PRIA Golden Target Awards
Category – B2B marketing – new and/or established product or service
Agency – n2n Communications
Client – Sun Microsystems
Nicky Dowling and Sarah Wilkinson
T: 02 9213 2300
[email protected] or [email protected]
www.n2n.com.au
n2n Communications
Level 3, 104 Commonwealth St,
Surry Hills NSW 2010
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary
3
Situation Analysis
3
Goals and Objectives
3
Research
4
Target Publics
5
Communication Strategy
5
Implementation
6
Budget
7
Results
7
Evaluation
7
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Executive Summary
Although a pioneer of ecologically sound computing (Eco), Sun Microsystems was not regarded
as a leader. As the ‘green debate’ gathered momentum it had the potential to affect Sun’s
business. The goals of the campaign were to position Sun as a thought leader on Eco, to create
fertile ground for future sales activity and to raise awareness of Eco among target audiences.
The campaign, which spanned electronic communications (eg blogs, email, podcasts) events
and media relations exceeded the objectives. Sun was publicly recognised as a leader by
industry influencers. Staff and customer perceptions were positively influenced and a number of
major deals were directly linked to the awareness generated by the campaign.
Situation
Analysis
As the ‘Green IT’ debate percolated, it was possible that government climate
targets would include specifications relating to computing which would affect
Sun’s customers (IT contributes four to five per cent of carbon emissions
globally).
At the time, the need to green the data centre and IT was overlooked as a
method to reduce a company’s environmental impact, therefore there was an
opportunity to raise awareness.
Goals and
Objectives
Situation analysis:
 Australia’s focus on drought, combined with a gradual shift among
government (eg early election campaigns), business (growing focus on
corporate citizenry combined with cost control) and consumers towards
environmentally responsible computing, had kick-started the ‘Green IT’
debate and it was likely to escalate via the media
 Should debate escalate, it had the potential to affect Sun’s ability to do
business (eg government/corporate short lists and procurement policies
favouring “green” partners) as well as its ability to attract and retain staff
as a responsible corporate citizen
 There was low awareness globally and locally of Sun’s strength in Eco
products
 Sun’s local business operated largely in four product silos. To
demonstrate ‘Green’ credentials demanded a whole business view of
offerings which in turn required cross company education and
communications
 With low awareness of the company’s credentials across all target
audiences, Sun could be out-marketed in this area by big name
competitors with large PR/advertising budgets
Goals
 Position Sun as an expert commentator on how organisations can reduce
the impact of IT, and related business practices, on the environment
 Raise awareness of Sun’s Eco-innovations
 Positively influence perceptions (detailed in survey) across varied
audiences:
o Employees
o Partners
o Customers prospects – IT administrators to ‘C-Level’ executives
o Analysts and advisors
 Drive staff awareness of Sun’s full Eco business offerings
 Create “fertile ground” for Sun and its partners to engage in customer
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
discussions (ie pre-sales activity) around “green computing”
Engender staff pride in Sun’s investment in green computing
These goals were supported by measurable, time bound objectives that spanned
inputs, outputs and outcomes. These included (but were not limited to):


Research
The development of cross-business key messages and proof points
Development of supporting communications including:
 3 staff blogs
 2 speeches: 1 internal; 1 external
 2 customer case studies
 1 podcast
 1 customer electronic direct mail
 1 piece of tradeshow collateral
 Media relations program to secure:
o Minimum of 20 articles on green computing by December 2007
o Coverage in 50 per cent of green IT features
o Secure 10 media interviews in Sun’s key media targets
o At least 25 per cent of media coverage:
 In tier one media
 With positive tone
 To contain at least one key message
 Perception shift among target audiences measured by:
o Staff, customer and partner engagement in Eco (tracked via event
attendance, click throughs, sales team feedback, blog responses
and leads generated)
o Customer awareness of Eco (measured via online survey)
Research conducted included:
