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20: How Teamwork.com Stood Out In A Crowded B2B Category With Problemotional Advertising
58 Plays10 months ago
How do we differentiate in a crowded B2B category? How do we become the brand that's remembered as the solution to a problem when buyers are ready to buy? How do we produce an ad that our ICP wants to share with others?
We talk to Jenny Hayes from Teamwork.com to see how they're doing B2B Problemotional Advertising and how you can do the same at your own B2B company.
The link to The Client video: https://youtu.be/sh1mkZFfl-k?feature=shared
Jenny's Linkedin: Jenny Hayes | LinkedIn
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Transcript
ICP Targeting Challenges
00:00:00
Speaker
95% of the ICP you are targeting with your mid to low funnel ads aren't shopping, interested, and or don't have a problem. As a result, boring service focused ads are virtually invisible, wasting your marketing budget.
Invisible Service Ads
00:00:13
Speaker
And when your ICP becomes ready to buy, They already know who they're going to buy from. And it's not you. Why? Because they buy from the brand that's differentiated, trusted, and remembered as the solution to a specific problem. How do you become that brand? B2B problem-emotional video ads.
Discussion with Jenny Hayes
00:00:28
Speaker
Today, we're going to talk to Jenny Hayes, the brand marketing global lead at teamwork.com to learn how to go off the beaten B2B path and use problem-emotional ads in our marketing. First, we're going to understand the behind the scenes action that took place in going against B2B groupthink and deciding to use a problem-emotional ad. What did it take to get the whole executive team on board with the idea?
Teamwork.com's 'The Client' Ad
00:00:47
Speaker
Second, how was the ad concept produced? And third, what was the reaction of their audience and how do they measure its success? The problem motion on ad that Teamwork dot.com created is called the client. I'll try to explain it to the best of my ability in words. The video lasts about two minutes. In the beginning, a couple of actors are opening up a handwritten letter with suspenseful music. What's written on the letter is a certain demand.
00:01:10
Speaker
I want your best people, but I don't have a big budget." Signed, the client, which sets the scene for the rest of the ad where the client is making all of these irrational and frustrating demands. The way they make the client appear is kind of like the Joker in Batman, a bit of a maniac. And of course, this is extremely funny because of how relatable it is if you yourself manage clients and relate to the pains caused by problematic clients. In the end, one of the employees says, how do we make money? How do we stop the client? And in the shadows, a figure appears in a Batman-like voice. He doesn't need to be stopped. He needs to be managed. And then appears as an average Joe looking like a guy from Teamwork.com and saying that they need teamwork because it helps make clients less client-y. Of course, it's much fun here when you watch the video, but now you understand what it's all about. Let's get started.
Origin and Market Position
00:02:02
Speaker
So before we get into the idea behind the client and the ad that you guys produced, could you tell us a little bit about teamwork dot.com and the problem you solve and who you do it for? Yeah, um so Teamwork dot.com was essentially a platform and born out of sheer frustration. So it was founded by two agency owners over like 16 years ago and ultimately they were trying to do something else and then they figured out like there is not the software that we need, can't find a solution that does a number of things. so
00:02:34
Speaker
like how I would sell or pitch Teamwork dot.com is that like some some platforms offer really powerful project management and then some offer and you know ways to streamline your operations and that backend piece that all small businesses need. They can be quite clunky, project management can be quite swish and have fancy UI and Teamwork dot.com has found this sweet spot right in the middle that serves the full client lifecycle. So it it really has carved out like a unique space in terms of solving that, the the kind of pain that comes with client work, I suppose. Yeah. Yes. The clientee client. The clientee client. As in the ad. Per the ad, yeah. let's Let's start with getting into how the idea came to
Ad Creation and Challenges
00:03:17
Speaker
to life. So we're we're pretty fascinated by where the idea to kind of go outside of B2B group thing could go against the grain with this kind of idea. Now all these kinds of fun funny, emotional,
00:03:30
Speaker
ads and B2C are pretty popular, but in B2B not so much. So how long did you kind of think about this idea before you guys started talking about it? um It kind of came about in an interesting way. So it was like a ah business need and then somewhat of like a chance encounter um with the partner that we ended up working with. So what I would say, like all of this was born out of a challenge that the business had with brand, and which is what I was kind of brought on to help try and solve. um And what I thought was, you know, are the the first thing I realized when I got into this business, this product is wicked. This customer service is wicked. They actually have an amazing product and we're not really telling anyone about it.
