Insight: B2B
deeply collaborative efforts with agencies and major B2B brands. B2B Syndicate therefore spoke to three B2B agencies, and asked them to share examples of innovative partnerships with B2B media owners, and their insight on where they see future opportunities to collaborate.
A
JAMES WEATHERILL, head of B2B at Mindshare in the UK, says: “Media owners need to devote resources to better deliver integrated programmes [such as the Cisco case study, right], which often have dual objectives for brand and lead generation. So media owners have to have resources to ensure strong
s B2B media owners invest in product and process innovation for their own business models, the most productive often involve
CISCO CASE STUDY
Cisco had established that decisions are no longer being made by a single point within a client, or prospect, with increasing influence from the c-suite. The approach Mindshare developed for Cisco was to partner with the Financial Times alongside an optimistic, imaginative and actionable context that helps ‘connect the unconnected’. The content was split into two parts; ‘better boards’ and ‘transforming industry’. Both projects were aimed at hitting a similar kind of high-level audience, but in differing contexts. The former centred on key issues affecting the boardroom, and the latter relating to the promise of digitisation and technological advancements improving industry performance.
The ‘transforming industry’ series was a dedicated destination on
www.FT.com featuring a bespoke video series created for Cisco. Video was a key media decision, so the audience could see technology in action, incorporating a video feature and panel discussion. Cisco held 100 per cent share of voice (SOV) with print, digital and video pre-rolls. ‘Better boards’ was a cross- platform campaign, with a bespoke content hub containing the entire editorial created for the project. This was a blend of articles and videos around the topics outlined above, and the client branding covered 100 per cent SOV on the hub.
This multi-faceted programme generated a 21 per cent increase in awareness for those exposed to the campaign versus those unexposed, gaining considerable ground over key competitors such as Huawei and HP.
Dual objectives: Mindshare’s James Weatherill
delivery for both direct response programmes and brand campaigns, and potentially be willing to offer performance related options where media owners share risk.” Another area James would like to see
develop further is the ability to market to B2B audiences of major B2B media owners across other environments. While the subject of ‘data’ can be a touchy one with many B2B media owners, there is definitely an opportunity to create options that values the ability to target (and re-target) as part of a media owner’s digital business model.
Stuart Giddings, global managing director at Carat Enterprise, sees content as the key to successful programmes with clients and agencies. Giddings said: “In the new fragmented media landscape, the lines have blurred between the services media owners and agencies provide, and they can either try to defend their traditional positions, or embrace the new integrated media ecosystem. Fully integrated programmes built on well activated quality content require a collaborative approach.” A great example of this was a programme with IDG and one of Giddings’ global technology clients. It utilised a nano-site format that was specially created for the campaign. It required full collaboration
fipp.com
Focus on content: Carat’s Stuart Giddings
between client, media owner and agency to make it work. It enabled them to incorporate multiple content formats including video, live polls and white papers within a 300x600 ad unit. While ‘content ads’ are increasingly common, the team in this case were able to optimise content by topic and country based on real-time data on levels of engagement.
Matt Broom, managing director and president, international at Doremus, highlighted their own agency’s investment in DNA, short for Doremus Network Analysis, in which a social media analysis is created to “help clients understand their social spheres by identifying influencers and the best ways to reach them”. It was in part through the use of DNA that Doremus identified for its client HP one of the only categories of PC sales still growing, which is high end computers used by digital media entertainment professionals. Peer advocacy is one of the largest influences, therefore, Doremus developed a HP ‘pop-up’ in Soho where media professionals could come and try HP’s high-end computers together with other peers. This experiential programme generated 18.2 million Twitter impressions, and had extensive coverage in the media. While this example did not involve a B2B media owner commercially, it is indicative of the type of innovation seen in B2B
Identify ‘influencers’: Doremus’ Mat Brom
marketing. Broom added that where media owners are involved, “integration – and results – are of course important. However, our team are focused on ways we can partner media with new approaches with real impact, rather than being purely tactical.”
Which brings us back to the stark reminder from Bill’s law of innovation. To “assume innovation occurs elsewhere”, as increasingly media owners may be left behind, or even out. In the next edition of Magazine World, B2B Syndicate will feature case studies from leading B2B media owners, showing where innovation is definitely taking place.
Michael Toedman is founder and managing director of Soho Syndicate, a media and marketing consultancy focused on international, digital and commercial strategy, and has recently launched www.
b2bsyndicate.com, a platform to feature expert practitioners in B2B media and marketing, including thought-leadership,
professional development and benchmarks. Toedman also serves as international managing director for the Business to Business Network (
www.bbnnetworks.com). Prior to Soho Syndicate, he served in senior roles at BusinessWeek, Euromoney and Institutional Investor in London, Hong Kong and New York. He served as president of the IAA in Hong Kong (1998-2000), and joined the IAA UK board in 2001, including two terms as president (2007-2011), and currently serves as chairman of the UK chapter.
issue 82_2014 | Magazine World |49
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64