Check out this case study and discover how an effective email strategy can communicate the most complex of messages. This case study features a campaign in which a blue-chip successfully communicated its rebrand to its customers, partners and employees without a single drop of ink.
The company
2e2 is a trusted partner and provider of mission critical IT services and solutions to some of the world’s leading organisations and has a portfolio covering Unified Communications, Data Management, Server and Client solutions.
The brief
After a sustained period of strong and profitable growth, including a series of major acquisitions in 2004 and 2005, the ‘2e2 Group’ identified the need to bring all its independent companies beneath a single monolithic brand. This rebrand needed to be communicated at speed and in a controlled, cost-effective and tailored manner to its customer, partner and employee audiences.
After an extensive pitch process, 2e2 enlisted the services of Industry to deliver the strategic communications necessary to inform all relevant parties of the re-brand. Nigel Smith, Account Manager at Industry explains, “The strategy we put forward to 2e2 involved the creation of a bespoke email magazine, or eZine. The eZine would eliminate many of the traditional costs involved in the communication of a rebrand. The proposed campaign effectively removed the need for conventional advertising, PR and print based communications.” After winning the project, Industry developed an eZine for 2e2 that would deliver on all aspects of the brief. An eZine entitled ‘Fusion’ was put forward. In choosing the right vehicle to do this, Chris Vick, Director of Marketing and Strategy at 2e2 said, “We needed a strategy that delivered the core communication messages of the rebrand to our audiences and we needed it to be fast. Traditional options were too slow, expensive and difficult to track. And we needed the flexibility to adapt and change our messages to suit all audiences, even up to the very last minute – Industry’s ‘Fusion’ eZine ticked all these boxes.”
Design, functionality and usability are vital elements of online communications. Chloe McDonnell, Design Director at Industry said, “Beyond the strong visual identity and straightforward navigation that Fusion required, we focused very much on building interchangeable aspects into the design. By keeping this in mind, it will allow us to amend or even replace content very quickly and easily without any significant impact to production and costs for future issues.” Accordingly, one template was used for the 3 distinct versions; customer, partner and employee.
Delivery was also personalised to ensure that the communication was received from a known 2e2 contact wherever possible. Industry collated and customised all data from several independent company sources to ensure this was possible. Fusion, once received by the customer, had all the appearance of coming from their corresponding 2e2 account manager. This ensured that open rates remained high and that there was a strong personal element behind the new changes at 2e2. In addition, Industry provided 2e2 senior management with the ability to track all aspects of the campaign. This included a central portal where all replies from employees and customers were collated and made visible. Chris Vick explains, “Having all replies coming into a single portal and then collated enabled a consistent message to be sent back out. Every piece of communication was on message.”
Fusion proved to be a successful vehicle for driving the key messages of 2e2’srebranding strategy to customers, suppliers and in particular 2e2 employees where open rates reached 99%. Chris said, “Industry’s branding and design knowledge combined well with their B2B email marketing expertise to provide a unique vehicle to achieve 2e2’s re-branding communications objectives”. Fusion has now evolved to be the centerpiece for 2e2’s external and internal communications, and is even taking sponsorship from key partners.
If you would like to learn more, contact editor@open-ezine.com