00:04:09
Speaker
you know, we'd been we've been doing a great job or and kind of pitching to people who were searching for a solution or looking for, you know, they were kind of doing their homework and we were like, we've got a great solution. But we weren't making any bold moves with kind of the future buyers or those passive buyers or people who were not problem aware at all yet. And that's kind of the long term play that was kind of missing. So and I knew that, like, the the business knew this is something we needed to tap into, but I knew that if we went, you know, if we did what was expected, you know, potentially in a high-quality way, we were going to not only move slower by blending in,
00:04:49
Speaker
we were going to spend more trying to capture attention and like the main alarm bells were this is a really noisy market a really noisy category we have to be unexpected if we want to cut through um and that actually matched the energy that was in the business so i was like there's a whole energy there's a sense of fun and we are not shouting about it externally and and ultimately like we didn't have super bowl budgets so we were like We, we, there's a long game here budget wise, but we need to cut through, we need to cut through fast. We've got some ground to make up. Um, so that was kind of the, we need to be, we need to kind of be unexpected. We need to be a bit bold. And then it was scrolling through LinkedIn. And I saw this video from O'Melt, who are ultimately the partner of the B2B production video company that we ended up working with. And it was, they'd made a video for targeting people like me, B2B marketeers with pain points around
00:05:41
Speaker
B2B marketing. and And I remember watching it and laughing so much and just being like, this is so relatable and unexpected. And that actually became kind of the foundation for the brief for the client going forward. And, and you know, the video just kept finding its way into my path. And then a colleague started sending to me, it was showing up in LinkedIn. And then eventually I just, I kind of said to my director, I was like, there's something here. We need to make one of these. my instinct is we have a plan, we know what we're doing, but we should look at this. And yeah, and then that's kind of those two needs kind of came together. um And that's where it started. So you were kind of were you using any other other case studies examples to kind of make
Building a Business Case for Ads
00:06:25
Speaker
your case with this? So the the video that you had just talked about there, but were there any other kind of examples that you were kind of kind of saying, like, we need this is why we need to break the pattern and do something unexpected? Otherwise, it's just going to be ignored.
00:06:38
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, truthfully, the pre-sell was pretty important in terms of bringing this to the business. So like it's harder going in and saying, look what another company has done. We'd like to do it. um We'd seen Omel's this video called Possessed Catch Fire, and I was like, there's something here. and But ultimately, like I had like externally i suppose actually you know what I've always been a major fan of a video that's slacked it about 10 years ago and it's called We Tried Slack. So I saw this before I worked in SAS. Before I worked in B2B, I was actually B2B side and I was like, I want to make something like that someday. They had like they were ahead of the time their time as well. They had like the perfect nuance of
00:07:19
Speaker
you know, office parody, problem solving, emotion, laughter. And I just thought, this is so on point. too And that's been in the back of my mind for, you know, torturing me for 10 years. and And but what I actually wanted to do was make a case for brand in the first instance, with the business in terms of the value of it over time, how creativity can impact that broader business impact. And then truthfully, I like looked at the category. like I read ah deep dove the category. What are what are people doing? like What are our competitors doing? And there was a couple of key players making some like really nice creative moves and doing some great stuff. But ultimately, like in the professional services space, there was room to be really unexpected. and
00:08:02
Speaker
there was nothing like what we ah ended up creating. and So we were like, I mean, the the team motto this year has been like, we go bold or we go home. Like, let's just, let's just push through and cut through. um So yeah, I think there's been like a historical slack was kind of driving me in the background in terms of what they created. There's definitely some key players pushing the boundaries now. and But we were like, let's make something we haven't seen yet versus recreating what we have. SLEC is one of those that we have also loved. The one you just talked about, yeah the original one, but then the more recently they've also created other problem-emotional ads, you know, making, talking about the meeting. Oh yeah, the recent one. Yeah. Yeah. And just hilarious and and very memorable to be remembered as the brand that solves this specific problem.
