ITIL content partnership with Guardian Labs
Gaining trust and awareness with hard-to-reach audiences.
There’s no getting around the fact that b2b buyers are far more cynical these days – 58% of them say they don’t trust vendor claims and 69% say they just don’t trust advertising.
AXELOS understands this, which is why when they launched ITIL 4 they initiated a content partnership with a brand that is already known and well trusted by their target audiences.
To position themselves and their product as the essential IT qualification and create front-of-mind awareness among senior executives and IT practitioners, AXELOS partnered with Guardian Labs to create Future-focused IT – an inspirational and educational digital content hub:
Showcasing the creative concept and messaging that Earnest developed for AXELOS, the hub addresses a range of themes across the buyer journey through interviews with tech leaders, videos on such topics as whether AI is the new electricity, as well as a Q&A with AXELOS’ new CEO, and new content being added on a regular basis.
“The content that we created with The Guardian has been an excellent way to showcase the power of our product to a senior IT audience, hitting the mark by positioning ITIL as forward-thinking and innovative whilst showcasing its history and proven success. And the campaign has been praised internally as a great way to get our entire company on-board with our marketing message.”
– Clare Cottrell, ITIL Marketing Lead, AXELOS
“Working with AXELOS was a dream as we were able to explore big future tech subjects and bring to life these hard-to-tackle topics in a very ‘Guardian’ way that our audience likes consuming. We were able to examine trends at the forefront of tech innovation, such as the impact of AI and robotics, as well as looking to the leaders of the future – delivering high-quality content that worked for both the client and The Guardian.”
– Maxine Marshall, commissioning editor, Guardian Labs
The hub has been live for a few months and the feedback it’s generated has been extremely positive, showing that truly helpful brand-driven content presented in partnership with a trusted, global source can be a highly effective way to reach audiences that have grown cynical in recent years.
If you’d like more insights into b2b buyers, you might enjoy our Vital Stats.