Latest campaigns and real thought leadership examples: Autumn 2022

Months of economic, social and political turmoil continue to present major challenges for businesses and global commerce. But, despite this gloomy backdrop, B2B brands continue to shine a guiding light on how to survive and thrive in times of unrest.

Here, we recap on our client’s latest campaigns that launched between July to September.

If you’d like more information on any of the campaigns featured, please get in touch — we’d be delighted to tell you more about them and help find ways you too can innovate with your next campaign.

New ideas for energy and manufacturing

Why volatility can put you on the path to net zero
Centrica Business Solutions
Sonja Caymaz, Group Editor

Most organisations understand that they need to decarbonise and move towards becoming a more sustainable business. But many still don’t know how much they need to do, by when, or how. What are the right technologies to invest in? What needs to be done now, and what can wait until five years’ time? These are all questions that leaders around the world are asking themselves.

Now in its third year of researching organisations about energy and sustainability, the energy services and solutions provider Centrica wanted to develop insight on what a sustainable business model looks like and what less-well-prepared organisations can do to catch up.

To fulfil the brief, we surveyed 1,000 executives in seven countries and nine industry sectors, and benchmarked their sustainability efforts in five key areas to identify what it takes to become a sustainable business leader. With this data, our research report explores the steps sustainable business leaders are taking now to make their organisation more resilient, competitive and sustainable in the long-term, even if it incurs short-term cost.

ACTIVATION: Key findings, data visualisation and deep-dive interviews with a range of leaders are brought together in the campaign’s digital home on Centrica’s website, where its audience can download the executive perspective, a concise report stating the research findings and important takeaways, as well as the full report, with more extensive coverage and insight.

Designed to Perform
NI
Laura Adcock, Group Editor

The product development landscape is changing. Faced with increasing complexity and shrinking time-to-market requirements for smart products, companies are rethinking the way they do business. To remain competitive, their products must be higher quality, perform better, use less power, and draw upon a deeper pool of data. The status quo is no longer enough.

Recognising the opportunity for manufacturers to gain greater insight from their product data and use it to refine their processes and unlock value across the product lifecycle, NI (formerly known as National Instruments) wanted to stake their claim on the topic of building better businesses through more advanced product data strategies.

Working in collaboration with NI, we surveyed 300 product innovators across 10 industries to discover more and gain intelligence into the ideas and  operations of these leading organisations to understand why true innovators will rise with the revolution.

ACTIVATION: NI’s new ‘Designed to perform’ knowledge hub sits at the heart of the digital campaign, providing chapterised insight, rich with survey data, at-a-glance findings and first-class editorial fused with dynamic data visualisation.

Trending in Tech and Cyber-Security

The answers within
AWS
Laura Adcock, Group Editor

Economic, social and cultural shocks create challenges for every business. But a new global survey from AWS reveals that when the going gets tough, the most resilient businesses use data to find answers from within.

For its latest campaign, AWS teamed up with FT Longitude and the Financial Times to produce insight and fresh thinking on how to create a culture of learning and build business resilience.

Drawing on the findings from a global survey of 500 respondents across financial services, industrial, media and entertainment, health, automotive, technology and telecommunications, together with in-depth interviews with internal and external leading thinkers, AWS proposes three areas of opportunity: nurturing internal talent; cultivate creativity and collaboration; and  optimising new ways of working.

ACTIVATION: Partner content published on FT.com combines at-a-glance insight in the form of an article, infographic and video, designed to direct traffic through to AWS’s own website, where audiences can download the full report.

The Future of Work is right here, right now.
Verizon
Hannah Freegard, Group Editor

Growing uncertainty in the business environment is making it harder than ever to forecast the future.  As we emerge from the pandemic, many businesses are struggling to develop a clear strategy for the new environment in which they find themselves.

Verizon’s latest research reveals that business leaders need to build robust organisations that can adapt to cope with shocks and surprises and respond quickly to new opportunities.

Based on insight from 600 decision-makers who shared their experiences of how the pandemic changed their business, the research  discovered a pervasive state of inertia is taking hold, holding them back from becoming truly future ready, and provides guidance from leading business experts on dealing with this threat.

