Brand awareness through creative B2B initiatives

“What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.", was once famously stated by Shakespeare’s fictional character. In the real world of advertising, things work differently. One of the biggest challenges for sales houses today is to catch, and more importantly, retain the attention of their clients, constantly innovating to stick out among the digital competition. That is why this week’s egtabite features RTL AdConnect’s rebranding story and approach to strengthen their brand awareness with creative B2B activities.

RTL AdConnect’s rebranding story - From TV to Total Video leader

In an ever more competitive media ecosystem where cross-screen and constant digital innovation are the new norm, European sales house RTL AdConnect created a new, unique and strong brand image, making its mark in a total video world. Formerly known as IP Network, the company changed its name to RTL AdConnect in 2017, marking the beginning of their brand awareness journey. Beside the necessity to align with the new strategy’s pillars (growing, expanding into new territories and capitalizing on digital), the company was suffering in particular from the lack of awareness of the IP brand in some countries.

At the time , it became clear that advertisers were also at a loss in this new complex and fragmented environment and were looking for insights and thought-leadership. The crowded ecosystem required a straight-forward approach to their rebranding, which is why RTL AdConnect chose a name that immediately reflects who they are and which field they are crafting their expertise in.

RTL AdConnect’s objectives were twofold: global, i.e. raising awareness about the new brand and strong positioning as an alternative to the GAFAs ; and multi-local, i.e. leveraging their insights and expertise at national level as well. In order to fulfil those objectives, the sales house had to make their brand messages live among the global advertising and media community.

Different innovative ways to accomplish your goals and have your messages heard

egta looked into a few of RTL AdConnect’s strongest and most inspiring B2B activities.

Content-related events
Their main approach to strengthening brand awareness is engaging in public speaking at prestigious industry events. In 2018, RTL AdConnect accepted a multitude of public speaking opportunities worldwide, for example at the “Engage Programmatic Days” in Milan, “Cannes Lions” in Cannes, “Breakfast Xchange” in London, “DMEXCO” in Cologne. In addition to demonstrating their expertise, it proved very successful in delivering their key messages, embodying their mission and value proposition for the advertising market. Putting TV on stage at these media events is not an easy task as television was not necessarily seen as having a new story to tell.

“With our new name and positioning TV as Total Video, we saw many more doors open at international conferences that used to be closed. I am always surprised to see how many times we have to repeat that TV does not mean only linear television anymore, but has truly transformed to become Total Video. It’s a message that still needs to be spread as widely as possible, not only by us as RTL AdConnect, but the entire TV industry, I believe.” says Stephane Coruble, CEO of RTL AdConnect and Board member of egta.

Breakfast panels
Another activity is the “breakfast panel” format held in the framework of the “Future of TV” conference in New York City. This US presence was a big premiere for RTL AdConnect, historically a European brand only. With the launch of their new office in New York, they needed to position themselves as an essential partner for US brands who want to branch out into Europe. The goal of the panel was to promote RTL's “TV Key Facts” publication, a rich database of insights about TV and digital around the world. This was the best way to open the door to collaboration with US advertisers and position themselves as experts by sharing valuable insights about the Total Video industry.

Detox Week
An interesting communication project that came in quite timely after the hedonistic Christmas holidays. RTL AdConnect wanted to find a fresh and original idea to start the year with a qualitative contact with media agencies. Content related activities would probably have not come in timely, at a moment when everyone is coming back to work. They therefore turned to a lifestyle ‘happening’: they organised a one-week roadshow across three European media hubs (Milan, Paris and London) and visited nine major media agencies, offering a healthy, fruits and veggies-based detox to everyone after the festive season. A specific branding was developed for stands, bikes and goblets. The success was immediate, and partners were enthusiastically posting and promoting the brand on social media, with a unique hashtag created for that occasion. Overall, the #detoxweek initiative was a creative and entertaining way for RTL AdConnect to boost brand awareness, offer great networking opportunities to the sales team and create strong and friendly relationship with media agencies.

Apart from all these B2B initiatives, RTL AdConnect is supporting its messages with regular print and online advertising campaigns and roundtables organised at local level with media and advertising specialists, trade press and partners. The lessons learned from their various initiatives is that there is a real desire from the advertising market to hear more about TV’s digital transformation. Sales houses can and should position themselves as benchmarks when it comes to video innovation.