Our work with Atos on the Lead Generation Factory was rewarded with the trophy for Most Commercially Successful Campaign at the 2015 B2B Marketing Awards. Here is our submission.

1. Awards
Winner 2015
13Most commercially successful campaign:
Lead Generation
Factory
for Atos by The
Marketing Practice

2. A multi-proposition,
multi-country demand
centre programme
generating incremental
sales 284x investment
02Entry category 13: Most commercially successful campaign
Summary
Atos operates in the IT services market and aims to become the preferred European global
IT services brand worldwide by 2016. Its propositions and target audience are changing
and consequently its sales and marketing need to transform.
The Lead Generation Factory (LGF) is key to this transformation. It is a multi-proposition,
multi-country demand centre programme that works closely with sales to systematically
open doors with its senior-decision-maker target audience and efficiently generate a strong
and predictable pipeline which is tracked all the way through to sale.
The LGF puts the bespoke needs of each contact, not the individual campaigns, at its core.
It drew upon 23 different sub-campaigns during 2014, with the Inside Sales team blending
these to appropriately nurture each prospect.
In 2014 the LGF generated pipeline amounting to more than 1800 times the investment
in the programme, with 45% of these leads coming from outside the IT function. We are
projecting incremental sales of 284 times investment.
This is a rolling programme that will continue to give Atos a commercial edge in this
highly competitive market.

3. 03Entry category 13: Most commercially successful campaign
About the client
Atos is the second-largest IT services and solutions company in Europe. Headquartered
in France, it employs 86,000 people to provide hi-tech transactional services, managed
services, consulting & technology services, outsourcing and systems integration across
47 countries worldwide, helping its customers to create their firm of the future.

4. the preferred
European global
IT brand worldwide
by 2016
04Entry category 13: Most commercially successful campaign
Strategy
Atos has a clearly stated goal to become the preferred European global IT brand worldwide
in digital and IT services by 2016. In order to achieve this, the business is undergoing a
significant transformation both through acquisition and through the introduction of a range
of innovative new propositions to the market.
To deliver this ambitious strategy it is recognised that sales and marketing need to change in
order to engage with its famously hard-to-reach target audience of senior decision-makers.
The Lead Generation Factory programme is at the heart of this transformation.

5. 05Entry category 13: Most commercially successful campaign
Objectives of the campaign
Having completed a pilot in 2012/13, the specific objective for the programme during
2014 was to generate incremental closed sales of at least 100 times the investment made
in the programme.
The overall objective of the LGF is to create an industrialised process to generate, nurture
and feed leads into the sales pipeline before tracking them all the way to order entry.
It makes for a cost-efficient process that achieves maximum results for minimum budget
(see image 1: Sales Process).
Before
Lead Generation
Factory
Segmentation
and data building
Direct marketing to
create awareness
Specialising in establishing
first contact/set up client meeting
After
Business development Strategic sales Account executives
Strategic sales Account executivesBusiness dev.
Closed sale
Closed sale
Sales process: From lead to closed sale

6. 06Entry category 13: Most commercially successful campaign
The target audience
The LGF is a centralised programme that targets corporate decision-makers across ten
different countries. During 2014 we targeted 18,281 contacts within 4714 accounts. These
contacts included a range of senior IT roles (such as CIO, Chief Digital Officer, Head of IT
Architecture and Head of IT Infrastructure) as well as senior commercial decision-makers
such as CMOs and CFOs.
The key insight that shaped the design of the LGF is that when addressing such a diverse and
senior set of decision-makers (across multiple countries) who face a complex set of strategic
issues, the programme needs to be flexible and draw on a wide range of campaign modules
which can be leveraged to address the needs of each target organisation. In other words,
the programme needs to be completely customer-centric rather than campaign-driven.
23Campaigns 8Countries 5Languages 5Verticals

