixel data, custom audiences, and creative learnings from this test funnel became the foundation for ongoing campaigns, each cycle more efficient than the last.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a realistic ROAS for Meta Ads in Malta?
For established brands with strong creative and proper funnel structure, ROAS of 2–4x on platform-reported metrics is achievable in Malta. The island’s concentrated audience, lower CPMs, and high social media penetration create favourable conditions. Liquigas has averaged a 3.8x return over almost three years, with the best quarter at 5.83x. Campaigns with more data and refreshed creative tend to hold or improve on the first test.
How do you build a Meta Ads funnel for an established brand?
Start with customer journey mapping to identify the key decision moments where your brand can intervene. Build three stages: awareness (broad audience, brand messaging), consideration (engaged audience retargeting, social proof), and conversion (warmest audiences, specific offer with clear CTA). Each stage feeds the next. Don’t skip to conversion without building the awareness audience first.
How important is creative strategy in Meta Ads for B2C brands?
Creative is the primary variable in 2026 Meta Ads performance. With broad targeting and algorithm optimisation handling audience delivery, the quality and relevance of your creative is what determines cost efficiency. For B2C brands in particular, authentic, benefit-led creative that addresses real customer barriers consistently outperforms polished brand advertising.
What does Growth Bully’s Meta Ads process look like?
Our process starts with strategy before any ads are launched: customer journey mapping, competitive analysis, audience architecture, and funnel design. We then build the creative and campaign structure in a test configuration before scaling. Every account is built on a foundation of proper pixel setup, Conversions API, and clear attribution before we spend meaningful budget. For lead-driven businesses, the same structured approach is packaged as the Decision Maker Pipeline™.
Can you achieve good Meta Ads results in a small market like Malta?
Yes, and often better than larger markets. Malta’s high social media penetration, concentrated audience, and lower advertiser competition create conditions where well-structured campaigns can achieve exceptional results. The key is managing audience saturation, with a small total addressable audience, creative refresh and frequency management are more important than in larger markets.
Written by Stephen Ellul, founder of Growth Bully, Malta’s leading Meta Ads specialist.
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