00:08:51
Speaker
Yeah, big big fan of those as well. um Look, I've got a question actually. So you mentioned the pre-sale. Yeah. Okay, so the i the idea is kind of bubbling a little bit, and then you need to kind of pre-sale it to directors, other parts of the business. Yeah. What was that like? Because you've got this idea, you want to be bold and go home. How do you take that upstairs, if you like, to get a sign off on that? Yeah, like probably it took, you know, I put time into, first of all, this is the value a brand can deliver based on, not, you know, based on decades of campaigns over, you know, or like a decade of campaigns, like looking at, you know, um advertising effectiveness, you know, the Vinay and Field research, looking at so LinkedIn, B2B, sorry, the LinkedIn Institute, B2B Institute benchmarking reports. So they have like incredible data about, you know,
00:09:46
Speaker
the impact of using emotional and versus functional advertising over over time and how, you know, people like your brand, ah they're more likely to buy it, they're more likely to recommend it, they're more likely to pay more for it, they're more likely to stay loyal. So I built that case over time and look, the business understood that they're like right behind, right, we know what we need to do, now how do we execute it? So I didn't go in with tactics first is what I'd say. and And then ah like for sure, like my strategy was to undersell it in in that meeting. And what I mean by that is I didn't go in with it as a single tactic. I think, you know, sometimes you can go in with this big idea that potentially is going to be all of our budget and, you know, this is this is our big bet and we can't immediately tell you what it's going to return. And that's a hard conversation for both sides. So I was like, look,
00:10:35
Speaker
Here's the H1 plan. Here's the kind of long-term plan. I need some time on these pieces. This is an early play. Let us test it. Let us see where it goes. and Here's what the risk is. Here's the potential for the high reward. um And that kind of made it a better discussion. So it wasn't like this is our full year play. all at or learn all or nothing, get behind us, or that's it. and So i kind of you know that's my job, to de-risk the investment um in the room. And I always go into any room trying to um sell it to the CFO. And I don't mean the individual, but I'm like, if you can get the numbers guy to believe in what you're saying, you know you're off to a good start with the room.
00:11:16
Speaker
so Did you actually formally like, you like take screenshots from the B2B Institute talking about emotion versus rational? I mean, you know, what was the practical part of that? Were you, as well, were you working like the, you know, the kind of the, uh, kind of the back rooms, you know, someone in the corridor, Hey, I got this idea. I mean, you know, did you, so you present it in that way, as you said, but were you working at, you know, around the edges? um Because I work remotely, there was no back room. I was just peeing my laughter. Like, truthfully, um I was like, we need to do this. this this is This isn't just a cool idea. This will, you know, I believe video the right video will accelerate pipeline. I believe Strong Creative is going to get noticed. And our our challenge was we need to get noticed. We're not being noticed.
00:12:04
Speaker
And we need to be noticed for the right thing in the right way. and And we need to position our company for what we actually offer in terms of client work you know support. So and I, truthfully, I have like a great director who just backed the idea. She got it straight away. And and you know teamwork does hire people to to to you know suggest and recommend what they think is right. But I think once, you know I think the best thing you can do is show the gap that we currently have a business, show the data in terms of how we can bridge that gap and evidence, you know, back every single thing by data, show like what the creative execution of that could be and what the potential result could be, and then just de-risk it right across the board. So, you know, we had a number of sessions around it. Um, I mean, truthfully, I was sitting there, I was new in the business and I was talking about a bat, I was talking about Batman.
