Coterie’s partner marketing expertise ensured robust collaboration between Atos and partners for the launch of ‘Connected Experience’
Atos, together with their strategic partners, pulled off the unexpected. A brand new, entirely virtual event that created a memorable customer experience, reinforcing the partner ecosystem and creating a wealth of sales opportunities for all. All of this was made possible through a truly collaborative effort, supported by a programmatic partner marketing approach that properly embedded Atos’s partners in the activity from the off.
The challenge
When Atos decided to build a UK&I customer community, they came up with the idea of running a series of events focused on helping customers make more informed decisions when considering their digital transformation strategy. They knew that partners would play a critical part in those effective digital strategies and that their involvement would be critical. So, the marketing team set about sharing their vision with partners with a view to them collaborating to make it happen.
But the path to success is never an easy one. They faced limited marketing resources and a lack of funding plus the added complication of a global pandemic.
Committed to continuing with their vision, they decided to create an exciting virtual event with exciting production and interesting topics and speakers that would retain the interest of senior customers for two hours.
Given Coterie’s partner marketing specialism, we were perfectly placed to help co-ordinate the ecosystem of partners, funding, and production teams to make it happen.
Our approach
Working together with the Atos marketing team, we devised the concept for the live virtual event, which would bring together thought leaders from each of the partners and Atos into a physical, Covid-secure studio environment. It was essential to Atos that their customers saw the strength of the relationships within the partner ecosystem, and this was a great way to do it. Plus, it gave all three partners excellent visibility internally within Atos and the customer community.
We pitched the idea to the partners, and they saw the value straight away. This early belief in the project and their commitment to making it happen, including contributing to the funding, made it possible. With added governance from our programmatic partner marketing approach, this was a truly collaborative effort which saw the partners fully embedded from the start rather than being an afterthought. A fully integrated launch plan was created by Coterie and executed through a working partnership with Atos.
A headline theme was developed for the event: Are you ready for the new future? This theme was then used to build out partner content and messaging to support the event, including a landing page, email invites, social posts, and a promotional video. This all-in approach meant that not only was Atos promoting the event and the partnerships, but the partners themselves were able to amplify these efforts through their channels, for example, on their social media platforms to drive the reach further.
On the day, experts from Atos and the partners met in the studio, hosted by an event moderator, enabling a truly different viewing experience driven by a fantastic conversation between all speakers and engagement with the customers in the audience.
The benefits
The results speak for themselves.
- Nineteen senior executives (C-level and Heads of) from top name companies attended, over 50% of those that had registered, which smashes the industry standard of 44% attendance.
- 95% engagement rate throughout the 2-hour event, which surprised customers as much as it did Atos… “I dialled in thinking I will just sneak in for a bit and watch but stayed till the end. The format worked very well and was more engaging to listen to.”
- 36 sales conversations held as follow up
- ROI: 46:1
There were some even more significant benefits for the partners. The internal exposure they got strengthened their relationship with Atos and, by marketing the recording of the event, exposed the value of the ecosystem to an even broader customer audience.
The programmatic approach is now being replicated, and the success has led to a global re-run planned this year. In addition, both Atos and their partners now have a wealth of valuable customer insight on which to build their future joint propositions and market approach.
“When our plans for Connected Experience UK & Ireland were thrown into disarray due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we knew that we couldn’t just give up. With Coterie’s partner marketing expertise and their methodologies, we were able to rally our partners and deliver a virtual event that was bigger and better than we could ever have imagined in such uncertain times.”
Denise Bradbury, Atos