CONNECTWe Give you the pieces,

You connect them.

Judges Summary

We are not your average agency. We are COALITION.After getting to know each other better, we realized each member of our team brings a unique skill to the campaign process. That is why we chose not to highlight our official titles, but instead the unique aspect of each member that allows us to produce high quality work - precision, organization, optimism, creativity and details.

We wanted a strong name that epitomized team work. In comes COALITION.

Merriam-Webster defines COALITION as the action or process of joining together with another or others for a common purpose. That is who we are, and how COALITION will not only satisfy our clients goals, but take them above and beyond. No matter what assistance our clients need - whether a creative design revamp, impelling prose, or strategic marketing - COALITION assures the common purpose is always success and the betterment of our clients.

optimism

PRECISION

ORGANIZATION

Clockwise, from top right:Ashley Gerenday, Morgan Jupina, Jake Green, Mary Booth, Erin England

details

creative

WE ARE

COALITION

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THE CHALLENGEEfficient Collaborative Retail Marketing (ECRM) provides an innovative way to enhance the buying and selling process for its clients across four different industries including: general merchandise (GM), grocery, health and beauty care (HBC), and pharmaceutical. ECRM has been organizing its unique one-on-one, cost and time efficient events for more than 20 years. According to its website, ECRM is dedicated to its integrity, quality and focus, innovation, and hard work.

ECRM works with sellers to set up private meeting rooms at a resort hotel. The vendors consult with an assigned account manager to discuss their company objectives. Then, based on relevancy, ECRM develops a schedule for buyers and sellers to meet in 10- or 20-minute intervals. In the evenings, clients have the opportunity to participate in laid-back networking events.

COALITION discovered that ECRM portrays itself as not your typical trade show, during an initial interview with Billy Chapnick, former senior vice president of marketing, and Rachel Schultz, business communications manager. The ECRM employees expressed that this term is not specific enough to its brand, and there are many misconceptions about how ECRM operates. COALITION was challenged to uncover a concise method to convey what the company is and what it does.

THE RESEARCHSecondary ResearchPublicationsAfter an audit of trade publications, COALITION found them to play an important role across all industries served by ECRM. Publications such as Progressive Grocer and Supermarket News are used to feature industry news and trends in the grocery industry. Their reach includes analysts, manufacturers, association executives, retailers, and brokers showing that trade publications are useful platforms for ECRM event listings, client success stories and advertisement.

OnlineCOALITION discovered through an online audit that ECRM did not have a strong online presence. Because 85 percent of B2B marketers use Twitter to distribute content, ECRM could use this social media platform as an opportunity to increase effective engagement with current and potential clients. However, ECRM has an extremely low engagement rate on Twitter and only received 10 mentions over the last six months.

LinkedIn provides the best outreach and engagement among all of ECRM social platforms. The company has multiple channels on LinkedIn including: a personal page branded as ECRM, a company profile with limited information about ECRM, and individual groups for many of the industries ECRM serves. Through its personal page with 500+ connections, it publishes pictures, how-tos, event walkthroughs, and multiple long-form posts.

COALITION was unable to find any coverage of ECRM events on any of the largest and most influential blogs related to trade shows including: Trade Show News Network (TSNN), Trade Show Guy Blog, Apple Rock, Skyline Trade Show Tips, and Trade-Show-Advisor.

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B2B ObstaclesAll business to business companies share common obstacles when going through the purchasing process. COALITION uncovered the specific issues for which ECRM offers a solution to streamline the purchasing experience: time management, balancing quality with growth, information overload, and financing.

ECRM gives event attendees the opportunity to have more than 60 meetings in the span of four days, eliminating the challenge to meet with dozens of companies around the country. Further, ECRM works to give all clients the most relevant schedules possible, matching them with the right buyers and sellers for their business goals. The proprietary meeting app, ECRM Connect 3.0, which ECRM supplies to all event attendees allows them to quickly stay organized during and after events. ECRMs all-inclusive model provides attendees with the opportunity to avoid hidden costs, which cause traditional trade shows to quickly become expensive endeavors.

Best PracticesAccording to Fleet Owner, cold calling is a flawed sales strategy and it hurts a brand more than helps it. He provides statistics that say 90 percent of buying decisions today are based on internet research and 92 percent of buyers are more confident in the information they find on the Internet than what they hear from sales reps. This suggests ECRM change its focus from cold calls to providing more information online.

CRM Magazine references a study that found that 70 percent of consumers find the basic personalization of marketing emails superficial. It also says that 79 percent of Americans feel that checking email is a waste of time. This suggests that email is not the most effective way for ECRM to reach out to potential clients.

Lee Traupel, a digital strategist for the Linked Media Group, wrote a blog post about best practices for creating and curating online content, specifically for B2B audiences. Mixing original content with content curation is a cost effective way to drive engagement online.