7. 07Entry category 13: Most commercially successful campaign
Media, channels or techniques used
LGF puts the bespoke needs of each contact, not the individual campaigns, at the centre
of the model. Each conversation is planned according to our knowledge about that contact,
so that content from individual campaign modules is blended over time, to create
a bespoke nurturing journey.
The nurturing process is as follows:
• Definition phase: Audience analysis to determine the best messaging
and delivery methods.
• Next Best Action: Develop targeted propositions and relevant delivery
materials to move the target through the sales process.
• Nurture phase 1: Capture insight to effectively take a contact through
the cycle of education, information exchange and definition.
• Defined interest – Nurture phase 2: Following expression of interest,
identify BANT-qualified leads, or qualify leads out to re-enter the cycle.
The centre of the LGF is the Inside Sales hub – a team of data, telemarketing,
creative and demand-generation professionals who gather audience and market
insight and adapt the approach every day.

8. 08Entry category 13: Most commercially successful campaign
Media, channels or techniques used
During 2014 the LGF programme leveraged a total of 23 different campaign modules
(see image 2: Timeline). These modules used a full range of marketing channels and
techniques – including thought leadership content, high-impact DM, personalised eDMs
and a range of online assets – all coordinated by the central Inside Sales team and
supported by CRM and marketing automation as appropriate.
During the year the LGF team made 34,160 calls, sent 6,720 DMs, delivered 25,276
eDMs and had 4,723 nurturing conversations.
An example of one of the key campaign modules is given below.
Campaign module: Factory of the Future
In early 2014 a UK campaign module was rolled out to manufacturing companies.
Three emails were deployed through Eloqua, with a ‘Factory of the Future’ position paper
addressing the industry’s need to embrace new technology to position for future success.
Highly targeted DM pieces were created for 60 high-profile contacts. The call to action
was a face-to-face workshop.
The programme was also supported by sponsorship of the Manufacturing Directors
conference and an advertorial piece in The Manufacturer.
The UK module was adapted for global deployment. The position paper was rewritten,
country-specific DMs sent (hyper-personalised with PURL downloads of the position paper),
and new emails targeting specific sub-markets (Aero, Auto, CPG, PharmaChem) sent.
A range of other channels including LinkedIn, industry publications, industry events and
sponsorship were used.

9. 23Campaigns 8Countries 5Languages 5Verticals
pipeline
value over
investment
1800x
Safe Net NHS
Factory of
the Future
Enterprise
sustainability
JIS JIT
Hardware/
Software
Comms
Simplified
Magic
Quadrant
Now
Banking
Helix
Nebula
Canopy
Event
EPCE MES
JIT
Big
Data
SAP
HCM
Yuanio
Financial
services
Apps
management
Enhanced
alliance
Manufacturing
Country specific campaigns
Centralised campaigns
Jan 2014 Dec 2014
284xinvestment
Incremental
order entry
Sales engagement
09Entry category 13: Most commercially successful campaign
Timescales of the campaign
The LGF is a rolling ongoing programme leveraging numerous campaign modules (see image 2: Timeline)

10. Entry category 13: Most commercially successful campaign
Results
Key results achieved in 2014 include:
• Generated 194 leads and 422 opportunities
• 45% of leads outside of IT
• Created pipeline value of more than 1800 times investment
• Projected incremental order entry of 284 times investment
• Opportunities gained with key prospects from large manufacturing
organisations from France, UK and Denmark
• New logos won across UK, Germany and France
A new model has been created and proven which is making a significant difference to Atos’
competitiveness in the market and will continue to drive new sales in 2015 and beyond.
284xinvestment
Incremental
order entry
pipeline
value over
investment
1800x

11. Entry category 13: Most commercially successful campaign
Client testimonial
“The Lead Generation Factory has made a significant
difference to our brand awareness, commercial operations
and our competitiveness in the market. By taking a
blended campaigning approach, we are now able to open
new doors within existing clients as well as generate new
logos and new business leading to incremental growth.
The outstanding ROI of the programme speaks for itself.”
Joanna Moss – Director, Lead Generation Factory, Atos