CASE study

How Qualcomm and Catchy Reframed Developer Engagement with a Full-Funnel Strategy

The Challenge

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. has long been synonymous with innovation in hardware, from Snapdragon® mobile platforms to cutting-edge connectivity solutions. But as the company expanded its software portfolio and on-device AI capabilities, it needed developers to see Qualcomm not just as a chipset provider, but as a platform partner.

The challenge lay in sparking recognition within a crowded ecosystem. Qualcomm’s Developer Marketing team wanted to grow its reach and deepen engagement across developer categories: AI, IoT, robotics, embedded computing, and everything in between.

They needed to jump-start their marketing flywheel to drive awareness, spark community participation, and ultimately inspire hands-on adoption of Qualcomm technologies.

Part of that meant meeting developers where they already were. Alongside broader awareness efforts, Qualcomm also ran a dedicated Community campaign, growing existing Discord and YouTube communities into lively hubs of learning, collaboration, and connection.

Solution

To achieve this, Qualcomm teamed up with Catchy to design and execute a full-funnel developer growth strategy that could both perform and inform.

The campaign focused on three goals:

Driving awareness and product consideration among targeted developer segments
Generating meaningful engagement through educational and inspiring content
Guiding developers toward adoption and purchase-ready pages

Catchy developed and optimized a series of data-driven media campaigns spanning channels where developers already live and learn, including YouTube, Search, developer newsletters, and Ethical Ads placements.

By analyzing campaign data and pinpointing key funnel gaps, Catchy identified the highest-impact areas to optimize. Through updated creative, positioning, and community initiatives, this shifted the messaging toward clarity, relevance, and utility. Subsequent campaigns articulated tangible benefits, such as what developers would learn, build, or access by joining Qualcomm’s community. As a result, these campaigns consistently outperformed broader brand-led narratives, driving higher engagement and conversion.

The Results

The developer program drove 3x the number of down-funnel developer sign-ups year-over-year and achieved core KPIs in just four months, benchmarks that had previously taken twelve months to reach.

Engagement

2.15% CTR (more than 2.5x industry benchmarks) signaled strong message-market fit
200% YouTube growth and 30% Discord growth validated community-forward storytelling

Adoption

3x year-over-year increase in developer sign-ups, demonstrating accelerated down-funnel conversion
Over the course of the 7-month campaign, attributed downloads increased by nearly 29x while cost per download declined by 88%

Impact

This campaign reignited Qualcomm’s developer ecosystem. The partnership between Qualcomm and Catchy proved that a data-led, community-first approach could drive meaningful awareness and action across the funnel.

By connecting paid media with storytelling and engagement, Qualcomm now has a clear, scalable model for how to activate developers globally with a strategy that both meets immediate KPIs and continues to fuel long-term brand and community growth.

As Qualcomm expands its software and on-device AI offerings, these insights will inform how future campaigns are built, tested, and optimized, helping developers see Qualcomm not just as a technology provider but as a creative partner in building the future.

Testimonial

“Catchy helped us rethink how we engage developers by grounding the strategy in real performance data and community insight. The approach accelerated results across the funnel by pairing clearer, developer-first messaging with a focus on the highest-performing channels. In just four months, we achieved what had previously taken a year and now have a clear, scalable model for growing our developer ecosystem.”

Morris Novello, Head of Developer Marketing, Qualcomm Technologies

Qualcomm branded products are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.