Best Use of Event Marketing (More Than Five Venues)
Agency: Jack Morton Worldwide
Campaign: Thomson Reuters Launches Eikon
Client: Thomson Reuters
In 2008, as the financial downturn was emerging, Thomson Reuters Markets made a $1 billion investment in Eikon, a next-generation desktop platform developed for global financial customers which displays real-time market data and historical information. In 2010, a global campaign was launched to promote it.
To understand the platform, Thomson Reuters felt people had to experience it, so they brought Eikon directly to customers, which was both Thomson’s and Reuters’ first endeavor marketing directly to users. From September to November, the program, tagged “New Era, New Tools,” drove experiential activity and created awareness and engagement for Eikon in major financial markets from New York to Hong Kong.
Launch celebrations were held in 78 offices worldwide, with demo rooms built in 30. Then, 200 influential decision makers attended ‘go live events’ in 14 cities, engaging in product demos and listening to executive speeches.
Next, the company took to the streets of London’s Canary Wharf and the New York Stock Exchange and, using hand-held cameras, asked people what they’d like to see more and less of in a new financial era. Participants also could register to win a spot on an expedition to beat the over-land record to the South Pole.
Next to the street teams, a 6-1/2 foot staffed demonstration booth was set-up, framed with a campaign message capitalizing on the more/less theme around the edges.
On October 4, members of the executive team rang the New York Stock Exchange’s opening bell and an Eikon banner was placed outside the Exchange for a week, while branded premiums were handed out to traders on the floor. Devin Wenig, CEO of the Markets Division, gave press interviews to CNBC and TheStreet.com from the floor of the exchange.
To support the events, an advertising campaign profiled the daily lives of eight icons of finance, in eight languages.
The South Pole competition lured customers to a website to learn more about Eikon, where they could play a game to win a chance to ride in a custom vehicle to the South Pole.
The events generated more than 182 articles in 26 countries and 13 languages. The street campaign garnered 3,106 video responses; more than 1,345 visitors took part in 604 street demos; and 2,300 key clients attended the go live events. The launch of Eikon was the largest and most successful campaign in the company’s history.
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