Content Marketing Institutes 2013 survey on budgets and trends proved that the top tactics ranked most effective by B2B marketers are case studies (64 percent), webinars/webcasts (61 percent), blogs (59 percent), and videos (58 percent).

Direct Mail InformationAccording to Exhibitor Magazines article, Going Postal, direct mail has become more effective in many B2B situations than traditional email. In a Response Rate Report from the Direct Marketing Association, the rate of response for email is 0.12 percent, while postcards and dimensional mailers score between 2.4 and 3.95 percent. Direct mailers can be valuable tools to promote anything from corporate events to exhibits.

PrimaryDuring multiple phone interviews with both ECRM employees and current clients, COALITION found the most common response was initial misconceptions about what ECRM does. ECRMs account managers revealed that their messaging is not consistent while pitching in cold calls or emails. Further, many of the buyers felt the companys initial communications seemed scammy because all costs are covered by ECRM. Paul Jarrett, CEO of Bulu Box, felt the ECRM buyer experience was too good to be true, comparing it to a free cruise. Nilda Oyola, vice president of sales for Majestic Drug Company, spoke of many positive aspects of ECRM including, efficient meetings, time

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management and organization. This gives ECRM the opportunity to highlight these solutions to business-to-business obstacles within its key messaging.

A focus group consisting of ECRM account managers was conducted on January 28, 2015. COALITION learned that ECRM used its app, Connect 3.0, to enhance the attendee experience. This goes hand-in-hand with why ECRM is portrayed as not your typical trade show. The account managers expressed that ECRM provides an all-inclusive atmosphere by assisting with the vendors set-up process.

A COALITION team member attended the ECRM Home and Healthcare event in Destin, Florida from March 2-4 to compile additional research. During the event, Whitney McFee, an ECRM client service representative stated, We dont only facilitate your meetings, we facilitate your set-up. A lot of companies dont have that middleman at traditional trade shows. Also at the event, ECRM employees, buyers and vendors all expressed interest in a referral program. ECRM events allow the opportunity to create new partnerships. Kamal Haddad, senior vice president of Wholesale Point, Inc., expressed that he would have otherwise walked past multiple booths at a traditional trade show if he did not automatically see a product he was interested in. Scheduled meetings provide a chance to find unique business avenues.

THE PROBLEMThrough primary and secondary research, COALITION uncovered that ECRM does not have a concise brand message because of the use of jargon, the lack of consistency and the use of ineffective communication platforms. Further, ECRM focuses its current key messaging on how it differentiates itself from traditional trade shows rather than providing solutions for its clients B2B obstacles.

THE GOALDevelop a concise brand message to position ECRM as an established connection platform to facilitate modern B2B opportunities.

THE CAMPAIGN THEMEThe campaign theme is ECRM Connect: We give you the pieces, you connect them because ECRM provides its clients with all the resources they need to have a successful business interaction. We want to express that ECRM not only connects buyers with sellers, but it also connects its clients with the business-to-business solutions they need to succeed and its own helpful staff.

THE AUDIENCESPrimaryProspective ECRM clientsThis audience includes prospective buyers and sellers across all four industries. New buyers and sellers indicated in primary research that they were confused when initially being pitched to about how ECRM operates.

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ECRM employeesThis audience specifically includes ECRM sales representatives and account managers across all industries. This group of people will distribute the enhanced key messaging to prospective buyers and sellers.

SecondaryCurrent ECRM clientsThis audience includes both buyers and sellers across all four industries. These people serve as opinion leaders to further reach potential clients.

Trade mediaThis audience includes trade publications across all industries. Trade media operate as an influential source for disseminating information to the industries which ECRM serves. The following trade publications are organized by industry. Using Cision, COALITION compiled a list of media outlets based on circulation and relevancy to industry and audience.

HEALTH + BEAUTYAmerican Salon, Bangstyle, Beauty

Launchpad

GENERALMERCHANDISE

Chain Drug Review,Gifts & Decorative

Accesories

GROCERYConvenience Store Decisions, BevNET

Magazine,Progressive Grocer

PHARMACYAmericas

Pharmacist, DDNews, Prevention

TRADE INDUSTRYBusiness Travel News, BtoB,

Exhibitor Magazine

THE KEY MESSAGES Beyond providing face-to-face meeting opportunities, ECRM works to ensure your meetings are valuable and

relevant. For 20 years, more than 23,000 businesses have trusted ECRM to help expand their companies.

Catered to sellers: From beginning to end, ECRM creates your ideal meeting environment. ECRM Connect 3.0 is the industrys only proprietary meeting app, keeping your meetings organized and

running smoothly.Catered to buyers:

Meeting your next business partner is as simple as a handshake; the rest is on us.

