ABM campaign for DS Smith

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) sounds complex but in reality, it’s easy as pie. So easy that we developed a 4-step ABM pilot program that can deliver tangible results in just 6 months.

But we’d also love to show you what we did for DS Smith – a leading supplier of sustainable packaging – and how we improved the relationship with one of their biggest clients: Mondeléz.

We asked the DS Smith sales and marketing teams two questions to help find their golden egg – an ideal target account for Account Based Marketing:

• How well-positioned are we to win, keep or grow business with the account?
  DS Smith was already a popular supplier for Mondeléz but their added value services were underused.
• How attractive is the account to your business?
  Mondeléz has a giant portfolio of retail brands that need top-notch packaging solutions – the potential for DS Smith’s added value services was pretty obvious.

A dessert buffet of integrated ABM content

To take the relationship between packaging supplier DS Smith and confectionary giant Mondeléz from good to great … to exceptional, we developed a messaging house in close collaboration with the DS Smith marketing and sales teams as well as The Marketing Practice – a proud partner of our international E3 Network.

With a clear core message and three hand-picked USPs in our back-pocket, coming up with a communication plan tailored to Mondeléz was a breeze. We thought out and developed 14 mini-campaigns for the DS Smith sales team to use over the next 6 months.

Here are our three favorite ABM assets from that plan, and what they accomplished:

#1 Make sure you talk to the right people

‘Innovation by Ellen’ is a content format that we developed to push our core message (speed to innovation) to marketers. Emails, videos, LinkedIn updates,… all showing DS Smith’s innovation team – led by Ellen – co-creating new packaging concepts for Mondeléz brands.

Imagine you notice your own brand or logo in a supplier’s communication campaign. You’d keep on watching, right? Well, so did 300+ marketing contacts at Mondeléz’.

What we did: strengthen the perception of strategic innovation & partnership

The signing of a new 5-year contract between the two companies was an excellent opportunity to interview Mondeléz’ CPO Mark Dady about his vision on packaging, the ever-evolving supply chain and the growing collaboration between Mondeléz and DS Smith.

The video interview proves DS Smith is fanatical about results and was pushed to decision-makers at Mondeléz.

What we did: support Mondeléz’ expansion into the US

Mondeléz’ ambitions to expand across the Atlantic were a cause for celebration at DS Smith –the packaging supplier had been doing the exact same thing for years and saw another opportunity to deliver innovation, fast.

So how could we open up that new avenue? By making the international partnership more tangible for procurement and logistics profiles in the US. Which is why we developed The Mondeléz Break: a newsletter strictly about the collaboration between the 2 companies – focused on statistics and numbers.

And their tendencies, challenges and ambitions, too. That’s why ABM could be a huge difference-maker in your B2B marketing mix. It allows you to tailor your messaging and drive any account in the direction you want it to.