In this month’s Good Copy, Bad Copy we’re joined by guest co-host Angela Cattin, as we find out just how much behind-the-scenes work it takes to align stakeholders behind an award-winning B2B campaign.
Our interviewee is Mwamba Kasanda, from Barings. In her previous role at Korn Ferry, Mwamba spearheaded the Global Talent Crunch campaign, which managed to bring a new perspective into the crowded space that is “Future of Work” thought leadership. It ended up garnering hundreds of PR features, reaching a business leadership audience, generating millions of dollars in revenue, and winning pretty much all the awards.
But that success is just the last mile in a long, long journey. And Mwamba shares the process she used to secure global stakeholder support for the company’s biggest and most ambitious campaign to date.
Ideas for aligning your stakeholders
The interview is a real eye-opener, with inspiration and ideas for B2B marketers in all kinds of organisations – especially if you’re in a sector with a lot of companies talking about the same subject. You’ll hear:
- How Mwamba used a small, preceding campaign as a springboard to the big idea
- The challenge – and benefit – of involving stakeholders right from the idea generation phase
- Tips for preparing global champions to tell resonant local versions of the same story
- The eleventh-hour stakeholder intervention that improved the campaign’s international appeal
- When to fight for your idea, and when to compromise
- Why data and storytelling are both essential factors in winning stakeholder support
Mwamba’s unusual approach succeeded in elevating the idea from a marketing campaign into an organisation-wide business initiative. And ultimately, this helped colleagues around the world to run with the story, and turn the content into sales.
The Anonymous Five: SME IT Director
This month also sees an outsourced IT director tackling the “Anonymous Five” – our semi-regular feature giving you a quick window into the minds of the real people behind key B2B marketing personas.
The subject, who works with small and medium-sized businesses, opens up about their ambitions, which content they actually read, and whether cybersecurity can ever be anything more positive than an annoying pain in the bum.
(Thanks, anonymous IT director, for your time. We’ve made a donation to your nominated charity: Pregnancy Sickness Support.)
Here’s what you’ll hear in episode 86…
2.25 – Angela shares how different tech companies are responding to COVID
5.33 – How Mwamba and Man Bites Dog gave “The Future of Work” a human angle
8.16 – Winning stakeholder support though involvement in the idea generation phase
11.40 – The stakeholder conversation that inspired a key campaign improvement
17.17 – Building on a smaller campaign to secure support for the big idea
25.15 – Mwamba’s key tips for winning stakeholder engagement
29.10 – Creating a global “Champion’s Pack” with instructions and a social contract
32.34 – Angela shares her own perspective on global stakeholders and storytelling
44.34 – The Anonymous Five: an IT director talks technical content and cybersecurity
Send us your feedback, questions and thoughts…
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How to listen
- You can download the episode here (right click and select “Save As” to download)
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Credits
Mwamba Kasanda is now Global Head of Client Communications at Barings. Mwamba, thanks for sharing your stakeholder engagement process in such detail. We’re certain our listeners will be inspired.
Angela Cattin provides specialist marketing support for B2B technology businesses – including interim marketing leadership – through Interalia Marketing. If you’d like to chat, you can find her on LinkedIn. Thanks, Angela, for being an awesome co-host.
Podcast editing and music, as ever, by the masterful talents of Bang and Smash.
