Since 1860, S&P Global’s legacy has been built on providing the Essential Intelligence needed for individuals, governments, and corporations to make decisions with conviction.
Even those with little knowledge of financial markets likely know the S&P brand. Most know them for their credit ratings and the S&P 500. However, these only accounted for 39% of their business; most people have never understood the full breadth of their offering.
In 2022, S&P Global merged with IHS Markit, increasing its scale and access to new and important markets.
This new offering included industry-specific expertise and services in evolving sectors (eg, automotive, engineering, and natural resources) as well as new capabilities in the private markets sector (eg, private equity, private debt, etc.)
There was no better time to launch a multichannel campaign fully explaining the breadth and depth of S&P Global’s capabilities.
The goals were clear: S&P Global needed to drive awareness, consideration, and favorability on a global scale for the first time in its history (beating category benchmarks) to expand perceptions of their capabilities and drive engagement with their new offering (beating historical site visitation/engagement metrics).
Drive Awareness, Consideration & Favorability:
Aided Awareness Goal: (+10 Lift) (beating +5 category benchmark)
Consideration Goal: (+10 lift) (beating +6 Category benchmark)
Favorability Goal: (+10 Lift) (beating +7 category benchmark)
Drive Site Engagement:
Increase in overall website traffic: 7%
Unique visitors to the landing page: 425,000
Key Audience:
The 22.1M global C-Suite and business decision-makers in large corporations within the business intelligence, data, and analytics sectors that are inspired by numbers, relish getting into details and finding patterns others miss. They’re nonlinear thinkers, primed to find connections and “ah-ha” moments that lead to both incremental and systemic change.
Their notion of financial progress is not what it used to be: growth curves, shareholder value, and more dollars in their pockets. Though they’re still driven to succeed financially, their vision of prosperity — and thus, success — now involves forging a more sustainable future: economically, socially, and environmentally.
However, they have a limited understanding of S&P Global’s expanded capabilities and what it can provide them. We’d need to get them to see S&P Global as a partner that is uniquely able to provide them with the Essential Intelligence they need to make meaningful change in the world.
Key Insight:
Progress is not a self-starter; it requires a catalyst to be set in motion.
For Visionaries, definitions of success have dramatically changed. In focus groups, we discovered that they approach their professional goals with a genuine sensitivity and mindfulness; they want to take actions that have a positive effect on the world.
Recent shifts in employment reinforced these attitudes. MBA graduates are increasingly turning their backs on the Goldman Sachs’ of the world in favor of Google and other FAANG companies; they appeal to their desire to shape the world they live in.
While they’re confident in their ability to shape the world, they recognize “Ah-ha moments” don’t just happen by accident. They’re proud of how hard they work to find deeper insights and meaningful, unique connections in their respective fields.
This led us to our breakthrough. We thought, “How could we show that S&P Global, with their expanded capabilities, is the catalyst they need to set their vision into motion?”
Messaging Strategy:
Show how “a-ha moments” are the result of hard work and S&P Global’s Essential Intelligence.
“Seek & Prosper”:
“Seek & Prosper” became a rallying cry and a transformation of what the brand stood for. We launched the campaign with an innovative brand film that took viewers beyond the boardroom and into the oceans of Fiji through a metaphoric “Deep Dive,” declaring “A better, more prosperous future awaits. It’s yours for the seeking.”
We later released three additional spots, filmed in Colombia, that took the campaign to new depths, heights, and frontiers. Each film centers on a Visionary and expands the campaign’s metaphorical world, from a daring cave expedition to an exhilarating skydive to a beekeeper who extracts reward from uncertainty.
In addition to film, the campaign launched with a full suite of print and digital work that heroes real employees, juxtaposing them with artwork that embodies exploration for each offering. The work was designed to intercept the spaces Visionaries and decision-makers engage with every day, displaying across endemic channels including Bloomberg, CNN, WSJ and Forbes.
“Seek & Prosper” has proven to be highly effective in meeting S&P Global’s objectives. The campaign is pacing to break historical site-engagement benchmarks by over 200% and the brand lift studies have proven the creative to be engaging as well. Whereas the category typically sees 5-8% lifts in Awareness, Consideration, and Favorability, “Seek and Prosper” has seen 19+ lifts across all three.
BUSINESS OBJECTIVE RESULTS
Google Analytics reported the following:
Overall Website Traffic Goal: 7% increase in overall website traffic for the annual campaign
Overall Website Traffic Through Reporting Period: 31.9% (more than 4x the goal)
Unique Visitors To Landing Page Goal: 425,000 for the annual campaign
Unique Visitors To Landing Page Through Reporting Period: 261,269
Pages Per Visit Goal: 1.5 pages-per-visit on average
Pages Per Visit Through Reporting Period: 1.78 pages-per-visit
MARKETING OBJECTIVE RESULTS
Lucid BLS Studies reported the following:
Aided Awareness Goal: (+10 Lift) (beating +5 category benchmark)
Aided Awareness Result: (+19 Lift)
Consideration Goal: (+10 lift) (beating +6 category benchmark)
Consideration Result: (+24 Lift)
Favorability Goal: (+10 Lift) (beating +7 category benchmark)
Favorability Results (+24 Lift)
Finally, custom questions were included in brand lift studies. These custom questions asked our target audience to identify which services they associate the brand with (post-exposure to our campaign.) The double-digit lifts in product/service association speak for themselves:
+18 Benchmarks
+20 Data & Analytics
+19 Indices
+16 Ratings
+22 Research and Insights
+22 Workflow Solutions
