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VONA School of Design: A 45-day Meta ads sprint for a new design school in Calicut

VONA School of Design (VONA SoD, at vonasod.com) is a new design school in Kozhikode (Calicut), Kerala, at the World Trade Centre Learning Park in HiLITE City, founded by four working architecture and design firms.

In a 45-day sprint, from mid-July to the end of August 2026, we ran its Meta ads on video creatives we made, and helped the VONA team make its offer stronger with GCC placements for students who enrol. Our team reports 50+ admissions from ₹1.5 lakh of Meta ad spend.

Visit vonasod.com Jump to the proof

Client: VONA School of Design, Kozhikode
Founded by: Four architecture and design firms
Sprint: 45 days, mid-July to end of August 2026
Our work: Meta ads, video creatives, GCC offer

A frame from a VONA School of Design Meta ad: a presenter in a blue printed kurta and white scarf under the word GCC in large white type

vonasod.com, VONA's own site, 30 Sep 2026 · Our Meta ad

The school

What is VONA School of Design?

VONA School of Design is a new design school in Kozhikode (Calicut), Kerala. It teaches architecture, interior design and the built environment under one line: “Design. Technology. Future.”

The campus is in the World Trade Centre Learning Park at HiLITE City, on the NH 66 bypass at Thondayad, and the website is vonasod.com. VONA was set up by four working architecture and design firms: Navex Design Studio, Alayam Vector Onset, Ozora Design Hub and Design Vihara Atelier. In the school's own words, the founders “saw a gap between academic knowledge and real-world practice”, so the teaching leans on live projects, site visits and studio critiques, not lectures alone.

It runs five programmes, from a flagship diploma in interior design to short courses in the software working studios use:

Interior Design, the flagship, closing with a three-month industry internship
Architecture Design
BIM Architecture, built on Revit
AI and Future Design
Finishing Courses: short software and portfolio courses

VONA School of Design about page: founded by four active firms, Navex Design Studio, Alayam Vector Onset, Ozora Design Hub and Design Vihara Atelier — “Founded by four active firms”, on VONA's about page. vonasod.com, 30 Sep 2026

The founders

Four founders, and each one runs a firm of their own.

Each of VONA's four founders runs an architecture or design practice, and that is the school's real edge: students learn from people who work on real sites for real clients. In VONA's words, the firms bring “live projects, professional workflows and studio mentorship” into the course. Nisamudheen, one of the four, was our point of contact through the sprint.

For a new school, founders like these answer the first doubt a student has, which is whether the course is practical enough to lead to work. That practical side, from site visits to project work and the internship, runs through both of the ads further down this page.

Navex Design Studio (NDS)
Alayam Vector Onset (AVO)
Ozora Design Hub (OZORA)
Design Vihara Atelier (DVA)

The brief

A new name in Calicut, on a tight deadline.

VONA came to us as a new brand, and new to Calicut. It had a campus, five programmes and founders with working practices behind them, but no track record a student or a parent could look up. And the deadline was tight: the sprint ran for 45 days, from mid-July to the end of August 2026.

That shaped every decision. There was no time to build awareness first and sell later. Whatever we launched had to reach students, win them over and hand them to VONA's admissions team inside the same 45 days, so Meta ads, carried by video creatives made to convert, were the plan from the first day.

A new brand in a city that didn't know it yet
45 days, mid-July to the end of August 2026
Meta ads as the main channel from the start

The offer

Why did GCC placements matter so much?

Before the ads could sell the course, the course had to answer the question every student asks a new school: where does this lead?

So alongside the ads, we worked with VONA's team on the offer itself, and the change we pushed for was GCC placements for students who enrol. For a family in Kerala, a design career that can lead to the Gulf is a concrete, familiar outcome, and it gave students the confidence to join a brand they had only just heard of.

On its Interior Design page, VONA describes this as placement assistance with “direct pathways to top architectural firms across India and the Middle East”, next to a three-month industry internship. In both ads, “GCC” is on screen within the first seven seconds, before either programme is named.

Our advice: GCC placements for students who enrol
Practical training from the founders' own firms
A three-month industry internship on the flagship programme

VONA's Interior Design page on a phone: placement assistance with direct pathways to top architectural firms across India and the Middle East, studio-based learning and industry-standard technology — VONA's own wording on its Interior Design page. vonasod.com, 30 Sep 2026

The leads

Every enquiry in Xale, the CRM from our own house.

Ads only pay off if someone follows up. VONA's leads were managed in Xale, the CRM built by the team behind Marketlube for colleges, academies and study abroad teams, so enquiries from the ads sat in one shared place, not in personal phones and chat threads.

On a 45-day clock, a lead that waits goes cold, so the follow-up had to be as organised as the ads. Xale is built for exactly that: every enquiry gets an owner, a stage and a next follow-up, the same way it works for the consultancies and colleges that run on it.

Every lead managed in Xale
Built by the team behind Marketlube, for education
One shared list, not scattered phones and chats

Read the Xale CRM case study

The xale.in home page on a desktop: 'Turn Meta & WhatsApp enquiries into enrolled students' on a mint panel beside the Xale app on two phones, then 'Your leads are leaking', 'Every channel. One stack.', 'Everything you need to close more deals' and why counselling teams switch to Xale — Xale, the CRM where VONA's leads were managed. xale.in, September 2026 · Inset: On a phone

The xale.in home page on a phone: 'Turn Meta & WhatsApp enquiries into enrolled students' on a mint panel above the Xale app, then 'Your leads are leaking' and the first-hour reply chart — Xale, the CRM where VONA's leads were managed. xale.in, September 2026 · Inset: On a phone

The ads

What did the Meta ads say?