00:12:55
Speaker
So I made a Batman movie trailer parody to ah ah like an exec team and they were like, just what? This is like a B2B sass company. Like, but if I'm not raising their eyebrows, am I going to raise our audience's eyebrows? So it was, you know, it was a fun conversation, a fun pitch. And luckily there, they got it and kind of rode in behind it. Did everyone get it? Were there any kind of, every, everyone was like on the same page, you let's do this. Or was there anyone who was a bit kind of like, eh, not sure. No, I mean, was I 100% sure? I was like, you even you know when you're not even in concept work. Like at first, this was a pipe dream. And I'm like, we're not even a concept yet. I don't even know what it's going to look like. But there is a really strong universal truth here. There's a really strong and space for us to play here. We have a really nice sweet spot. and
Creative Approach and Balance
00:13:44
Speaker
I think with any business,
00:13:46
Speaker
you're going to get questions about the the investment, especially with a founder-led business that is, you know, very much passionate about the product, wants to know where the investment's going. So, no, there was questions, but they were the right questions. um <unk> You know, we're trying to have business questions, and at times I had to, like, say, Batman, and I'm like, is this actual real life? Which is Grey Crock. But, and i you know, the questions were Is this our big play? Where does it take us? If we don't product dump in it, are we doing our job? And I think they're the right things. you know We just have to explain how we need to get them to want to watch it versus put self-serve and put everything that we want to tell them in this video. We can do that. That will come at a later stage. And I think building a picture of momentum and what was next
00:14:30
Speaker
is so important so i didn't just go in with one play get behind it it was like this is the process this is what we're going to try and do over time this is our first play let us test it let's go so that's kind of where we got to got it so you de-risked it but there was still a degree of okay you know we're not going to be 100 but we're going to go for it fantastic well done Yeah, and I think I didn't even know at times, I was like, how is this gonna turn out? At some points I was writing the script, like doing not writing the script, I was working with Guy in the script and I was like, this is so brilliant. But then I'm like, it's just bonkers. But truthfully, I was like, I had a great conversation with one of our board members and he said, go for it. Like, if not this, what? And if not now, when? And I was like, that is so true. If not this, what? What replaces this?
00:15:19
Speaker
you know So do we blend in? Do we do something that doesn't make us feel uncomfortable? Or do we just go for it and test it with the right strategy, the right brief behind it and protect those objectives? And that's what we did. So I was like, we're de-risking it by making sure we follow what we think is right, by having it steeped in customer research, by making it relevant. But it could have gone anyway, you know, it could have gone. It was it was a big bet. And I was really impressed with how teamwork to come was like, let's do it. You've made like the case is strong. We get it. We've got to try. it We've got to try it now. or Or what do we try? So yeah, which is the great that they're the great conversations I like having if it was kind of like, yeah, do whatever you want. I'd be like, where's the, you know, we want that investment. We want the passion around it. And so it's been a real thing we've all been able to rally behind.
00:16:05
Speaker
So now I want to kind of get into kind of the creative idea to
Production Phase Insights
00:16:11
Speaker
the production part. So it won't go too much into this part. But I want to know what happened next. You got everyone on board. So now what worked, what didn't, what would you do and not again when it comes to the actual production of it? Working with the agency, getting things rolling. Yeah. um Part of the reason we went with UMLT was the first briefing call was one of the best briefing calls I've ever been on. I mean, I've been working with agencies for north of 15 years and i I actually just went, this is this is magic because there was a level of pushback.
00:16:48
Speaker
and conversation and challenge that I was like, this is great. I don't want to be the, like half the time I was trying not to be the client. I was trying not to, I was trying not to be like, I actually said recently, I was like, can you just make it, can you make that pop a bit more? And I was like, oh my God, like we can't help but fall into the tropes at times. But and like we, the early conversations were absolutely magic. And what was the most surprising thing about this whole experience was, you know, I've been crafting how to create brand advertising, what my go-to strategy is, what my go-to principles are for for years and years. And I've been working with like some really you know some some nice brands that I had awareness and I could kind of play within the brand. and And I probably got to a place where I was like, I know best practice. This is what we can do. And we can test the different types of creative variations. And during the process for the client, I
00:17:38
Speaker
kind of slowly but surely daily was just throwing the rule book out the window and so like it you know I was all like short form snappy first three seconds and you know use every second make every second count ah where does the brand come in where does and honestly we were like it's it's it's long it's you know our brand isn't in the first three seconds it was technically low brand play um It was completely designed to make them want to watch.
