Overview
Atos is a global leader in digital transformation, with 105,000 employees and an annual revenue of c. € 11 billion. European number one in cybersecurity, cloud and high-performance computing, the group provides tailored end-to-end solutions for all industries in 69 countries. A pioneer in decarbonisation services and products, Atos is committed to a secure and decarbonised digital for its clients.
Atos wanted to revitalise their partnership with Microsoft, which lacked focus and drive. Internal and external awareness of the partnership’s strengths and joint solutions was low, hindering cross-selling and upselling opportunities.
Objectives
They had several objectives which can be broken down into three core categories:
1. Strategic:
• To create a framework that would enable sales and marketing teams across Europe.
2. Soft metrics:
• Position Atos as Microsoft’s #1 Global System Integrator.
• Create an always-on marketing strategy to build awareness of the partnership benefits to the external target audience, demonstrating how the partnership addresses their key challenges.
• Gain mindshare of Microsoft account leads to work closer with Atos on leads.
3. Hard metrics:
• Increase the number of sales-qualified leads by 100% through Microsoft Marketplace.
• Increase awareness and education of the partnership within sales and marketing teams to enable cross-selling and upselling opportunities.
• Raise awareness within Microsoft, growing co-selling opportunities by 50%
• Drive datasheet downloads, creating significant interest in the partnership.
The results
The campaign has successfully positioned the power of two industry giants, while also creating awareness of new products to market, such as Copilot for Microsoft 365 and Atos’ sustainability offerings, powered by Microsoft.
Download the full case study to discover more detailed internal and external results.
How we did it
The project began with a target audience list, based on job titles, which was further refined through a workshop session. Using a multitude of independent digital tools, Coterie set out to better understand the target audience. It soon became clear that this list of job titles required further development. For some of the targets, their interests, search terms and online behaviours did not fully align Atos and Microsoft’s joint offering. Through comprehensive research we worked together to create a refined and accurate list, taking a snapshot of their online behaviours, interests, and more importantly, the relevant challenges they were facing. With a deeper understanding of the personas’ preferences, we were able to pin-point the most effective and innovative content types, ensuring our creative would resonate, engage and drive sales
Whilst ‘always on’ marketing strategies are commonplace in traditional B2B and B2C marketing, the nature of how partnership campaigns are funded (through MDFs), means that often joint marketing can be stop-start because funds are released by quarter. Together with Atos we felt it was important look beyond a one-off, short-term campaign, taking a long-term approach with an always-on marketing strategy. We developed a campaign plan centred around delivering a constant drum beat of activity, strategically distributed across various channels including LinkedIn organic, LinkedIn advertising, Marketplace and the Atos website. This strategy included a mix of content types, such as articles, videos, infographics and case studies.
“I’m thrilled with the strategy, campaign and results delivered by the Coterie team. Over a short few months, we’ve made
a significant impact in the Microsoft partnership in market, as well as within Atos and Microsoft. It’s evident by the results that the team has landed relevant partner messaging in a creative, data-driven way.”
