Increasing Brand Awareness Through Campaign Management

Mediahuis Connect needed to establish their new name in the market. Creating brand awareness is a task for both sales and marketing departments.

Marketing supports sales by creating and executing campaigns, mailings, events etc. to the target groups.

To fulfil all requests, the marketing department needed extra support. So they asked 4P square to provide a campaign & event coordinator on a temporary basis.

In 2013, the two former publishers Corelio and Concentra merged into Mediahuis. As a result, the departments in charge of advertising of both publishers merged into Mediahuis Connect.

Mediahuis Connect is the internal media sales house of Mediahuis. They target the B2B market and have three types of clients: advertisers, media agencies and advertising agencies.

Making your new name known to the public, takes more than creating a new logo and branding. My assignment existed of several projects and tasks, most of them – if not all – contributing to more brand awareness for Mediahuis Connect.

Internal ‘buy-in’

The employees of Mediahuis Connect come from two former publishers, and are now working together in a new organisation.

So you have to make sure that they act as one team, and carry out the same message considering the new name and organisation.

Therefore, Mediahuis Connect decided to organise a teambuilding. This brought both ex-Corelio and ex-Concentra employees together, and created a new team spirit.

External brand awareness

Ofcourse, your external clients and partners are the most important target group. People should know your new name, see your logo and instantly associate it with your company. In order to achieve this, you need well-targeted campaigns and events with activations.

Mediahuis Connect set up several campaigns and events, and on every one of them there was a presentation or activation to promote Mediahuis Connect.

Mediahuis Connect at UBA Summer BBQ

One event that deserves some highlighting, is the UBA Summer BBQ. It’s an event where advertisers, agencies and media companies enjoy a savoury meal and network.

Following the Texas theme, Mediahuis Connect set up a stand with a rodeo bull and decorations, all branded with the Mediahuis Connect logo and baseline.

Participants who rode the bull, received a branded Mediahuis Connect cowboy hat. These hats were a huge success: people kept asking where that hat came from and visited the stand just for that hat.

For safety reasons, people had to leave their name, company name and e-mail address on a form before riding the bull. This allowed us to connect with the visitors after the event.

We sent them a link to our photo album on Facebook, and invited them to like our Facebook page while they were there. This communication didn’t miss its effect and likes increased in the following days.

Here are a few of the other campaigns and events that were executed

• Media seminar to Amsterdam: A two-day trip with clients, exclusively for decision makers in the companies and agencies. This was a prestigious event, with international guest speakers, luxurious accommodations and restaurants, excursions … Every detail had been taken care of.
• Buyers event at Cirque du Soleil: We took our buyers (clients that decide on budget for advertising) to the new show of Cirque du Soleil. We turned it into a VIP event, with a nice reception at Mediahuis Connect and premium seats for the show.
• Campaign with sweets to promote good results of CIM Press and CIM Internet at agencies: The CIM studies delivered positive results for Mediahuis Connect and their news brands. To announce these numbers, we delivered bowls with sweets and cakes made out of candy, accompanied by a strong and branded message of Mediahuis Connect.

The UBA Summer BBQ was a huge success, and the data capture proofed to be very useful. The mailing with a photo link led to an increase of likes of the Mediahuis Connect Facebook page within a few days.

This had as an effect that the Facebook page got more reach, thus creating more attention and even more likes.

Furthermore, the collected data were used to update the CRM system, and conversations during the event led to appointments for sales.

Other actions are harder to measure and get specific results from. A positive effect on reputation and brand awareness is difficult to proof.

We are sure  however that the new name of Mediahuis Connect is more widely known, and has established its place in the market.