Breaking Traditional Rules
00:18:07
Speaker
ah So it kind of went against all of my usual principles and guidelines. Now, I felt somewhat comfortable doing this, knowing that this wasn't a solo play. Like, I wasn't going to just dine out on this video for for the rest of my career and teamwork. and But kind of going against the rule book and testing some of my own
00:18:26
Speaker
theories, my own experiences um actually worked really well. And it, you know, it's the most engaged piece of work that I've ever worked on or produced. And I think I actually saw recently, um we had this debate when we were making the film, um there's a piece in it, there's a section in where the client is laughing, right? Doing like a man a maniacal laugh and he's like, oh, oh, oh, and it was like 10 seconds long. And we were reviewing it and we were like, 10 seconds to someone laughing, like 10 seconds. And like, youre The advertising instinct is like, make that two seconds and then cutting you know cut out a beat, blah, blah, blah. And we had these conversations and I was like, but I love it. I keep stopping and wait you know we're we're it's entertaining. We're watching it and we're discussing it. It is like a good point. um
00:19:10
Speaker
So we left it in, ah but obviously I was like, have we made it too long? It's not best practice in terms of length for certain channels. And I think it was Andrew Tyndall from System One tested the ad. And that came out, the 10 second laugh came out as the highest point of enjoyment for the and for the audience, for the B2B audience that watched it. So that was like their peak emotive point in the film. That's probably what made them remember. That's probably what got you know made them feel. um And that was a real big point of like, You know what, your subjective view versus protecting your objectives are two different things. And it's really, really important to keep that in mind when you're creating. So this will change how I approach not everything. I still really value principles and in the work that we're doing, I'm definitely holding true to them, but we need to probably test our own bias at times. So that was a huge learning for me. Yeah. Check away the rule book.
00:20:05
Speaker
shock it out the door and then pull it back in quickly and check it. I've got principles, rulebook got out the window, back in, back out. What was the System 1 score? I'm on the spot now. um I know that it tested in the top few percent for um effectiveness, so long-term effectiveness in terms of sales impact um and long-term effectiveness of advertising. So I know it tested in the top few percentage. I will get you, I know it, but it's Friday, it's not in my mind. look at no prob look the I think the um I've done b2b ad testing haven't they and the results are dismal I think 79% of b2b ads just don't even get on the chart virtually so yeah
00:20:48
Speaker
And I think it even called it out. like It resonated with our audience and it didn't do as well with you know the general publication to the general population. I'm like, that's great. We found what we were trying to do. We're speaking to this audience. and I know that we were yeah above benchmark. for all the for b2b so that i mean i remember seeing a post and i was like this is this is magic i think he called it the the best b2b ad he's ever seen and i was like okay great and then i was like trying to check the results but yeah i mean in terms of long-term effectiveness and potential to impact sales that's that's what i'm going after so
00:21:24
Speaker
um I think it tested low for fluency, and that wasn't part of our brief. you know We weren't trying to put the brand throughout it. you know The brief was a low bland brand play. We need people to want to watch because we're not known enough. you know we We need to not self-serve here. So things that you left out purposely tested that way, which was really validating, um and something we can take forward into the next
Focusing on Customer Truths
00:21:45
Speaker
stage. I want to go back to a few minutes ago. You had said, talking about checking out the rule book. and i I loved that you were talking about how initially you were thinking, you know, the brand, it's not even in the first three seconds. It's not even, I don't even know if it's in the first minute of that video. And I think that is completely you know against the rules. But I think it's it's a beautiful example of when you market your brand and you talk about yourself, no one cares. I mean, because at this point, especially because you're a complete stranger to all of these, all these people, they're not even looking to buy yet.
00:22:20
Speaker
And when you talk about them, then they care. But when you talk about yourself, a group of strangers, they don't care. And and I think, in in according to the the brand marketing rule book, is to make your brand make it all about you, make it all about your brand so that people fall in love with you. But instead, you you you cared about them, relatable truths about their problem, the pain that's causing them, so that you are remembered as the brand that solves that problem. So you're still doing brand marketing, but in a way where people actually care because people Well, buyers care about themselves. So I think that's a great example of going against the grain there. Yeah. And I'd even say like where it's kind of where I'd say with the biggest difference here is where I started in my plan. So where I first started on paper, you know, I'm going to have my 30 second spot. So I'm going to, you know, create, it'll have the advertising in the first three seconds. Cause in terms of what I'm going to be testing for recall, that's going to be really important. But this was like a pre.
00:23:16
Speaker
pre what I would usually do play, um which ultimately, yes, it was low brand, but the brand got talked about more than I think it would with an ad. And so I think both are incredibly valuable, but one of them you know, in terms of your distribution. One of them, I'm going to put the brand, the brand should live in here a little bit more. um And I'm going to pay a little bit more to get it more seen, you know, but this was like a one to watch. But the two together, if I do, I think if we'd just gone straight out with a with an ad um that didn't do something similar, would we have captured? Will we catch the same attention? I don't think we would have. So I think it's changed up.
