We worked with cloud storage leaders, Pure Storage, to expand their reach in the UK. Through a steady stream of content we created digital connections which we nurtured into human relationships. Our goal was to focus on themes around cloud-native apps, as-a-service and architectures, we connected Pure Storage with their key accounts.
Pure Storage is a market leader in cloud storage solutions, providing an unparalleled service for any number of enterprise storage and modern data use cases. They’re empowering innovations in the gaming sector, Formula 1, and Major League Baseball through flexible, scalable cloud solutions that eliminate data bottlenecks.
Through our Digital to Human™ approach, Chief Nation’s aim was to bring the power of Pure Storage to UK enterprises. Our targets were C-level and senior IT leadership, with a focus on Data, Engineering, and DevOps.
Client
Pure Storage
Location
UK
Services
Enterprise Cloud Solutions
Target
Data, Engineering, DevOps leaders
"The LinkedIn Ambassador programme has helped me connect with dozens of senior contacts from our target accounts in the UK and brought my social media game to a whole new level."
— Wes van den Berg, Vice President and General Manager, UK&I, Pure Storage
At a glance
£1.1M
Pipeline created
500+
Content downloads
350+
New connections
We nurtured business relationships for Pure Storage with
Objective
Enable virtual, face-to-face connections with key account targets looking to modernise their enterprise infrastructure.
As market leaders in enabling modern enterprise infrastructure, Pure Storage wanted to bring their product to the forefront of the UK business market. Their “as-a-Service” expertise and wide range of use cases positions them as an ideal partner for organisations looking to excel in this era of digital, disruption, and data.
We applied our Digital to Human™ approach to help them achieve their goals in the UK. In doing so, we aimed to meet their exact needs by generating leads and making valuable connections through email, content, and events marketing to deliver key account conversions. We placed Pure Storage at the top of the pyramid for cloud solutions and modern data experiences, with content focused on what their target accounts concern themselves with most.
"Thanks to the Chief Nation team we added $1.5 million to our marketing sourced pipeline in the UK. Their Digital to Human™ campaign consistently gets us face-to-face with the C-Suite."
— Julie Murray, UK & I Marketing Manager, Pure Storage
Solution
A targeted & research-based integrated campaign to expand in the UK
Our innovative and personalised approach to generating responses from senior executives helps us to facilitate new relationships between technology companies and the world’s leading enterprises.
Database build
The in-house data team constructed a custom data set of Pure Storage’s primary target accounts. This allowed us to tailor content and events for key personas with a process that’s proven to convert.
Content marketing
Via CEO.digital, our thought-leadership website, we built an innovator portal to house all the bespoke content for the Pure Storage campaign. This allowed us to promote a dynamic range of content and kickstart the nurture process.
1-2-1 engagement
Through our people-driven approach, we made direct connections to further our reach on Pure Storage’s behalf. We then interacted directly with key target accounts. In this way, we were able to generate meeting opportunities and begin valuable business relationships.
Networking events
Integral to our success was our famous peer-to-peer networking experiences. A wide selection of C-level and senior decision makers attended our Chief Wine Officer, CEO.digital Boardroom, and CEO.digital Café events to enjoy entertaining and insightful virtual business discussions.
Peer-to-peer podcasts
Our exclusive podcast series, The CEO.digital Show, hosted two client thought leaders, Matt ‘Kix’ Kixmoeller, VP of Strategy at Pure Storage, and Michael Taylor, IT Director at the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team. These episodes reached hundreds of C-level leaders from our community and database, and they put Pure Storage’s voice and capability front-of-mind for key decision-makers.
LinkedIn Ambassador
Our dedicated campaign managers worked with Pure Storage to champion Wes van den Berg, Pure Storage’s UK&I VP and GM. By curating his LinkedIn profile and writing and posting highly relevant content, we established him as a thought leader on the campaign topic. This made it possible to promote and discuss relevant event and content subjects with key targets.
THE CEO.DIGITAL SHOW PODCAST
Matt Kixmoeller, VP of Strategy at Pure Storage, joined us for a discussion on the evolving relationship between DevOps and IT and how to add fluidity to your data strategy. Michael Taylor, IT Director at the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, also graced us to discuss how innovative tech, data, and people come together to drive motorsporting success.
LINKEDIN AMBASSADOR
Through individualised messaging and profile curation for Wes van den Berg, Pure Storage’s UK&I VP and GM, we tailored content and event-centred communication to engage key accounts during the campaign. We reached thousands and connected with 81 prospective Pure Storage clients.
CONTENT HUB
Pure Storage’s dedicated content hub on the CEO.digital website acted as the starting point for relationship building. On the hub, we focused on modernised, cloud-based infrastructure solutions.
CWO DIGITAL
Our premium event series, Chief Wine Officer, is a business networking experience mixed with wine-tasting pleasure. In the company of a Master of Wine, guests unpacked How to Redefine Data Handling with Cloud-Native Architecture and made valuable business connections.
CEO.DIGITAL CAFÉ
Our CEO.digital Café virtual networking experience was the perfect forum to bring the C-suite together. During the working day, they met to discuss the topic, Driving Innovation with Modern Application Architectures.
CEO.DIGITAL ROUNDTABLES
Seven senior tech, data, and engineering leaders joined us for two boardroom discussions. They focused on Paving the Way to Hybrid Cloud with Containerisation and Overcoming the Challenges of Containerisation for Future Success respectively. These intimate and closed-door virtual networking events encouraged detailed discussions on the event topics alongside making valuable connections.
Results
Four events, two podcasts, and 450 targeted account engagements later, Pure Storage secured six meetings. And their UK network grew above their target.
ITV, Shell, NatWest Group, Mastercard, and JP Morgan Chase were all among the stellar line-up of key accounts Pure Storage forged meaningful business connections with during our Digital to Human™ campaign. Our content strategy involved communications through LinkedIn, email, and social media messaging to nurture every possible lead to fruition.
Six months down the road, we overdelivered for Pure Storage on multiple campaign metrics. 2,791 database contacts of senior IT, Engineering, Data, & Information titles; 6 meetings generated from CWO events; 319 LinkedIn Ambassador connections; 41 C-level and Senior IT, Engineering, Data, & Information event attendees. We built meaningful and lasting relationships that helped Pure Storage improve their presence in the UK.
Pure Storage remains a client of ours well into 2022, as we continue to deliver with our Digital to Human™ approach and meet their exact needs. We continue to evolve along with their ambitions to deliver C-level and senior contacts in their targeted growth areas.
1.1M
Pipeline created
Our approach generated £1.1 million in pipeline generation for Pure Storage, representing a significant ROI for the Pure marketing team. Thanks to our 330,000 strong database of senior C-suite contacts, we were able to reach every key target and then some.
450
Target accounts engaged
During this Digital to Human™ integrated campaign, Pure Storage were put into direct contact with 450 target accounts, which helped to establish their UK connections and facilitate future business.
6
Meetings with key accounts generated from CWO events
Through a combination of thought leadership marketing, targeted invitations, and facilitating person-to-person connection with our Chief Wine Officer events, we secured meetings for Pure Storage with six of their key target accounts.
"The Digital to Human™ campaign garnered a lot of interest from Pure Storage's target accounts. Through C-level networking events, focused campaign outreach, content syndication, and targeted social selling, we fed Pure Storage's marketing pipeline with a constant flow of qualified leads, resulting in a third successive campaign renewal."
— Kalin Hitrov, Digital Team Leader, Chief Nation
