AwardsWinner 2015

13 Most commercially successful campaign:

Lead Generation Factory for Atos by The Marketing Practice

A multi-proposition, multi-country demand centre programme generating incremental sales 284x investment

02Entry category 13: Most commercially successful campaign

Summary

Atos operates in the IT services market and aims to become the preferred European global IT services brand worldwide by 2016. Its propositions and target audience are changing and consequently its sales and marketing need to transform.

The Lead Generation Factory (LGF) is key to this transformation. It is a multi-proposition, multi-country demand centre programme that works closely with sales to systematically open doors with its senior-decision-maker target audience and efficiently generate a strong and predictable pipeline which is tracked all the way through to sale.

The LGF puts the bespoke needs of each contact, not the individual campaigns, at its core. It drew upon 23 different sub-campaigns during 2014, with the Inside Sales team blending these to appropriately nurture each prospect.

In 2014 the LGF generated pipeline amounting to more than 1800 times the investment in the programme, with 45% of these leads coming from outside the IT function. We are projecting incremental sales of 284 times investment.

This is a rolling programme that will continue to give Atos a commercial edge in this highly competitive market.

03Entry category 13: Most commercially successful campaign

About the client

Atos is the second-largest IT services and solutions company in Europe. Headquartered in France, it employs 86,000 people to provide hi-tech transactional services, managed services, consulting & technology services, outsourcing and systems integration across 47 countries worldwide, helping its customers to create their firm of the future.

the preferred European global IT brand worldwide by 2016

04Entry category 13: Most commercially successful campaign

Strategy

Atos has a clearly stated goal to become the preferred European global IT brand worldwide in digital and IT services by 2016. In order to achieve this, the business is undergoing a significant transformation both through acquisition and through the introduction of a range of innovative new propositions to the market.

To deliver this ambitious strategy it is recognised that sales and marketing need to change in order to engage with its famously hard-to-reach target audience of senior decision-makers.

The Lead Generation Factory programme is at the heart of this transformation.

05Entry category 13: Most commercially successful campaign

Objectives of the campaign

Having completed a pilot in 2012/13, the specific objective for the programme during 2014 was to generate incremental closed sales of at least 100 times the investment made in the programme.

The overall objective of the LGF is to create an industrialised process to generate, nurture and feed leads into the sales pipeline before tracking them all the way to order entry. It makes for a cost-efficient process that achieves maximum results for minimum budget (see image 1: Sales Process).

Before

Lead Generation Factory

Segmentation and data building

Direct marketing to create awareness

Specialising in establishing first contact/set up client meeting

After

Business development Strategic sales Account executives

Strategic sales Account executivesBusiness dev.

Closed sale

Closed sale

Sales process: From lead to closed sale

06Entry category 13: Most commercially successful campaign

The target audience

The LGF is a centralised programme that targets corporate decision-makers across ten different countries. During 2014 we targeted 18,281 contacts within 4714 accounts. These contacts included a range of senior IT roles (such as CIO, Chief Digital Officer, Head of IT Architecture and Head of IT Infrastructure) as well as senior commercial decision-makers such as CMOs and CFOs.

The key insight that shaped the design of the LGF is that when addressing such a diverse and senior set of decision-makers (across multiple countries) who face a complex set of strategic issues, the programme needs to be flexible and draw on a wide range of campaign modules which can be leveraged to address the needs of each target organisation. In other words, the programme needs to be completely customer-centric rather than campaign-driven.

23Campaigns 8Countries 5Languages 5Verticals

07Entry category 13: Most commercially successful campaign

Media, channels or techniques used

LGF puts the bespoke needs of each contact, not the individual campaigns, at the centre of the model. Each conversation is planned according to our knowledge about that contact, so that content from individual campaign modules is blended over time, to create a bespoke nurturing journey.

The nurturing process is as follows:

• Definition phase: Audience analysis to determine the best messaging and delivery methods.

• Next Best Action: Develop targeted propositions and relevant delivery materials to move the target through the sales process.

• Nurture phase 1: Capture insight to effectively take a contact through the cycle of education, information exchange and definition.

• Defined interest – Nurture phase 2: Following expression of interest, identify BANT-qualified leads, or qualify leads out to re-enter the cycle.

The centre of the LGF is the Inside Sales hub – a team of data, telemarketing, creative and demand-generation professionals who gather audience and market insight and adapt the approach every day.

08Entry category 13: Most commercially successful campaign

Media, channels or techniques used

During 2014 the LGF programme leveraged a total of 23 different campaign modules (see image 2: Timeline). These modules used a full range of marketing channels and techniques – including thought leadership content, high-impact DM, personalised eDMs and a range of online assets – all coordinated by the central Inside Sales team and supported by CRM and marketing automation as appropriate.

During the year the LGF team made 34,160 calls, sent 6,720 DMs, delivered 25,276 eDMs and had 4,723 nurturing conversations.

An example of one of the key campaign modules is given below.

Campaign module: Factory of the FutureIn early 2014 a UK campaign module was rolled out to manufacturing companies. Three emails were deployed through Eloqua, with a ‘Factory of the Future’ position paper addressing the industry’s need to embrace new technology to position for future success. Highly targeted DM pieces were created for 60 high-profile contacts. The call to action was a face-to-face workshop.

The programme was also supported by sponsorship of the Manufacturing Directors conference and an advertorial piece in The Manufacturer.

The UK module was adapted for global deployment. The position paper was rewritten, country-specific DMs sent (hyper-personalised with PURL downloads of the position paper), and new emails targeting specific sub-markets (Aero, Auto, CPG, PharmaChem) sent. A range of other channels including LinkedIn, industry publications, industry events and sponsorship were used.

23Campaigns 8Countries 5Languages 5Verticals

pipeline value over

investment1800x

Safe Net NHS

Factory of the Future

Enterprise sustainability

JIS JITHardware/Software

Comms Simplified

Magic Quadrant

Now Banking

Helix Nebula

Canopy Event

EPCE MES JIT

Big Data

SAP HCM

Yuanio

Financial services

Apps management

Enhanced alliance

Manufacturing

Country specific campaigns

Centralised campaigns

Jan 2014 Dec 2014

284xinvestment

Incremental order entry

Sales engagement

09Entry category 13: Most commercially successful campaign

Timescales of the campaignThe LGF is a rolling ongoing programme leveraging numerous campaign modules (see image 2: Timeline)

10Entry category 13: Most commercially successful campaign

Results

Key results achieved in 2014 include:

• Generated 194 leads and 422 opportunities

• 45% of leads outside of IT

• Created pipeline value of more than 1800 times investment

• Projected incremental order entry of 284 times investment

• Opportunities gained with key prospects from large manufacturing organisations from France, UK and Denmark

• New logos won across UK, Germany and France

A new model has been created and proven which is making a significant difference to Atos’ competitiveness in the market and will continue to drive new sales in 2015 and beyond.

284xinvestment

Incremental order entry

pipeline value over

investment1800x

11Entry category 13: Most commercially successful campaign

Client testimonial

“The Lead Generation Factory has made a significant difference to our brand awareness, commercial operations and our competitiveness in the market. By taking a blended campaigning approach, we are now able to open new doors within existing clients as well as generate new logos and new business leading to incremental growth. The outstanding ROI of the programme speaks for itself.”Joanna Moss – Director, Lead Generation Factory, Atos