00:23:52
Speaker
you know, what I thought I knew was my usual route of passage or like, and I'd like to try new things. This was just an even earlier play that has just set up being, it's given us license now to talk a little bit more about teamwork dot.com. We've kind of paid our dues. We've told you we understand you. We've told you we have a solution in a very kind of low brand way. Now we kind of get a little bit more licensed to talk about the brand. So I think that's kind of the learning I have from there. You know, we can't go in cold. We we say in teamwork dot.com all the time. we spent years hugging strangers. So we weren't introducing ourselves. We were just diving in and just hugging strangers, you know, really doing a hard sell at the last hurdle. We were like, hi, you know, we're brilliant. Um, so it's all about build in the introduction. And that's what the client was hugging strangers. What a great saying. I'm going to steal that. Oh my God. Brilliant. ah So we just like a cuddle, basically. yeah The concept, the idea of the Batman that
00:24:51
Speaker
that came from you or was it kind of worked on together and then there was also the kind of joker and part of it.
The Batman Parody Choice
00:24:58
Speaker
Yeah. where did that come from This is the beauty of finding, I think the right partner. Um, so like we had seen what O'Mell could do. Um, what they, what I got served and what made me take notice of them was this movie horror movie parody for B2B marketeers. So they planted the seed in terms of a movie parody trailer, how lovely like, and it's for B2B that's very unexpected. Um, the,
00:25:23
Speaker
The core kind of spark came from our our customer research, truthfully. um We had like incredible research around all the different pain points for our customer and how you know our our goal is to solve them. and But what we'd probably been looking at was more of what I would call an external pain point. so Oh, I've got to get people time tracking or I need to reshuffle my resources. So what we did was like, let's get into the underbelly of this. What, what's driving this? Like what's the, and it was like client chaos. So if they like said, I'm not going to have that tomorrow, they they didn't think about the knock on into the agency. They didn't think about we've got, a we've got teams, you know, lined up for this or, you know, this is going to impact billing or this is going to cause scope creep. So that kind of.
00:26:04
Speaker
client chaos underneath it and or you know small business owner they need clients to be able to have a business so we were like we had that kind of moment of hang on all roads for any problem or pain point lead back to the client and that kind of gave us this this universal villain and in you know this guy he even if it even if they're not directly client facing he can still impact right through the organization of that you know an agency or it services or architecture firm they he can just they can just knock knock kind of the roadblocks that they have in place so um we kind of i um i remember the the brief to omelette was like
00:26:46
Speaker
Clients can be a pain in the hole. um This is a really universal pain point. We actually solve for it. We need to tell people in an unexpected way. And Umel just nailed the brief. Like they came back with this Batman parody movie trailer. and And it was just such a sweet spot. We had a natural villain. We had, you know, the the the way that it was produced was going to be produced was really unexpected, but it made sense because we could put it in a business setting. We could solve this, these kind of pain points. So it wasn't forced. Um, that he, yeah. So O'Mell came back with that parody Batman spot and we were just like, that's it. Did they come with one?
00:27:27
Speaker
They came with the Batman one, but was that the only idea? Or did you did you have three or, they just had one big idea. They pitched it and you're like, you've nailed it. We've got three ideas. um And I think you know and we really went through them all because all three were were great, right? But I think what it came down to was, and this is actually actually exactly what it came down to, the two others were brilliant, but I had seen variations of them, right? So they were great. and they were They were completely unique to what we would be doing, but I had seen them. So I was like, OK, that feels less unique.
00:28:04
Speaker
um The Batman one, I was like ah a movie, like ah a super villain movie trailer for B2B. I hadn't seen it. um And ultimately, the way we found Ummelt and the way that we did business with them and the way that we made that deal was because they did a movie parody trailer that caught our attention. And 30 days later, we had done a deal with them. So I thought, What caught our attention is what we should do. And that's what made kind of sealed the deal with the Batman one. I've said Batman a lot. It's very confusing with the client. and Yeah. Well, dave Dave from Teamwork. That's where that came from. So yeah, we were like, that worked on us. Let's try to flex that for our ICP. Let's get to the, uh, to the results and the reactions of it.
