• by Staff Writers , August 4, 2008

Business-to-business campaigns can be as lively as ads aimed at consumers. This year's finalists demonstrate that industrial media can be creative and engaging.

Goodby, Silverstein and Partners

Adobe Creative Suite 3

Sidney Bosley, Senior Communications Strategist; Dharnesh Kaur, Senior Communications Strategist; Lisa Gordon, Senior Communications Strategist; Jenny Yumiba, Senior Communications Strategist

To launch its new Creative Suite 3 software, Adobe needed to reach an audience of high-powered creatives - the people behind ad campaigns, artists at graphic and photography studios, and those on the cutting edge of Web development and online video.

To better understand this group, Goodby conducted in-depth research, which uncovered some key behavioral insights: They're perfectionists, they believe they're only as good as their most recent work, they're constantly seeking inspiration through what is new, they are time-impoverished, they believe everything is changing around them and they are fiercely competitive. These insights helped Goodby develop a strategic filter to evaluate media programs.

Goodby then developed a campaign around three elements: the use of rich banner units, custom integrations through sponsorship, and programs in partnership with relevant media properties.

For instance, Adobe sponsored the Webby Awards, a digital content awards show. The competition offered Adobe a smart way to weave the new CS3 product into the awards. Additionally, a key partnership was made with JPG, an entirely user-generated content magazine. The shop arranged for the Adobe Creative License tag line to be a theme for an issue.

Interaction rates were 200 times industry norms, with click-through to the Adobe sites exceeding 50 percent. Adobe garnered massive blog chatter and respect. The Webby Awards sponsorship competition generated, in just three weeks, more than 30 fully animated 15-second video piece. Adobe and the Webbys are continuing the program.

McKinney

NASDAQ Corporate

David Baldwin, Executive Creative Director; Liz Paradise, Group Creative Director; Cliff Leicht, Sr. Copywriter; Wendy Leicht, Art Director; Tom Hickey, Media Director; Amy Baker, Associate Media Director; Catherine Robertson, Media Supervisor; Denis Budniewski, Group Account Director; Walker Teele, Management Supervisor; Katie Beaudin, Account Supervisor; Liz Swanson, Account Executive; Suzanne Moore, Sr. Print Producer; Toni Ingle, Broadcast Producer; Talya Fisher, Project Manager

The pressing challenge for NASDAQ in 2006 was to secure Large Cap IPOs; get Large Cap companies to switch; and retain current listed companies. To achieve this, McKinney had to convince C-Suite executive that NASDAQ was the better place to list. And while C-Suites are the ultimate decision maker in the listing process, reliable quantitative data for this audience is scarce to nonexistent.

By partnering with a media organization, McKinney created conferences, online and print executions to bring to life an experience that had never before been attempted in this space. The conferences provided cutting-edge content and exclusive peer to peer, insider access to today s most sought-after business leaders. From there, monthly home page takeovers on relevant online destinations for the target C-Suite audience were put in place utilizing the video content from the conferences.

At the same time, in-book editorial content was created from the interviews held at the conferences and featured in the magazines that C-Suite executives turn to for business insights.

To help drive momentum, the television brand campaign was concentrated on select cable news channels (including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC and Fox News) to ensure immediate and sustained presence among this well-defined group of viewers. The results: 128 listed IPOs, video unit click-through rates seven times over the industry average for the category, home page inventory with click-through rates as high as 0.88 percent, and 18,000 viewers for the videos.

WIRED Media

Xerox Corporation

WIRED: Drew Schutte, Publishing Director; Jay Lauf, Publisher; Josh Stinchcomb, Director of Integrated Marketing; Scott Laine, Technology Director; Elizabeth Murphy, Sales Associate; Michelle Minoff, Director of Marketing; Sheryl Rose, Account Manager; Beth Cleary, Marketing Associate; Jenna Landry, Associate Director of Communications.

Xerox Corporation: Barbara Basney, Director of Global Advertising; Connie Thornton, iGen3 Product Assurance Manager; Everol Smith, Advertising Manager.

Mediaedge:cia: Joanna Havlin, Partner, Associate Director; George Jansen, Senior Vice President, Group Supervisor; Christina Dagnello, Communications Strategy Director.

Wired Magazine's custom cover Project, empowered by Xerox, gave users the chance to experience customized print media. The program - which required commitment from editorial, design, marketing, sales, manufacturing and distribution departments in order to come to fruition - spoke to what the future of print can become and to the vision Xerox has for its customers.

The goals were to promote Xerox as an innovative printing solutions company by bringing its capabilities to life, create a program to drive readers from the magazine to the Web site and back again, build PR buzz and bring the July editorial theme of personalization to life.

Wired invited readers go online to enter their subscriber ID and upload a hi-res photo of their choice. Using Xerox software technology, Wired then overlaid the first 5,000 usable submissions on a custom cover.

Over 11,000 subscribers submitted photos in less than four days and at least 40,000 Wired fans created their own virtual cover.