An inspiring, always-on awareness campaign: a prime example of effective storytelling.
Offering
Marketing Creativity & Performance
Get to know DSM
About
DSM has an ambitious mission: to create brighter lives for all. The science-based nutrition, health and sustainable living company does this in various ways. From surfboards made from recycled materials to sustainable omega-3 production – there is almost no product that is not made at least partly with DSM products or has been influenced by DSM innovations. The only problem: most people don't know this. And that is exactly what this always-on campaign aims to change.
The challenge and the solution
From purpose to story
Together with DSM we developed an awareness campaign that would make a wider target audience aware of the company’s mission and the innovations it enables with its products. DSM already had a good Purpose Book and accompanying video, and these provided the basis for our work. The book and video clearly set out DSM’s vision and mission, based on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). But how do you turn this convincing mission into an attractive and appealing campaign? Our solution: steer clear of abstract stories and boastful claims. Instead, simply show DSM's purpose in practice, what you can do with the company’s products and what these mean for people and the world. DSM loved the idea, and “Bright Stories” was born.
The implementation
Effective storytelling
With the concept agreed, we could begin rolling out the campaign. Over a year, based on a content calendar, we developed 10 Bright Stories – so, not a one-off campaign but an always-on one. Each Bright Story featured a real-world example, such as the surfboard made from recycled material, which was explained on a landing page with links to the relevant DSM product. We then used a teaser film and social media campaigns, mainly on LinkedIn and partly on Facebook and Instagram, to bring these stories to the attention of the target group – primarily international B2B and, occasionally, consumers. Based on their interests, we showed the target group a post based on one of three segments: personal, company or industry. Making this distinction enabled us to spread each story more broadly and make it relevant to varied target groups. The retargeting we used increased the relevance even further and boosted the chance of conversion considerably.
Page impressions to make you sit up and take notice
Did the campaign work? Judge for yourself. The first eight Bright Stories delivered an impressive 6.5 million organic and paid impressions. From those millions of impressions, more than 30,000 clicks were made to the landing page. The campaign therefore had a CTR (click through rate) of 0.47%, considerably higher than the benchmark. In addition, the engagement rate was well above the benchmark and the videos were viewed almost 573,000 times.
In Conclusion
DSM
Bright Stories, bright future
At the time of writing, the 10 Bright Stories are almost all live. Results are streaming in and they confirm what we suspected: a storytelling awareness campaign works. At least, this one is working. What does this mean for the future? Well, DSM has a huge number of solutions with, as yet, no Bright Story about it. Keep an eye on their social media channels...