Client:
GLOBE Series, Delphi Group
Services:
Brand Strategy, Communications and Marketing Strategy, Website Development, Mobile Website, Social Marketing, Sponsorship, Speaker Strategy
Leadership. Renewed. Redefined.
The new management of the GLOBE Series Leadership Summit for Sustainable Business approached us to develop their brand and website strategy for 2016. In addition, we have become their senior advisor on sponsorship, building new connections with Global Fortune 500 brands and key speakers for the event.
Having successfully produced their keynote in 2015 with Robert F. Kennedy Jr and Wal Van Leirop, Kumu had experience with GLOBE Series, and through working closely with their VP Marketing, we had some ideas on how to communicate a vision and promise for the brand.
Challenge.
GLOBE Series is one of the largest business sustainability events in the world, has run for over 20 years, and brings 9000 attendees to Vancouver every two years. 600 Presidents and CEOs, government leaders, finance executives, clean-tech companies and technology entrepreneurs converge on Vancouver to discuss the idea of sustainability and business as a core global and community issue.
Although GLOBE Series has effectively been the thought-leader on all matters business and sustainability for over 20 years, the brand itself was in need of a refresh. The conference meant many things to many people, including the early adopter Fortune 500 companies who had incorporated sustainability into their thinking some years earlier. To the larger U.S. brand audience, even though those early adopter brands knew GLOBE Series reputation, it was not remarkable and well-defined in its leadership. The challenge was to bring together a cohesive vision of the brand platform, getting to the essence of what GLOBE Series’ purpose, vision and mission is, so we could quickly and effectively renew the purpose and leadership that GLOBE Series has become.
Idea.
Although the audience for GLOBE Series ranges from sustainability experts, government leaders, technology and clean-tech companies and larger brands, we determined that the key audience that could benefit from the conference, and who could really help amplify their participation with GLOBE Series was Fortune 500 brands who are leaning forward towards sustainability and brand. Sustainability is no longer niche, and has raised itself into the limelight as an important focus. We considered the 3Ps: The Pope, the President and the Pentagon, all raising their voices about tackling the serious issues with climate change. GLOBE Series is a place for leading businesses who want to create positive change on the issue of climate change, within their company, their business community and the marketplace itself. Therefore, it is a place for dialogue, innovation and solutions.
Solution.
The audience for GLOBE Series ranges from Fortune 500 companies, sustainability experts, government leaders, technology and clean-tech entrepreneurs and investors. In order to ultimately synchronize our messaging strategy, we evaluated the benefits of the brands to all of these distinct audiences. Then, through a detailed sector analysis, we looked at the unmet needs of each specific sector and the specific GLOBE brand benefits that met those needs. Later, we would develop a high-level content strategy to meet these unmet needs through social messaging, blogs and relevant materials in the newsletters.
From there, through customer insights and stakeholder interviews, we addressed the perceptions of the brand, the values and vision of the brand, how the brand is different and what the brand is, does and stands for. We mapped the personality, essence and authority of the brand – ultimately determining that the GLOBE Series is the “preeminent international business conference for sustainability” with a brand promise of being the“definitive platform organizations to learn, share and connect on the issues of sustainability in business.”
Our next step was providing a total visual brand refresh to the mark, the typeface, providing visual guidelines for all communications materials, including video, and outlining the tone of voice for the brand in language and positioning.
Finally, we provided a simplified desktop and mobile website, digital design guidelines, online content strategy and recommendations for SEO and we provided visual guidelines for social channels.
Outcome.
The outcome is that the brand has a new voice and contemporary feel, and an overarching brand strategy to draw from for their marketing and communications. The feedback from audiences and the entire management team has been very positive, and GLOBE Series anticipated increased participation in this year’s event, including sponsorship from known Fortune 500 brands that had not heard of GLOBE Series previously.
Client Feedback.
Kumu Agency have been great partners in helping take the GLOBE Series brand to the next level. Not only that, but they’ve been great to work with, and they are an important part of our growth strategy.”