Executive Summary

Work life has never been as close to real life as it is today. Australians can see how simple workflows make work and life easier, so they can concentrate on the things that matter most.

Digital workflow company ServiceNow has a role to play in making life easier, and our role was to bring that to life at a time of major societal revolution in the middle of the pandemic. We worked on an integrated B2B campaign to anticipate the next changes to how we work, looking at the notion of what workflows mean in society. Our research unearthed an old railway journal containing the opportunity of a century: 2021 would be the 100^th anniversary of the first documented use of the term “workflow”. 2021 was the perfect moment to reflect and discover how workflows have shaped Australian society, as well as to think about how they will improve our future.

The challenge

How do we position ServiceNow to lead the conversation on the future of work, and make the brand synonymous with workflows?

The insight

What have we learned over the past 100 years of workflow, and what will the next 100 look like?

The idea

We wanted to have the ability to own ‘workflow’ as a word, by being able to connect the contributions of the past with what is available in the future.

Bringing the idea to life

We needed to tie this research in with a reputable spokesperson, so we worked with expert demographer Bernard Salt on his predictions.

The results

18.2 million Australians reached via earned and digital media.

Challenge, Context & Objectives

·      Our challenge was to show that workflows are essential, and make them synonymous with ServiceNow in conversations around the future of work.

·      ServiceNow was looking to engage with C-suite executives to generate more leads with potential customers.

·      The overall aim of this campaign was to generate interest in the subject, attract new customers and raise ServiceNow’s credibility and awareness, using the research as a launchpad.

Strategy – Target Audience, Insights & Approach

The Audience:

The audience for this campaign was Australian C-Suite executives and business decision makers. ServiceNow needed to connect with them and show them the value in workflow today and the future, from learning from the past.   

The Insight:

1921 dawned a new age of work when the term “workflow” made its first documented appearance in a journal called “The Railway Engineer.” We utilised this historic moment as a celebration of workflow and took it as an opportunity to own the word for conversations around the next 100 years.

The Approach:

We needed more specific information to understand how Australia’s most radical social and cultural transitions evolved workflows into what they are today. We needed a research piece to create a solid base from which we could make predictions about what the next 100 years of workflow would hold and how ServiceNow would play their part at a time of great change and great uncertainty.

Creative Idea

The idea was to work with a credible, authentic Australian voice to use the centenary and history of "workflow" to inform and create engaging predictions about the next 100 years to fuel conversation. Using a respected industry expert, Bernard Salt AM, we brought the results of our research to life in a way that sparked genuine interest and demanded media attention, putting a word with laborious connotations like ‘workflow’ into an exciting new context that was highly engaging, publishable, and shareable.

Execution — Bringing the Idea to Life

The Workflow microsite and content:
Launched at the start of the campaign alongside PR pitches, with 10x articles by 8x internal and external contributors, supported with 8x social tiles, 6x Australian customer references, 3x gifs, and 2x videos, was designed to speak directly to the C-suite and industry leaders wanting to learn more. It was so successful, it became the biggest global traffic driver to ServiceNow’s thought-leadership blog “Workflow”, attracting more than 25,000 unique browsers in three months. Serving as the CTA for this campaign, it was shared with media to provide further information on the campaign themes, along with bespoke creative, Bernard’s analysis, and video content featuring Bernard and ServiceNow executives discussing the future of work.

Earned media:
We built a bespoke media strategy to reach national top tier media as a priority, building on our insights and Bernard’s predictions. Carefully targeted journalists were provided curated story angles and interviews with ServiceNow executives and Bernard, securing coverage across top tier publications including: The Australian, Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, The Advertiser, Sky News Business Weekend (16 national syndications), interviews with 4BC Brisbane, 2GB Sydney (10 national syndications), a Today Show segment (16 national syndications). Bernard personified the findings of this research through his own predictions. Media engagement was high, as Bernard unpacked the research in understandable terms and delivered his insights and his vision for the next 100 years of workflow with authentic passion. A secondary wave of industry-focused released insights secured additional coverage across News Corp metro titles, The Mandarin, Gov Tech Review, and Information Age among others.

Events:
More than 250 C-suite executives from ServiceNow’s target accounts attended a mix of private and public events, leading to significant pipeline opportunities. These events were executed by the ServiceNow team and ran alongside the campaign, with content tailored to reflect the issues that mattered most to these executives.

Paid, digital media and direct marketing:
To ensure we reached key platforms our C-Suite database confirmed were key channels, a paid article series was commissioned in the Australian Financial Review, alongside a paid LinkedIn campaign sharing key articles from the microsite, videos, social creative. This was used to increase brand awareness whilst driving traffic and leads on the microsite utilising exclusive gated content. A content syndication partner, Ziff Davis, was also used for direct marketing, sharing the gated predictions piece with its C-Suite database to drive additional new leads.

Results

 The results of the campaign exceeded client expectations significantly:

• Cost of campaign recovered in one month
• Attributed pipeline 7x campaign spend
• Campaign event provoked one healthcare organisation’s CEO to sign off on a six-figure multi-year deal
• 1,000+ new local leads at VP level and above 
• 18.2 million Australians reached via media and digital
• 739,373 LinkedIn video views
• 34,679 LinkedIn engagements – with 50% of our audiences only needing 1-2 impressions before engaging with our posts, when users typically need 5+ before engaging (according to LinkedIn)
• 20,000+ visits to microsite from LinkedIn

...and of course, through hard work, good research and partnership with a brave client, we successfully positioned ServiceNow as the leading commentator in national conversations around the future of work.