In this case study, we’ll look into the success of Purple Agency and Kyndryl, the Gold Award winners for ‘Best use of account-based marketing (ABM)’ at the 2023 B2B Marketing Awards. Their campaign (‘Time is of the Essence: Bringing a Data Breach to Life’) ingeniously demonstrated Kyndryl’s vital role in helping clients mitigate data breaches.
By creating an immersive simulation for key executives of a high-street retailer, this campaign showcased Kyndryl’s expertise through realistic challenges, video calls, and social media simulations. This strategic ABM approach not only solidified Kyndryl’s position as a trusted advisor, but also fostered stronger client relationships, expanded pipelines, and provided a framework for future impactful marketing endeavors.
Campaign summary
How do you convince an audience of senior leaders that Kyndryl’s cyber-resilience services could be the critical factor in their business’s ability to recover from a data breach? Answer: by letting them come to the conclusion themselves.
Purple Agency used the principle of ‘show, don’t tell’ to develop a customized interactive simulation of a high-profile data breach. It did this by taking an account-based approach, focusing on 11 C-level execs from one of Kyndryl’s key accounts (a famous high-street retailer).
The simulation involved facilitator-led challenges, realistic video calls, media reports, and social media storms. Attendees had to make crucial decisions against the clock to save their company from reputational and financial damage. The escape-room-style event, run by Kyndryl experts, drove home the value of having strong security and resilience procedures. It also resulted in a post-event report to add a practical edge to the educational session.
The simulation repositioned Kyndryl in the eyes of the client – elevating its status to that of a strategic advisor. In turn, this paved the way for Kyndryl to reinforce the relationship, build a pipeline, and grow an important account. The event has also provided Kyndryl with a template for future, impactful marketing activities.
About the client company
Kyndryl is the world’s largest provider of IT infrastructure services. It was formed in 2021 from the separation of IBM’s Managed Infrastructure Services business. It focuses on providing managed infrastructure services, including cloud migration, infrastructure modernization, network management, and cybersecurity. The company aims to help organizations modernize their IT infrastructure and accelerate their digital transformation.
Strategic context
One of Kyndryl’s key accounts is a major high-street retailer, which generated group sales of £4.8 billion in 2022. Kyndryl understood the critical role of its resiliency services in empowering the business to withstand a data breach. Kyndryl therefore needed to grow awareness amongst key client decision-makers about the risks of ineffective counter-cyber attack procedures and to support them in identifying any gaps in their processes.
Objectives and strategy
- Educate the audience about the importance of effective crisis management and how Kyndryl can support it.
- Position Kyndryl as a strategic adviser in the minds of the attendees.
- Use Kyndryl’s expertise to test and validate the client’s operational response to a realistic major incident.
- Improve the audience’s cybersecurity compliance.
Once they’ve identified that their hyper-targeted interactive activity was the method of engagement, participant satisfaction level became an initial metric. Kyndryl also intended to measure improvements in the quantity and quality of conversations with the retailer, plus any increases in the sales pipeline.
Target audience and customer insight
This was ABM in the truest sense: a highly tailored, immersive experience for 11 senior company board members, including the Group Operations Director, Group Finance Director, IT Director, Online Customer Services Director, and Head Of Cyber Defence.
They used the company name throughout, with each mocked-up customer tweet, media report, partner email, and more, reflecting their retail world. For authenticity, they conducted social listening to identify real-life reactions to a data breach, which they factored into their creative development.
They knew businesses often focus on data security rather than data recovery and underestimate the likelihood of a breach and its financial and reputational impact. Therefore, they needed to educate their audience without scaremongering. A simulation exposed participants to real-life risks and consequences, while also providing practical steps to strengthen business and operational responses.
With an audience of time-poor senior executives, they also knew they had to make the event worthwhile and out of the ordinary. A personalized dramatization with a clear takeaway fits the bill. The event was held at the retailer’s own offices, driving the audience-specific message home.
Messaging and creative
Purple Agency worked with Kyndryl’s sales and marketing teams to develop an authentic simulation scenario. To make the content realistic and memorable, they carried out social listening and research. This helped them nail the storyline – from the first IT team’s emergency briefing through to the social media fallout, ultimately resulting in a fictional decline in market share.
They scripted, filmed, and produced convincing video calls and news bulletins, recorded voicemails from stakeholders and customers, and wrote emails and social media feeds. Every piece of content supported key messages about the financial and reputational challenges during a breach. They were designed to give the audience an impression of an escalating real-time crisis.
This sense of urgency gave the event an escape-room feel, which was critical to its effectiveness. Participants had been invited via email, although the details were intentionally minimal to spark intrigue. This preserved an element of surprise and produced more authentic reactions.
As a follow-up, they created a report to recap on the exercise, capture lessons learned, and suggest remedial actions. This offered practical, tailored talking points for future conversations between Kyndryl and their client.
Media and channels used
As a highly targeted activity, this piece of ABM centered around an exclusive live event for key individuals. It was therefore a conscious decision not to use broader channels. The facilitated activity was supported by an array of digital media to bring the simulation to life.
Timescales
The simulation was developed and delivered in just one month (June to July 2022). This included: planning, scripting, and producing videos with actors; sequencing the various aspects of a complex narrative; collating everything in a single, professional presentation; and ensuring Kyndryl’s facilitators were rehearsed and ready to steer the simulation, created by 30 professionals.
Budgets
The campaign costs were £120,000 in total, including a contribution from the end client. Third-party costs were £29,000 covering video production and actors.
- Research, planning, and messaging.
- Content development for the end-to-end simulation, including video production.
- Event attendance.
- Report template.
- Case study video
Results
- $200,000 in the pipeline in the first month and contract negotiations are in place.
- A highly engaging hyper-targeted event, with 100% attendance from senior business leaders. A follow-up session is planned to ensure learnings from the simulation are implemented.
- 100% attendee satisfaction (measured by post-event survey). Participants described the event as ‘an enlightening experience’ and ‘by far the best one we’ve done’.
- Increased awareness of Kyndryl’s expertise in security and resiliency within the retail client, potentially diversifying and increasing sales.
- A template for further impactful marketing. The simulation has been updated to create a generic ‘event-in-a-box’ simulation, with versions available for the retail, telco, and finance sectors.
Testimonials
“We don’t only measure the commercial impact of this project in revenue terms – although they are significant. Less tangible – but no less worthy – are the improvements in reputation and relationships between the client and our Kyndryl account teams; the campaign enabled us to re-energize conversations, establish brand-new relationships, and provoke debate and discussion that will have positive commercial impact now and in the future – both for our client and for Kyndryl.
Commercial success goes a long way to making the campaign worthy of an award, but more than that, the project set a new benchmark for me in terms of how B2B Marketing should be done; collaboration and execution with the client, our agency, with the account teams, with technology subject matter experts, and of course with Marketing. One team focused on delivering an exceptional client experience.”
Associate Director, Account-Based Marketing Kyndryl, UK and Ireland