Ad Launch Success
00:28:51
Speaker
is it Is it too soon to talk about results? I mean, obviously it's it went pop. Sorry, I'm using that word that we don't want to use in a creative agency, but it went pop, didn't it? yeah um So the initial month or so, two months, has it been two months? It's been, yeah, eight weeks or nine, I think we're nine weeks in, yeah. Nine weeks. like Let's start from the first week. Tell me about the first week. So you're going Is it going to work? Is it going to work? We've de-risked this as much as we possibly can. The idea is great. And then then you launch it. Paid media goes out. Bang. How was the first week?
00:29:26
Speaker
The first week, we did no paid media. um And that went against every grain in my body. But I just thought, like we were literally going, let's give this room to breathe. Let's see if it has natural traction. We're relatively, you know in terms of in the grand scheme of things, we're not hugely known. So let's see what it does for us. So we let we let it breathe organically for two weeks. um I mean, I was watching every day and we when we switch on paid, when we switch on paid, I'm like, wait for the money behind it. And I mean, within the first 24 hours, I mean, we we said like we were like, we don't know what this is going to do. We don't know how many views we're going to get. We know how many followers we have within our ecosystem. So I think we were like, let's aim for like a first 10K views. Let's aim for let's a for that first. Let's see what happens. And I think within the first 24 hours, we had 20,000 organic views. And we were like, OK, great.
00:30:21
Speaker
Our engagement rate, I think we had a goal of like, let's try and get, you know, I think 2.6% was the um engagement rate benchmark for our category on LinkedIn. And it was 18% in the first 48 hours. And we were like, OK. So we were just watching this thing. And then, you know, we when we when we made a result for this is very clear. We were very clear. This is not our solo brand play. This is not all we're going to do. these things take time to build. This is a first play. It is an engagement play. It is a I actually never called it an ad internally. I called it the teamwork dot.com name drop. Because I was like, I was like, we just need to say, hi, like, we're over here. And this is what we do in a nice way. So
00:31:04
Speaker
um we, uh, started to see a kind of catch fire and we were like, okay, it's doing what we wanted it to do. But the real barometer for was it working is, you know, you can get likes on these things. You can be like, Oh, that's interesting. But it was the reposts the comments. Um, and then the stuff you couldn't see in terms of like, I dunno, businesses reaching out to us saying, hi, just want to have a conversation. Or, you know, we had someone say, I saw that ad. I'd never heard of you before. I'd love a demo. And you're just going, okay. So this stuff is accelerating. Um,
00:31:35
Speaker
beyond what we're seeing in terms of engagement metrics. um So we we let it run. It is still driving every single day organic engagement, reposts, shares. um And then we did put the spend behind it. um And that actually, yeah, that that that took off in ah in terms of the spend that we were testing behind it. That even took off. So YouTube was a secondary channel for us at first. We thought, let's start on LinkedIn. Let's drive all activity there. Let's see how we go. And now you know LinkedIn is at um So our 10K views, I think we're at like almost 3 million views on YouTube. and So yeah, it we we we hit on something and it was it was really fun. to what like It was great, real internal energy. We were like, this is this is great. one What's the plan for it? I mean, okay, so great launch. It's breathing organically, paid media. It's been eight weeks. Are you gonna keep on using it? When are you gonna pull it back?
00:32:33
Speaker
um What's your kind of ideas on that? it's really It's really interesting because there's been conversations, and I see it even you know with loads of businesses, um whether wearout is a thing, whether it's not a thing. I see it all over LinkedIn all the time now. It's like you know the Coca-Cola ad is still going and going and going. It's the same one. but i think um we We had a conversation. We were like, this was supposed to just be a ah test. This was an early play. Let's see how it goes. So we didn't have you know master master grand plans for the client right after it.
Future Marketing Plans
00:33:04
Speaker
But if something hits and it's it's working, I think you don't mess with it. So the plan is to lean into it as much as possible um and see where we can take it. I think you can't
00:33:16
Speaker
you can't rest your laurels on one video. That does not a brand make. um So it's up to us in terms of how we how we scale this, how we lean into it, how we kind of nurture what we the core of leaf stroke. And I think what's really important is that you don't overuse your character, that you really make sure that it's working, like that messaging is working across everything. um But yeah, we're going to go you know we're we're not going to mess with something that's working. We're going to lean into it. You also said, I mean, this is a brand video, isn't it? But you've actually picked up its demand generation, isn't it? People are people are contacting you.
