Illuminating the Future:

The World According to You

AT&T has recently launched an impressive thought leadership campaign. Dubbed "The World According to You," the elements of this campaign are showing up online and in print. The initiative is all about the power of networking and addressing business challenges in "today's networked economy."

Obviously, the old Ma Bell has some new solutions that address the challenges you might face if you were, say, "Daniel." That's the distinguished, graying, contact center manager I found standing on an airport runway on page 16 in the most recent issue of Fortune Magazine.

Not sure what the runway is about. But Daniel -- and there are other ads featuring "Jane" and "Maya" and others -- assures us that "Dynamic Networking from AT&T" can address some key business challenges. Daniel, for instance, informs us that he has an integrated, intelligent contact center that "can't falter in the face of the unexpected. And there's nothing I like less than losing customers on my watch."

And what is there, after all, to like less? As wierd as Daniel looks standing out there on the runway in his dark blue suit, I have to say that I find this campaign intriguing.

The campaign and its url: www.att.com/yourworld builds on the GSD&M campaign that AT&T launched to celebrate its merger with SBC featuring the Oasis tune "All Around the World." But now it's getting into your world.

In fact, there are lots of little thought leading goodies to help AT&T get deeper into it. You are encouraged to step forward in order to "get exclusive thought leadership based on your preferences." If you click on the ads appearing at sites like the Economist, the Wall Street Journal and Information Week, you will be taken to a landing page that is loaded with interesting stuff.

First, you are offered "exclusive, complimentary access to relevant information on AT&T's Networking Exchange." I have to laugh at the "exclusive" invite because it is so patently otherwise. However, elsewhere on the site, the company refers to it as a "complimentary membership" (and drops the phony "exclusive" language). I like that much better.  Anyway, it's a nice package you are being offered.

The brief form you are required to fill out inquires as to whether your key business priority is "managing risk," "enhancing productivity," "managing change" or "improving CRM." Presumably, this information will be used at some point to deliver more targeted emails or newsletters. At this point, there are a number of targeted white papers and interactive benchmarking tools designed to address interests associated with each one of these "business challenges."

What you get immediately is access to a newsletter co-authored with the Economist Intelligence Unit (first article: "Competing Globally: The Risks and Rewards of M&A") and other content. For instance, there's a nicely crafted white paper "Making the Case for Enterprise Mobility" and other brief pieces showing  how AT&T addresses potential disasters such as Hurricanes and the Bird Flu. (There's even a video on "Preparing for Pandemics.") Beyond that, it introduces the reader to AT&T's complete set of white papers and resources on "the convergence of networking technologies." 

This is a content-rich example of how companies can grab prospective buyers at a point of intial interest and draw them into their realm of solutions. Having captured the prospect's email address, the constant delivery of targeted content through relevant emails and newsletters represents AT&T's opportunity to stay in the prospect's peripheral vision -- making itself a clear option to consider when one sees a possible linkage between a business challenge and "dynamic networking." Its monopolistic past long since passed, AT&T recognizes the key point: It's now all about you and your world.

SAS Leads with Analytics

One of the more active thought leadership campaigns I have seen recently is SAS Institute's "Competing on Analytics." Featuring management guru Tom Davenport (see right side of screen capture below), the campaign is designed to entice prospects with a promise that left-brain, analytical approaches might differentiate them and drive revenue growth.

Davenport, who has been named one of the most influential consultants by Consulting Magazine, is a recognized thought leader for his work in knowledge management, business process reengineering and the economics of attention (to mention a few of his works). Now, he has turned his attention to the power of analytics as a force for competitive differentiation.

In fact, Tom tells me that his recent piece on the subject in Harvard Business Review has generated more reader comments and feedback than any other article he has ever written. (As I am fascinated by the recent actions of analytically minded powerhouses like Harrah's, Tesco and Capital One, I have written extensively on the topic myself.)

Headquartered in Cary, N.C., SAS is a privately held, $1.7B software company that makes the business intelligence and data analysis software that makes such efforts possible. Its tools are used by some of the leading data analysts and experts on the planet.

The SAS-Davenport campaign has appeared in such prestigious publications as the Wall Street Journal Online, the Economist and Information Week. Davenport's perspectives on the subject have been included in Optimize Magazine among others.

SAS, which has promoted itself widely with a visually hypnotic print campaign (tagline: "The Power to Know") featuring a smart and chic looking blond model (am told she is actually an employee), now appears to be taking a deeper step into the realm of thought leadership marketing. This campaign identifies SAS with an emerging business trend as companies (and sports teams like Billy Beane's Oakland A's) turn increasingly to "evidence-based management" as opposed to doing things in a more intuitive fashion or simply relying on experience.

The "competing on analytics" campaign features the face of Davenport and the words: "Companies that are dominating their markets are aggressive analytics competitors." It then leads one to the SAS landing page, where one registers, and from there to a perpetually available webinar. (To get a copy of the original article that captures his research, you can register for it on Tom's Babson College blog site.)

I am mostly struck by the ubiquity of this campaign in the online realm. I keep seeing it. Last fall, SAS even underwrote a conference with Harvard Business School that addressed the topic. My understanding is that event was perceived as highly successful by SAS in terms of the clients/prospects it attracted relative to the dollars invested.

In the coming weeks, I will be following up with SAS to try to get a report on the campaign's performance and discuss their thoughts on future thought leadership campaigns.