• by Aaron Baar , May 13, 2009

Companies often talk about their vision. In a new marketing campaign, business software developer SAP illustrates how it helps those companies achieve clarity (in the form of greater transparency and accountability) to help them achieve their business goals.

"With increased regulation and need for compliance you need to have clarity," Susan Popper, svp global integrated marketing communications, SAP AG, tells Marketing Daily. "Now more than ever, companies need clarity so they can refocus their business strategy."

The effort, from Ogilvy & Mather in New York, builds upon the long-running campaign "The best-run businesses run on SAP" by adding the line: "It's Time for a Clear New World." With images of clear vistas and clear views into offices and businesses, the campaign is intended to connect the efficiency and flexibility of SAP's software products with the business goals of greater accountability and transparency.

"Before, to be a best-run business, a lot of it had to do with being profitable and being efficient. Now we're saying there's another level to that, which is transparency and accountability," Popper says. "We needed to acknowledge the increased complexity of business. There are new things businesses have to do today that they didn't before."

Print and digital ads began rolling out in the U.S. and Germany this week, and will expand to other European and Asian markets later this month. The company has also revamped its Web site to include videos featuring academics and business leaders addressing how greater openness and clarity can address specific business challenges like sustainability, customer acquisition, and compliance.

"These things all link to the solutions that we provide," Popper says. "If you understand what customers want and what they're buying, then you know more about your customer and you can put that insight into action."

The campaign will also include out-of-home billboards. The Web site has also been optimized for mobile connectivity as well, due to the fact that many business decision makers may be on the road when they encounter the ads, Popper says.

The campaign comes in the midst of reports that Microsoft is looking to purchase SAP. The Wall Street Journal, however, quoted Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer saying the reports were "just rumor and market talk."