ACTIVATION: A short, high-impact executive summary, featuring the most important high-level findings and key takeaways, plus data and insight across four priority areas for investment, accompanies the full in-depth report with rich data visualisation and persuasive pull quotes throughout; all of which is  published on Verizon’s knowledge hub to support cross-pollination of related content.

Playing it Safe: 5 Ways Cyber Security Protects Hospitality Firms’ Reputations
ACP
Hannah Stubbings, Senior Editor and Campaign Strategist

Customers place a great deal of trust in hospitality firms. They share their most sensitive data with hotels, restaurants and travel firms, including payment details, passport information and personal preferences.

For the customer, a breach of trust is hard to forgive. But a serious cyber-security violation could be fatal for a hospitality company’s reputation. Some sector leaders have enforced strong cyber security while upholding a first-rate reputation. How have they managed it?

In collaboration with ACP, we surveyed 251 hospitality business leaders about their cyber- security strategies to understand what it takes to enforce strong cyber-security measures, protect the customer and uphold their good name.

ACTIVATION: The results of our research provided insight for a  high-quality, in-depth report that details the five habits of  Hospitality Cyber Leaders, and explains why emulating the strategies and practices of this particular group of organisations is a win-win scenario. Providing practical advice on how to do it, together with first-hand insight from those leaders, ensures ACP’s latest thinking on this critical and timely topic is a must-read for others in the hospitality sector.

Rethinking Finance Digital Transformation and podcast
Workday
Megan Wright, Senior Editor and Head of Audio

Workday’s latest campaign, a CFO and CIO indicator study, tracks the state of digital finance transformation in today’s organisations, and details why CFO-CIO alignment is central to success.

We surveyed 1,060 senior finance and IT leaders across 12 industries to better understand the challenges they face—and how to overcome them.

The research shows a positive correlation between finance and IT alignment and digital transformation maturity. By going beyond legacy ERP, organisations can focus on the data integration, technology, and skills necessary to move finance forward.

The content programme, rich in data and qualitative insight, comprises two detailed reports – a CFO report that tracks the state of finance digital transformation in today’s organisations and highlights the focus that finance will have to place on creating value like never before; and a CIO report that highlights the unique opportunity IT has to help finance realise a digital-first vision and operationalise their data fast.

ACTIVATION: In addition to providing editorial and design expertise on the two main anchor assets, our aural specialists produced audio snippets, embedded in Workday’s own digital story, as well as a special feature on Workday’s podcast, to seamlessly incorporate the voices of Workday’s own team of experts.

Fresh insights for Financial Services

Rising to the climate challenge: Perspectives on accelerating decarbonisation in real estate
M&G Investments
Joe Dalton, Group Editor

For the past decade, real estate investors, with increasing intensity, have debated the impact of climate change on returns.

Lacking both the full range of necessary data and cohesion among policymakers globally, some investors remain sceptical about the relationship between greener buildings and increased value – and the need to accelerate decarbonisation.

This report, part of M&G’s Investment Insights series exploring portfolio decarbonisation, draws on insights from asset owners, consultants and M&G’s own real estate experts, to highlight the need for new approaches in three key areas.

ACTIVATION: The content for this smart, eye-catching campaign incorporates expert editorial components, including summary highlights, individual focused articles and immersive storytelling with audio insights embedded within. The result is a well rounded and expertly executed knowledge base that demonstrates real thought leadership at its best.

Family offices in a changing world
DBS Private Bank
Piers Tomlinson, Editorial Director

Following three successive years of seminal publications on Family Offices, DBS Private Bank continues its thought leadership in this space with the launch of ‘New Economy, Next Generation: Family Offices in a Changing World’ in partnership with the Financial Times to explore the complex challenges in this new post-Covid economy and how the next generation are helping their families navigate the future.

Based on the insight of 21 influential figures, we reported across several areas related to the future of Family Offices, including: how family offices are playing a growing role in Singapore’s net zero future; new ideas for a changing world; and seven trends for tomorrow’s family office, the latter of which was the focus of a detailed report, ‘New Economy, Next Generation: Family Offices in a Changing World’.