Meta ads were the go-to channel, and the creatives did the heavy lifting.

We made them as vertical videos for Instagram and Facebook: one presenter talking straight to camera, big keyword captions carrying the message and VONA's logo on screen from start to finish, so someone scrolling with the sound off still gets the whole offer.

Both ads keep much the same order. The offer comes first: course length, the internship and GCC. Then the address, with the HiLITE and WTC Learning Park logos on screen, because a landmark people know does a lot for a name they don't. Then the two programmes and the practical side: AI-integrated training, live site visits and real projects. The first ad also says who can join: students after 10th, Plus Two or a degree.

Presenter-led 9:16 videos with keyword captions
The offer inside the first seven seconds
A landmark address on screen: HiLITE City, WTC Learning Park

Presenter in a blue printed kurta and white scarf, with the word GCC in large white type above her, in a VONA School of Design Meta ad — GCC, before anything else
GCC first, then the HiLITE address, AI training and the two programmes.
Ad 2 · 15-second cut

Presenter seated on a grey sofa, with the words 3 Months Guaranteed Live Internship on screen, in a VONA School of Design Meta ad — The practical side
Site visits, real projects and a three-month internship.
Ad 1 · 15-second cut

4 more cuts

Beat by beat

Four more cuts from the same two ads.

Muted cuts of the two full ads. Salary and “guaranteed” internship lines are VONA's own claims, not outcomes we measured.

Presenter in a grey knit top in an office, with the HiLite and WTC Kozhikode logos and the words Learning Park on screen, in a VONA School of Design Meta ad — The opening
Course length, internship, GCC and the address in nine seconds.
Ad 1 · 9-second cut

Presenter at a desk against a blue wall, raising a hand beside the words Admissions open, in a VONA School of Design Meta ad — Admissions open
The programmes, and who can join: after 10th, Plus Two or a degree.
Ad 1 · 15-second cut

Presenter at a desk against a cyan wall, smiling beside the words AI-Integrated Practical Hands-on Training, in a VONA School of Design Meta ad — AI-integrated training
AI-integrated, hands-on training and top experts.
Ad 1 · 12-second cut

Presenter in a blue printed kurta and white scarf under pendant lights, with the words Real Projects on screen, in a VONA School of Design Meta ad — Mentors and real projects
Industry mentors, site visits, real projects, campus life.
Ad 2 · 9-second cut

Muted cuts of the two full ads. Salary and “guaranteed” internship lines are VONA's own claims, not outcomes we measured.

For the next new school

What we'd tell another new institution.

Fix the offer before you buy the ads. A new school can't compete on reputation, so it has to compete on what a student gets at the end, said plainly. For VONA that was practical training from working firms and GCC placements, and it went into the first seconds of both ads.

Then keep it simple and keep it fast: one channel you can push hard, creatives that make the case with the sound off, a place people already know in the frame, and a CRM that catches every enquiry. And put your founders' real work in front of students. For a brand nobody knows yet, that is the proof.

Lead with the outcome a student cares about
Borrow trust from what's real: working founders, a known address
One channel done well beats five done thinly
Every lead in a CRM from the first day

Proof

50+ admissions in 45 days, as our team reports it.

The 45 days, the 50+ admissions and the ₹1.5 lakh are reported by our team (Sep 2026); VONA's ad account and admissions records aren't public, so we don't show them.

The ₹1.5 lakh was media spend on Meta (Facebook and Instagram) only. Our strategy, video production and creative work were billed separately, and our fee isn't published. The cost per admission is derived from the two reported figures, so it counts ad spend alone. Claims inside the ads, such as salary and internship lines, are VONA's own.

Reported by our team, plus one derived figure

admissions in 45 days: 50+admissions in 45 daysReported by our team · Sep 2026
lakh of Meta ad spend, media only: ₹1.5lakh of Meta ad spend, media onlyReported by our team · Sep 2026
days, mid-July to the end of August 2026: 45days, mid-July to the end of August 2026Reported by our team · Sep 2026
or less in ad spend per admission (₹1.5 lakh ÷ 50+): ₹3,000or less in ad spend per admission (₹1.5 lakh ÷ 50+)Derived from our team's figures · Sep 2026

What we did for VONA

Strategy & offer3

A 45-day plan built around Meta ads
Advice on the offer: GCC placements for students who enrol
The founders' firms and practical training as the story

Ads & creatives4

Presenter-led 9:16 video ads, made by our team
Keyword captions that work with the sound off
Video creatives for VONA's Instagram
Meta campaigns on Facebook and Instagram

Leads & spend3

Leads managed in Xale
₹1.5 lakh of media spend, all on Meta
Our services billed separately from the media

Services on this project: Performance Marketing, Social Media Marketing and Video Production
Industry: Education
Markets: Kerala and India
Client's site: vonasod.com · client: VONA School of Design
VONA's leads were managed in Xale, the CRM built by the team behind Marketlube.: Xale CRM case study

Next storySkymark EducationRead the case study

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