Finding the winning formula

There’s nothing more motivating than getting recognition for a job well done! Appreciation has long been linked to higher job satisfaction, and in the current climate where competition for talent is continuing to escalate, it’s more important than ever that employees feel appreciated and valued.

At Clear B2B we understand the importance of this, and one way we do this is by entering our campaigns into industry awards. It’s a great way to showcase our team efforts and provides the opportunity to stand out amidst industry peers.

Following a recent award win at The Drum B2B Marketing Awards, we wanted to take the opportunity to show what goes on behind the scenes of a typical Gold award-winning campaign.

Our #ReadyforAnything campaign for our client Bosch Professional, was designed to promote the new extra durable range of measuring tools. These tools feature tough housings with recessed display windows, to protect the high technology products on rough worksites and in all weathers, preventing tool breakdowns that result in costly time delays onsite. Thereby, tradespeople can optimise their efficiency.

There were three objectives for our campaign:

1. Demonstrate the quality and robustness of the new measuring tool range
2. Showcase the technology features and how easy the tools are to use
3. Highlight how they make tradespeople more efficient

We also needed to overcome two challenges:

• Firstly tradespeople can be skeptical of technology within tools, feeling they are complicated to use and they often don’t understand the value of the features
• Secondly such high technology measuring tools are expensive for tradespeople.

Our creative team set about conceptualising a campaign that would showcase just how tough and robust these tools were, and at the same time, demonstrate how their technology can make jobs easier and worth the investment.

Creative minds have a unique way of working. To onlookers it can look like a chaotic world of ideas scribbled on white boards, post-it-notes across the table, and sketched thoughts on a tablet. But this really is where the magic happens. Taking the insights from market intelligence and getting inside the minds of the audience, bouncing ideas off each other, is how it works to come up with THAT BIG IDEA.

For this campaign, the big idea was around getting four well-known tradespeople to put these tools to ultimate durability tests onsite, competitively in a series of challenges, to see how they match up to the brand’s promise. Think Top Gear on a building site! And we knew this would work really well as a light-hearted, mini-series of videos on social media.

After bouncing around a number of options for a campaign name, we chose #ReadyForAnything – reinforcing that these tools can endure any eventuality on tough worksites. And tradespeople using the technical capability of these tools, can be #ReadyForAnything too.

The campaign was primarily planned for the Bosch Professional UK Instagram channel to reach a younger demographic (than on Facebook), who wouldn’t fear the technology, and they would influence the techno-fearing tradespeople onsite.

Thanks to the ongoing influencer marketing programme we manage for Bosch Professional, we had had existing relationships with suitable tradespeople, and when we pitched the idea to four of them, they jumped onboard straight away, loving the idea. Getting everyone involved right at the outset of the idea and ensuring a shared vision, is always key to success.

We purposefully selected each influencer from a different trade: a plumber, an electrician, a tiler and a carpenter. With our construction sector expertise, we knew that this would bring out some typical onsite rivalry between the trades. Their competitiveness would ensure plenty of this tradie banter and humour that the audience would identify with, and we knew the social media audience would each get behind their own trade, generating comments and engagement.

For the challenges, we developed ideas that would put each product to the test, create visually engaging content and allow for some fun interactions between the tradespeople.

• Challenge 1: The GLM Laser Measure would be dropped from height into various building materials to demonstrate what it can withstand including resistance to dust and water. Then the influencers would also demonstrate it still working precisely.
• Challenge 2: The GLL Line Laser would be used to precisely check the accuracy of a series of tools lined up on a platform.
• Challenge 3: The GRL Rotation Laser would be submerged into a tank of iced water for as long as an influencer could endure the icy conditions and the tool shown to work afterwards.
• Challenge 4: A GLL Line Laser would be driven around, loose in the back of a van, getting knocked about, and shown to still work afterwards, thanks to its robust housing.
• Challenge 5: The GTC Thermo Camera would be carried in a fun, onsite colour-run, and then shown afterwards to detect temperatures accurately.

Within the campaign we also planned a competition element for the social media audience, to ensure engagement and meet campaign target metrics. We developed teaser videos for each main challenge video and asked the audience to guess which influencer they thought would win, for their chance to be entered into a prize draw to win the tools that were being tested. We knew competitions work really well with this audience, as they love to get their hands on new tools.

With planning completed, we were ready to move into the implementation stage. This involved planning for the day of the video shoot, coordinating the logistics of bringing together the influencers, developing the shot lists, conducting risk assessments, and of course organising the various props, and materials. At Clear we love to be organised and so everything is documented, listed out, all risks mitigated with contingencies planned in. That’s what it takes to have a successful film day and campaign!  

“One of the things I love about working at Clear B2B is that we work as a team. And this campaign took a huge team effort to organise everything in a timely manner. Sourcing props and materials, managing the influencers involvement and securing a build site location. But the hard work paid off on the day of the shoot, which went really smoothly and was great fun!”  Taylor Newns, Senior Account Manager   

During the day of filming, we also captured some behind the scenes shots that would work really well as story/reel/short content for social channels. It also provides a great memento of the day that the team enjoys looking back on.

Beyond the shoot, there were some intensive editing days, and it’s fair to say the bloopers reel became quite long! But of course, we achieved our five challenge videos, as well as five teaser videos and a full compilation.

Following client approval, the content was published on the social platforms. All the hard work in pulling off the film shoot and editing the challenge videos proved worthwhile. And the creative team were thrilled that their big idea was huge success.

The campaign achieved outstanding results:

• 14% increase in landing page visits
• 23.97% AVE Engagement rate - exceeding target by 11%
• £0.04 AVE cpv (cost per video view)
• £0.005 AVE cpm (cost per impressions)

“#ReadyForAnything has been one of our most successful social campaigns. It’s strength lay in playing on the rivalry between the trades and the authentic banter of our tradie social influencers. Clear B2B’s understanding of our audiences, their thorough planning, and challenging ideas to convey robustness, whilst demonstrating the benefits of technology features, ensured great results. It has set the bar high for future influencer campaigns.”  Kate Pritchard, User Online Manager, Bosch Professional UK.

For us, this fun campaign was the perfect example of understanding the audience, designing it to appeal to tradespeople who enjoy humour and are known to be competitive. It enabled us to post social content that achieved engagement because our influencers are authentic, attracting peer-to-peer stand out.

“I’m delighted that this campaign was a success. Also that it achieved industry recognition as leading the way forward in using B2B influencers; achieving Gold in The Drum B2B Marketing Awards and Silver in the international B2B Marketing Awards. It has given the team at Clear B2B another campaign to be hugely proud of. We truly appreciate the hard work and dedication put in to achieve successful campaigns like this.”  Sharon Smith, Director, Clear B2B

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