 Media/online audit to identify the current level of debate and the key
players
 Review of government policy (eg Climate Change Summit and Election
Platforms) and other influencer initiatives (eg computer industry bodies)
 Interviews with key staff (eg Sun Microsystems Chief Technology Officer
and futurist, US-based corporate stakeholders, the Managing Director,
sales and marketing teams) to gather information, identify issues and
opportunities. This included working closely with the internal marketing
team to map the Eco campaign with existing marketing activities and the
internal communications program
 Survey to identify how much of an issue “green” was among Sun’s
existing customers and partners (via email newsletter) and prospective
customers (via face-to-face interviews at leading industry analyst event –
Gartner Forum)
The research revealed the need for consistent, yet differentiated messaging by
audience:
 Sun employees – ‘product silo’ view with no consistent understanding of
Sun’s Eco products, heritage and messaging
 Customers unaware of impact at IT level yet at risk from ‘vendor hype’
saturation
 Media – skeptical/cynical – viewed issue as short-term marketing spin
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It also highlighted:
 A need to cut through the ‘green noise’ with a pragmatic approach to the
issues and strong tie to business benefits (scare tactics to be avoided)
 That decision making will be driven by cost savings
 That plans to ‘Green IT’ were in place at the business level but not yet
adopted at the IT department level
 That no one in the market had articulated a clear approach on how to
green IT
Target Publics
Target audiences included:
 Customers and prospects, typically organisations with 250 or more
employees from telco, education, government, utilities and financial
services sectors including C-Level executives, IT managers and
government department heads
 Partners eg. Dimension Data, EDS
 Internal staff – from the CEO to CTO, Sales & Marketing and
employees across the company
 Media:
o Tier 1: daily business press, IT sections of daily press, vertical
publications eg Government, IT trade media, channel/partner
media
o Tier 2: broadcast & general consumer media
 Influencers: industry analysts and bodies eg Gartner
Communication With such a broad target audience, and to make the best use of budget, the
Strategy
strategy was to focus on key campaigns rather than a diluted effort across all
media.
The strategy would use an umbrella of publicity encompassing mass media,
supported by direct communication via events, electronic newsletters, face-toface meetings and internal communications eg internal blog.
Given the importance of the campaign to the company’s commercial success
and its staff engagement, Sun Microsystems Australian Managing Director (MD)
was chosen as the primary spokesperson. He was to be supported by: Sun
CTO, all key spokespeople and visiting “green gurus” from overseas.
Key elements of the plan included:
 Documentation of “cheat sheets” for staff that included cross-business
proof points, product facts and Sun’s environmental credentials in one
easy to read document (circulated via intranet)
 Launch of survey results via media and email newsletters
 Dedicated executive profiling campaign including a defined program of
one-on-one educational/interviews for the MD, visiting “green” VIPs
(note: this program mapped spokespeople to relevant media)
 Events/launch/tours (eg tour of Project Blackbox – the first virtualised
data centre in a shipping container in Sydney and in Canberra)
 Customer/prospect engagement eg work with Sun’s top tier customer
Telstra (both at a customer account manager level and via the agency
interfacing with Telstra corporate PR) to ensure attendance at key events
 Speaking opportunities – The Canberra National Press Club Address
(relevant given Sun’s strong Canberra customer base as well as its role
in reaching key media influencers) and the 2007 IT Journalism Awards
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



Implementation
(attended by media and industry influencers)
MD staff blogs, staff Kick Off event speeches, marketing and sales ebulletins etc.
Partner events eg Dimension Data and Sun Green CIO Road show
Event support – eg Sun ‘Green IT’ promotion flyer and survey developed
as collateral for Gartner infrastructure, Operations and Data Centre
Summit, 8-9 May 2007
Ongoing media relations and analyst briefings to leverage existing
agenda items eg World Environment Day, features, overseas media tour
of energy efficient data centre by The Australian IT editor etc.
