In recent weeks i have been out and about meeting clients to discuss the new RPM Corporate Division and its reason for being, i thought i would use the blog to spread the word a little further because the reaction from clients has been very promising indeed and in fact we have already secured two new clients with our first employee engagement project kicking off in January 2010.
There are so many new and innovative ways to inspire and engage the corporate audience. Developments in areas such as digital theatre and content sharing are creating a revolution in the corporate communications and event market. In this day and age there is no excuse for “death by PowerPoint”; and I am certainly not referring to virtual events (don’t get me started on these glorified conference calls!).
In light of this, at RPM we recently launched a specialist corporate division, dedicated to providing a tailored and bespoke service for internal and B2B engagement briefs, headed up by yours truly.
This was a result of seeing a gap in the market for RPM to tap into, and knowing from a wealth of experience that this is the perfect time for re-addressing the way in which corporate clients approach their live communications, when talking to their internal and business audiences.
Today’s conference and B2B Meetings are utilising the latest wireless and HD technology. When we want audience interaction, education and content sharing, we are seeing an increase in the use of interactive and touch screen technology. Furthermore, we are seeing brands embracing the use of social media and digital platforms to share, measure, and amplify their events. You can be sure that 2010 and beyond will see clients enhancing their live experiences with the likes of 3D and augmented reality (watch the press for news of this with our project).
At RPM we live and breathe the power of experience, and have used many of today’s innovations to great effect when engaging consumers and delivering effective campaigns for clients. And in our view, these new methods of engagement are not just for consumers; it’s high time that corporate companies started treating their internal and business audiences as consumers, and building more immersive and engaging ‘business brand experiences’.
Ultimately, we are all consumers, and treating staff as such and investing time in ensuring that all methods of internal communication are as engaging and relevant as the external marketing messages is key in creating ambassadors for a business. Getting face to face and making sure that business messages are at the heart of the communication will be the key to success for clients in 2010.
It is our aim to build a division that provides a new and experiential approach to the way in which brands communicate to their audiences in the live environment. We will be building a sophisticated proposition that will be involved in the communication process from a very early stage, and following this we will create IP rights owned properties that clients can buy in isolation. These rights will cover areas such as communications audits, employee engagement tools and programmes and, of course, channel activation.
Experiential techniques, once the exclusive property of the marketing department, are now transcending into the corporate world and are being used to engage their staff. Never before have we seen so much distrust in big companies. With this in mind, and most successful business leaders across the world would agree, an engaged and motivated work force is the first step businesses need to take in order to reconnect with their customers and earn back their trust.
At RPM, our objective for the new Corporate Division is to focus on much more than business brand activation. Our aim is to integrate our thinking into our client’s business right from the creation of an idea, through to development, implementation and evaluation, and thus enable them to turn employees into loyal fans, which is arguably the best asset a business can have.
Recessionary times of staff disillusionment and uncertainty have created a perfect opportunity for this proposition. We have set ourselves some big targets and rightly so; I have 100% confidence that the team we are building and the existing exceptional internal resource at RPM will deliver tenfold.