00:33:51
Speaker
with inquiry. So it's actually kind of lead gin as well. Yeah. And it's not I think the best brand building work will ultimately hopefully lead to you know more momentum with leads, more momentum with direct traffic. you know it's it's In terms of attribution, it's tricky. It's like a jigsaw puzzle. I mean, how did I find Unmelt? It was like you know eight different touch points. And then eventually I was like, hi, can we make a deal? so and you know we want to build like It's ultimately to support the funnel. It's not an in isolation. And that's really key. you know Nothing should work in isolation within the business. We need brand firing all cylinders, like lead gen capturing any demand that we're creating. And then we need you know our nurture and sales and everything. So it's all going to be there's no silver bullet for this. um So we're definitely, you know in terms of what we've been working on, are considering you know how do we drive this even further into the funnel. Yeah.
00:34:48
Speaker
So what's next? Big question. I actually was saying, um, about four days after we launched the first video and I was like, Oh, this is, this is doingde is doing something. I think I'll pass my probation. Um, I actually rang guy who's the founder and I'm out and I mean it was like it was like a part of the film he was like I was hoping you'd call I was like there's something here right so and we've been busy and we there is something coming very soon I can't say too much about it just yet
00:35:23
Speaker
But, you know, this is like, I think the challenge with the second outing is that you've done something and it's like, we don't want to recreate it. You can't, top you know, you're not going to top it. You've just got to continue. You've got to follow your brief to continue to be unexpected um and relevant for your audience. So um what I would say is that we're leaning more into you know, ah ah a broader scale approach, a broader, you know, more integrated campaign approach versus our early engagement video. and But I'm excited to see what happens or doesn't happen. and But we're going to give it, you know, go go bold or go home.
00:35:59
Speaker
so Yeah, watch this space. I'd say you know our our social channels is where we're just going to push everything very, very soon. um And the beauty of it is we test we test with our internal audience. I'm always like, serve your internal audience first. And that's where you'll get like a ah bar a litmus test for how this is going to go. um For the first film, we like we we rented a cinema. We gave them popcorn. um and we showed it and that's where I was like this is this is something so we'll be doing a few litmus tests next week we'll see how it goes but yeah I think it's removing the fear out of it and just being like if not this then what like let's go and let's let's steep it in as much of our you know what we know as right as possible it's interesting you use the term film not saying video you're not saying you know ad why am you're saying um film I think that's probably an um
00:36:50
Speaker
Yeah, do you know what? Because we we had auctions with Unmelt. He was like, they were like, do you want to make a you want to make an ad where we sell the product or do you want to make a film? And I was like, o you know ah truthfully, I was always allergic, a little bit allergic to the word film, because I was like, we don't need long form. We don't need a you know big hero long format. And i was you know it'll we won't be able to put it anywhere, and this, that, and the other. So because I was planning kind of because we had on plan the less risky, less off-brand approach in terms of like the campaign, the ads, the videos, because they were coming. um I was kind of like, let's make an organic video. And I think it's probably Omel's word, you know, they they were like, let's make a film. um I think because it was it was longer, ah we called it the film. And I think it's probably because it was based on Batman we did. and But yeah, I actually always called it our engagement video. um Because that's what it was, you know. we We didn't put an ad restriction on it. It wasn't designed to fit every single format or length of channels. It was just designed to make people want to watch. Well, I can't wait to see your next unexpected. It's weirder than ever. Fair on ad video. Can't wait.
00:38:03
Speaker
This episode helped you understand how to differentiate yourself in a crowded B2B category and be the brand that is remembered as the solution to a specific problem when buyers are ready to buy. A big shout out to Jenny for joining us today. We had a lot of fun, a lot of good laughs. We've linked to the client problem emotional ad in the description where I watch it and analyze it. You'll get a good laugh as well and see pretty clearly the formula of a problem emotional ad so you can repeat it for your own B2B business. And if you have felt the pains of having the client The only obvious solution to managing problematic demanding clients is, well, teamwork dot.com. Hope to see you guys all next episode.