ACTIVATION: A collection of articles, complete with video teasers, are hosted as partner content on FT.com, benefiting from the halo effect of partnering with one of the world’s leading media brands. These articles direct traffic to DBS’s own website, where its audience can download the full report which brings together key findings from the research together  with expert perspectives from family office representatives and investment specialists.

Professional Services perspectives

S&P 500 Snapshot series
Spencer Stuart
Hannah Freegard, Group Editor

Over the past 12 months, S&P 500 companies – a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 large companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States – have continued to refresh their boards. However, following exceptionally dynamic turnover in 2021, the pace of change has slowed in 2022.

Leading global executive search and leadership consulting firm, Spencer Stuart, wanted to demonstrate their expertise on this evolving landscape by shedding light on how forward-looking boards are thinking about boardroom talent; why the profiles of successful candidates are steadily changing; and why boards continue to appoint directors from historically underrepresented groups –  including women.

ACTIVATION: Highlights from the 2022 S&P 500 New Director Snapshot are presented in a summary report that applies excellence in data-led storytelling, with sharp survey analysis and journalistic interviews, to provide context and bring the insight to life.

Tax transformation trends survey
Deloitte
Joe Dalton, Group Editor

 The tax function is at a tipping point. As companies accelerate their digital transformation, embed new ways of working, and identify new growth opportunities, the tax function is being called on to transform its role from compliance manager to that of a strategic partner to the business.

This research is one of a three-part series for Deloitte, engaging tax and finance executives at companies to understand their strategies for tax operations, talent, and technology.

For this report, we collectively surveyed 304 senior leaders—including over 100 heads of tax and CFOs—at a range of companies across industries operating in five or more countries across Europe, North America, and the Asia-Pacific region, to understand their future vision for the tax function and how they plan to get there.

To support this data with real-world stories, we conducted in-depth interviews with more than 20 tax leaders at multinational companies and several US-based academics to understand their company’s strategies for tax transformation and in what ways they are rethinking how the function works.

ACTIVATION: Detailed research analysis is presented alongside trend data and related quotes on Deloitte.com, where its audience can also explore an executive summary surmising the findings together with other insight from the series.

US public health and digital transformation
EY
Piers Tomlinson, Editorial Director

The future comes around fast. Whether COVID-19 becomes easier to manage or new strains of the virus extend the crisis for years to come, EY states why public health leaders should ask now how they will meet the unknown challenges of tomorrow.

To understand where and how agencies should direct their efforts, we surveyed 301 public health officials from across the United States. The research finds organisations operating at a uniquely difficult yet exciting time, in a field that is being reshaped and revitalised by digital innovation.

ACTIVATION: The survey analysis was broken down into three distinct parts, presented as chapterised insight on EY.com and brought together in a detailed, data-rich report complete with extensive data visualisations and clear direction with three steps to innovation to help public health organisations to get ahead.

Future-focused Pharmaceuticals

Future of medicine: Tech. Partners. Breakthroughs.
GSK
Sean Kearns, Editor-in-Chief

At the new Institute of Molecular and Computational Medicine (IMCM) at the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Medicine, scientists are joining forces with researchers from GSK to improve the speed and development of treatments for complex neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and ALS.

Combining genetic research, patient data and predictive AI technology to find new ways to solve some of medicine’s greatest mysteries, this approach brings together biopharma researchers and world-class medical institutions to forge a new path in drug discovery.

Together with GSK, and in partnership with the Financial Times, we surveyed 300 academics, biomedical and pharmaceutical executives in the UK and US to better understand the landscape of research and development in the sector.

ACTIVATION: Content published and promoted on FT.com includes a feature research article, detailing how and why this pioneering partnership is bringing together patients, scientists and technology to outsmart neurological diseases, as well as a video edit of healthcare pioneers – two of the IMCM’s founders – sharing their perspectives  how new science-technology partnerships and patient input are taking on these  devastating illnesses.

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Looking for more inspiration? Check out last quarter’s campaign launches here.