THE OBJECTIVES1. To secure organic placements in at least 10 national trade publications in applicable industries served

in two years.2. To recruit six top-tier ECRM brand ambassadors in two years.3. To increase ECRMs social audience by 10 percent in two years.

Social audience is defined by the aggregate total of members in ECRMs LinkedIn groups, Twitter followers, and Facebook fans. This figure currently stands at 6,520.

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THE STRATEGIES Use social media as an effective conversation tool Curate appropriate content that relates to all four industries served by ECRM Position ECRM as an industry leader among its key publics Express how ECRM can efficiently solve B2B obstacles Create a consistent message that expresses both ECRMs experience and expertise Develop and implement a referral program Implement ECRM mailing campaign

THE TACTICSLaunch EventPlan and host an ECRM employee launch party where a list of clear and concise key messaging will be presented to sales representatives and account managers. COALITION will suggest that ECRM uses the key messaging while pitching events via email or phone in an effort to alleviate misconceptions by potential clients. This event will also launch the use of the new company tagline: Connecting you to your next opportunity. By bringing together ECRMs sales representatives to this event, COALITION will secure a consist message across most of its communication platforms.

VideoCOALITION will create a video to be posted on ECRMs website. The video will include footage from the Destin, Florida Home and Heathcare event and be used to alleviate confusion about an ECRM event. Interviews from buyers and sellers will be included in the 30-60 second video to both encourage new participants to sign up and to explain what ECRM has done for their company. The goal of the video is to highlight how other companies use ECRM to break down B2B barriers like time, money and creating new business avenues to position ECRM as an industry leader.

Brand ambassadorsCOALITION will recruit two top-tier companies such as Walgreens and Goya, and four smaller companies to serve as ECRM brand ambassadors. They will create blog posts to share success stories as well as use social media to promote ECRM and how it can effectively grow businesses. Buyers will receive a flight upgrade to first class, while sellers will receive a room upgrade for participating.

Twitter chatsHost a series of Twitter chats. Each chat would take place one week before an event on a Tuesday. The Twitter chat would include the #ECRMconnect and discuss related tips such as how to run an efficient meeting, how to prepare and what to bring to the event. These chats would be called Tips Tuesdays.

LinkedIn postsCOALITION will create content based on upcoming industry events and trends in that industry to be posted on LinkedIn and then promoted through Facebook and Twitter. These posts are meant to position ECRM as a thought leader in the four industries. Content will sometimes be original and sometimes be curated from relevant sources.

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Referral programEstablish the incentive of a room upgrade when referring at least five buyers or sellers to existing ECRM clients. Add a feature to ECRM Connect 3.0 for buyers and sellers to easily refer new clients. This will be introduced to event attendees with a flyer included in the resources given to them upon their arrival.

Event coverage Through a targeted media list based on publication content and audience reach, COALITION will pitch to relevant trade publications in each industry. Through theses pitches, COALITION will secure placement in ten publications. The pitches will be sent via email and will discuss how ECRM effectively solves B2B obstacles such as, saving time, balancing quality with growth, organizing information and managing costs. Implementing the use of an editorial calendar will ensure that coverage is being pitched to appropriate publications. Reporters will also be invited to attend events and offered face-to-face interviews so they can see first-hand how ECRM works.

Case studiesCreate case studies to be published on ECRMs website that will provide third-party affirmation by highlighting business that have found success in ECRM events. This will be carried out monthly for a two-year period. We will pitch these with the intent to show publications why these case studies matter to their readers and why it is something they need to know. Case studies will be pitched during appropriate industry times.

3D mailerCreate a 3D mailer that strategically recruits new buyers and sellers that would find ECRM beneficial to their companies to attend upcoming events. The mailer will be creatively designed, incorporating the brand, tagline and overall appearance of an ECRM event. It will also include a trackable URL to navigate prospective clients to ECRMs website and to be used as an evaluation tool. The mailing piece will be distributed to those referred in the referral program, and to businesses that no longer attend large, well-known trade events in their industries. Then, two months after the mailer is sent, an ECRM sales representative will follow up with companies who did not act.

THE EVALUATIONObjective: To increase ECRMs social audience by 10 percent in two years. Record the sentiment among ECRMs social media followers Evaluate on Twitter by number of followers, retweets, Twitter chat involvement, use of hashtag, and comments Evaluate on LinkedIn by number of connections, comments, and promotion on Twitter and Facebook Evaluate on Facebook by number of followers, likes, shares, and comments Monitor the number of unique visitors to the trackable URL from direct mail piece Guage the increase in ECRMs social media reach Track the number of impressions made by trade publications

Objective: To encourage organic placements in two trade publications per each of ECRMs industries in two years. Confirm placement in 10 trade publications across the four industries served

Objective: To recruit six top-tier ECRM brand ambassadors in two years. Count the number of brand ambassadors ECRM recruits and gauge their impact