Every brand wants in on the content marketing scene. The trouble is, there’s now so much content flying about, with an increasing number of business brands desperate to be a part of the conversation. Cutting through the noise and getting your brand’s voice heard is the holy grail of marketing – content or otherwise. So what are the smart brands doing right? They’re not just becoming a part of the conversation; they’re leading it.
Stand-out brands are those businesses that not only have their finger on the pulse of a subject or sector, but truly leverage their thought leadership to underpin their entire marketing strategy. In particular, fresh research is fast becoming a highly lucrative asset within thought leadership campaigns. Exploited cleverly, it has shown to disrupt, dispel myth or educate a whole industry, and create competitive advantage for those brands ready to tap into a growing knowledge economy.
So, who are some of the B2B thought leadership powerhouses?
1. Arco – ‘No room for doubt’
Agency: Born + Raised
Aim of campaign: To use thought leadership to position Arco as experts in the health and safety industry and give them greater market share.
Standout activity: Arco didn’t set out to just change the mindset of their customers in order to raise brand awareness. The provider of health and safety equipment embarked on an ambitious campaign to shake up their entire industry. It achieved this by leveraging its deep-rooted specialist knowledge and technical capabilities to highlight the failure of products awarded EU safety certification, as well as loopholes in the EU testing process.
Arco then used this controversial research as ammunition to fuel a multichannel marketing campaign that targeted customers, competitors and government bodies. By positioning itself as a subject specialist it led an intelligent debate that not only propelled the business to the forefront of the industry but improved standards across the board.
Result highlights: Significant gains in brand perception scores; awarded Superbrand status; instigated regulatory and legislative changes.
2. Oracle Financial Services – ‘Meet the disruptors’
Agency: Metia
Aim of the campaign: To strengthen Oracle Financial Services’ lead nurturing programme in order to maintain quality of leads throughout long and high value sales cycles.
Standout activity: Oracle Financial Services knows the hard sell doesn’t sell. So it created an intelligent way of placing its brand at the centre of demand generation and lead nurturing activity without actually appearing to do so. It achieved this by establishing and managing three strategic partnerships with third-party organisations in order to set up a panel of next generation business banking customers, known as ‘The disruptors’.
Highly strategic, multi-channel activity was leveraged in the build-up to a live event in which carefully selected delegates were invited to meet ‘The disruptors’ at Canary Wharf – the heart of the banking community. The unique insight provided by the panel enabled Oracle to give its prospects first-hand valuable intelligence into the changing face of their customer base. It not only helped to open up meaningful dialogue between Oracle and its prospects, but the approach helped amplify credibility and trust.
Result highlights: Event attendance 49% above target; Report downloads 526% above target; 32,018 unique video views to completion.
3. Berwin Leighton Paisner – ‘Rethinking legal thought leadership’
Agency: The Allotment
Aim of the campaign: Bring BLP to the forefront of the industry as a relevant organisation with its finger on the pulse.
Standout activity: To capitalise on the increasing buzz around financial regulations and the resulting knowledge gap this created among its target audience, BLP exploited its subject expertise through a host of previously untouched digital and social media marketing channels.
The law firm first created a substantial report featuring fresh perspectives on 25 emerging regulatory issues directly relevant to its target audience. Wrapped up in an eye-catching bank note-themed design rather than the usual staid and conservative layouts more common in the industry, the report was supported by a face-to-face event, digital and multi-platform social media activity. The success of this initial activity sparked new opportunities to personalise and extend lead nurturing even further using blogs, videos and infographics. So great was the outcome that what started out as a two-month campaign evolved into an ongoing content marketing programme.
Result highlights: Generated 400% more leads than target; campaign ROI exceeded by over 250%; 98% customer satisfaction for launch event.
4. iShares by BlackRock – ‘Opportunity in volatility’
Agency: Mindshare UK
Aim of the campaign: To capture greater market share by creating stronger brand differentiation, as well as position iShares as an investment partner not just a product provider.
Standout activity: Financial investment firm, iShares, turned the idea of market volatility – normally perceived as a negative – on its head; demonstrating how the unpredictable can be exploited. It achieved this by instigating a ‘foundation and flair’ approach to thought leadership where proactive and reactive activity was combined in order to remain topical, contextual and responsive.
iShares’ foundation activity centred around carefully considered quarterly market themes providing its target audience with a steady and consistent stream of differentiated and contextual insight. Peppered throughout this was flair activity – quick response messaging following a significant event that iShares knew could trigger portfolio changes. This provided an opportunity to rapidly cut through at a time when investors make quick, tactical changes to their portfolios.
Result highlights: Market share rose to 37%; site traffic increase from 1.5% to 10.7%; published guides were read over 6150 times in seven days – a record 878 times a day versus the average of 227 reads a day.
5. Knorr – Dishing up advice on gluten-free
Agency: William Murray Communications
Aim of the campaign: Increase market share to become the UK’s number one gravy brand for caterers, and support UK chefs to implement new food regulations.
Standout activity: Following new food information regulations and increasing customer demand for gluten-free menu options, Knorr knew it needed to capitalise on the fact it was the only gluten-free, MSG-free and allergen-free gravy brand. It used its USP as a foundation to drive educational messaging around the complex regulations, as well as inspire the industry with fresh recipe ideas.
Data and content were intrinsic to one another throughout the campaign. Knorr conducted industry research by interviewing 1200 chefs, and then used this to develop Knorr Gluten Free Guides with practical safety steps to help chefs comply with new rules, as well as menu inspirations.
In addition, event marketing at the Hospitality Show – the industry’s biggest trade fair – leveraged a tongue-in-cheek but information-packed ‘Gravy Train’ targeting carefully selected chefs and industry influencers. The brand also launched the industry’s first Thunderclap – a single message shared simultaneously on social media during Coeliac Awareness Week, which saw over 1000 chefs getting #knorrglutenfree trending and money raised for Coeliac UK. Lastly, a UK-wide roadshow was launched where 500 chefs got to cook gluten-free with former Michelin starred chef, Phil Vickery.
The campaign also clinched the ‘Thought leadership campaign of the year‘ at the 2016 B2B Marketing Awards.
Commenting on the campaign, Anita Murray, CEO of William Murray Comms said: “It had a clear purpose and helped our industry tackle a complex issue by making it simple. At the same time, the campaign delivered growth for the client, addressed a real customer need, and was built on insight.”
Result highlights: Market share increased by 5.7%; 3.4 million ‘opportunities to see’ from press and social media coverage; 707 guide downloads.
