Case Study: Making Friends Abroad
The Challenge
UKTI is a national organisation which provides business opportunities, expert trade advice and support to UK-based companies wishing to grow their business overseas, as well as practical assistance to international companies establishing and expanding their business in the UK.
Forum was engaged by the East Midlands division of the organisation to deliver a regional campaign which would strengthen its brand and raise awareness and understanding of its services among its target business audience across Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire
The Solution
While accepting that we would need to work within UKTI’s existing corporate identity, Forum proposed a move away from UKTI’s traditional corporate photography and language.
We believed that a friendlier, less intimidating approach, incorporating an element of humour, would encourage more enquiries from new sources while boosting awareness of the range of UKTI services among businesses which might have had some previous contact with the organisation.
We worked with UKTIEM to identify a range of Midlands businesses which had benefited from the services of UKTI, and developed a series of four mini case studies to communicate key messages and explain services in a way which would involve the reader and lead them to request further information.
To generate impact, we used light-hearted illustrations alongside humorous headlines which would appear out of context in a business environment. Readers would have to look to the accompanying case study to satisfy their curiosity.
This creative strategy was designed to increase awareness and also increase exposure to key messages which might otherwise have been overlooked by readers with some prior knowledge, and perhaps preconceptions, about UKTI.
The media team had researched the circulation of key local and regional press titles across the East Midlands, to reach the widest area and largest audience possible within the available media budget.
Recognising that quality of circulation rather than quantity would be key to reaching a relevant and receptive business audience, the refined media plan included titles with a high ABC1 and commuter / business readership and a higher editorial ratio, as well as targeted business editions and inserts.
With a plan in place to reach the most likely to respond to messages about export and investment information and opportunities in their area, Forum booked a series of half page and fractional colour ads over a 4 week period.
The Result
Commenting on the success of the campaign, Simon Grandidge Marketing & Events Manager for UKTI in the East Midlands said “Forum proved themselves to have true creative flair and produced a real eye catching campaign very different from our normal approach. Subsequently we have commissioned them to produce publications and look forward to building the relationship in future.”
