Download the Paper - Jay Chiat Awards for Strategic Excellence

Qwest Enterprise needed to position
itself away from Verizon and AT&T,
who were spending millions of dollars
in the marketplace at a pace with which we just could
not compete. We determined that these national providers were targeting
the deep-pocketed large businesses while the smaller midsize businesses
were falling through the cracks. Unlike the larger companies, where IT
professionals were making technology decisions, we learned that the owners
and managers at midsize companies were largely making these decisions.
Summary 1 of 2

Our insight was that this target relies heavily on
their community of like-sized-business owners for the
information and advice necessary to make business
decisions of all kinds, including technology. The solution was
not to pitch products and services to tech-savvy purchasers, but rather to insinuate the brand into business
conversations among owners and managers. So we invented a first-of-its-kind program by creating a new
social ad platform, bringing together two media partners that had never collaborated before.
Summary 2 of 2

Qwest was a hallmark in its 14-state “Baby Bell” footprint, but
the increasing flood of advertising from the behemoth brands and
the on-the-ground pressure from smaller CLECs was beginning to
shake the
iron cage oF
confidence.
Background and Business Challenge 1 of 2

While AT&T and Verizon were spending millions to court the
owners of small- and large-sized businesses, we discovered
that mid-sized business owners were feeling ignored
— companies with small-business
and abandoned
tendencies and enterprise-level needs.
Background and Business Challenge 2 of 2

Research told us that within mid-market companies, it was largely the owners and managers
who were making the IT decisions. They don’t always have the luxury of employing a complete IT department
helping to manage and navigate the complexities of today’s networks. Instead, many of them juggle the two roles
of running a business and making IT decisions.
Understanding the Target 1 of 4

was the stereotype of the befuddled small-time business owner,
stumbling over chords and ancient laptops.
Arrived
was the new hybrid executive, wearing dual hats for business and IT.
Understanding the Target 2 of 4

And where were the mid-market
business executives getting their
I.T. information?
word of mouth.
In the mid-sized biz world, information ruled. Somewhere along
the path from small to big business, a true camaraderie had
formed among mid-sized business executives that simply wasn’t
there at an enterprise level. These decision makers rely heavily on
their communities for information and support. Instead of hoarding
information like their big biz counterparts, they were sharing it —
fast and furiously.
Understanding the Target 3 of 4

It was now up to us to position
Qwest as a trusted member in
their communities. We looked for ways to
establish credibility among these decision makers by providing
a forum for them to share and resolve their problems related
to the application of technology in business strategy.
Understanding the Target 4 of 4

We looked to find the right partners to help us create an environment to facilitate peer-to-peer
discussions between these mid-sized-business owners, while also providing relevant business
content. While several vendors offered valuable pieces to what we were trying to achieve, none
could execute the program we had in mind.
We narrowed the field down to two key partners. Bloomberg BusinessWeek
had the award-winning business and technology content we were looking for; however, they
lacked an established platform that would allow for discussion. LinkedIn
offered an unparalleled professional networking community but wasn’t able to provide
content to keep members engaged.
Finding the Right Partners 1 of 2

So we brought these two media partners together for the first time ever to create a
custom community.
LinkedIn would provide the destination, inviting
mid-market business owners to share technology solutions with fellow business leaders,
and Bloomberg BusinessWeek would provide credible business expertise and content.
Finding the Right Partners
2 of 2

The Qwest-branded SMB IT Connection community went live in February
of 2010. We saturated the site with relevant technology and business
content provided by Qwest and Bloomberg BusinessWeek, including:
Videos Case studies Customer testimonials
White papers on security, innovation, efficiency and more
Podcasts
Custom articles
Polling questions
RSS feeds from business and technology news sources
Live Twitter feeds
Links to additional Qwest content
Executing the Plan 1 of 3

We enlisted a wide variety of industry experts and analysts to kick off the
discussions, including Bloomberg BusinessWeek managing editors, IDG
technology bloggers and Qwest technology experts.
Each week, featured topics were seeded inviting members to comment
and discuss with their peers. Featured topics came in various formats.
One week, it might be a question posed to the community, such as,
What are you doing in these tight budget
times to get more out of your I.T. dollars?
The following week it might be a new piece of research on how
technology is impacting client relationships.
Executing the Plan 2 of 3

Once the framework was in place and conversation had begun, we used paid media
in order to spread the word about the community and invite these decision makers to
join the conversation.
Co-branded online banner units
ran across LinkedIn,
businessweek.com and Business Exchange in Qwest’s 14-state region. Full-page ads ran in the
regional circulation of Bloomberg BusinessWeek, local business journals in priority markets, and
regional business publications such as Seattle Business, Colorado Biz and Twin Cities Business.
Executing the Plan 3 of 3

We were off to the races. The conversation was started and
membership began to grow.
In just three months, we blew through our six-month membership
benchmark, 65% of which were senior managers, chief executive
officers, owners and presidents.
Results 1 of 5

The co-branded banners generated click-through rates
twice the B2B industry average and converted 7% of
those who clicked into members.
Within weeks the engagement rate with Qwest marketing content hit 30% and more than
100 pieces of content were being uploaded per month.
Discussions multiplied. The group saw more than 20 new
discussion topics started each month with dozens
of comment threads from each.
Results 2 of 5

And the industry was just as
eager to talk.
Brandweek, The Wall Street Journal
Digital, MarketWatch, Yahoo! News, MSN Money and FierceWireless
all featured the community. The media value of the press release
was calculated at almost $100,000.
Results 3 of 5

The competition scrambled, and imitation groups
popped up within weeks by global brands like Philips,
Chevron, IBM, HP, Marriott, Dell, WebEx and Intel. This ad platform
is now generating millions of dollars today.
Results 4 of 5

Membership and engagement
continue to grow.
And all along the way, Qwest was
part of the conversation proving that moving to an open space in the
market and serving needs can go farther than blindly spending budgets.
Results 5 of 5

Video