Stage 1 – Planning & Preparation
 Written plan including time line, actions, responsibilities and clearly
itemised budgets
 Clearly defined roles and responsibilities for the working teams and
regular communication on progress including weekly Sun Marketing
Team calls, co-ordination with Sun’s US communications team and work
in progress meetings
 Logistics and contingency planning: eg Project Blackbox arriving by ship
(weather permitting)
Examples of tactics during this phase to meet objectives include:
 Drafting survey questions, email teaser copy and incentives to participate
 Compilation of media and influencer lists (cross mapped with internal
customer and prospect lists)
 Identification of existing customers that could validate Sun’s green
credentials, draft case studies and quotes eg AFG and Macquarie
Telecom
Stage 2 – Roll Out
This phase involved two streams:
1. Ongoing communications via regular mediums eg the MD’s staff blog, enewsletters, media features and interviews.
2. Projects developed around specific events eg Project Blackbox tours.
Stage 3 – Monitoring, Evaluation, Modification
 Fortnightly reviews of activity mapped to achievement of the objectives
and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
 Monthly reports on progress against KPIs and team meetings to identify
next steps
 Continued adaptation of existing plan to incorporate changing business
focuses, available spokespeople and increased product range
Budget
Stage 4 – Momentum
As the campaign progressed, it became self-reinforcing. Influencers started to
approach Sun proactively for information and comment. Partner and customer
enquiries increased (eg click throughs, sales leads) and the program gained its
own momentum. The agencies role was to ensure the strategy remained sound,
modify messaging as the debate evolved and new facts emerged, and continue
to evaluate performance.
Confidential: Included in Appendix B
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Results
The results of the campaign were summarised by Sun Microsystems’ Marketing Director, Paul
O’Connor, as follows:
“As a communications campaign, it successfully positioned Sun as leading the agenda in what
was, and to an extent still is, a critical emerging topic. n2n came up with the idea of the survey
which not only delivered a great news opportunity, it actually provided huge insights into the
current perceptions of our customers. The resulting media coverage was phenomenal, way
beyond what we expected and is still coming in. What’s more, the news coverage was very
material in shaping customers perceptions and a number of key deals won can be directly linked
to the awareness it created.”
Paul O’Connor, Sun Microsystems’ Marketing Director
Evaluation
Objective
Result
The development of cross-business
See Appendix A for ‘Eco Cheat Sheet’
key messages and proof points
Development of supporting communications
3 staff blogs
Met: 3 stories on Eco, with positive responses
recorded in feedback loops
2 speeches: 1 internal; 1 external
Met: 1 developed for FY08 company kick-off; 1
developed for IT Journalism Awards
2 customer case studies
Exceeded: 4 developed; Macquarie Telecom,
Australian Finance Group, Rising Sun Pictures,
TelstraClear (NZ)
 16 pieces of coverage on case studies
including the Australian IT and The
Australian Financial Review (AFR)
1 podcast
Met: Richard Barrington, Sun UK sustainability
guru and former advisor to British Prime Minister
Tony Blair
1 customer electronic direct mail
Exceeded: 5 issues of EDGE e-newsletter and 4
issues of Inner Circle e-newsletter included eco
messaging (examples in Appendix)
1 piece of tradeshow collateral
Exceeded: 3 pieces developed for Garnet Data
Centre and Infrastructure Summit including
presentation, survey and ‘Green IT’ promotional
flyer
Media relations program
Minimum of 20 articles on green
Exceeded: 47 articles secured
computing by December 2007
Coverage in 50 per cent of green IT
Exceeded: coverage in 95 per cent of green IT
features
features
Secure 10 interviews for Sun
Exceeded: secured 22 interviews with Sun
spokespeople
spokespeople
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At least 25 per cent of media
coverage:
 In tier one media
 With positive tone
 To contain at least one key
message
Exceeded:
 In tier one media – 38 per cent (titles
include The Australian, AFR, BRW, Sky
News, The Canberra Times)
 With positive tone – 100 per cent positive
 To contain at least one key message –
100 per cent achieved
Perception shift among target audiences measured by:
 Staff, customer and partner engagement in Eco (tracked via event attendance, click
throughs, sales team feedback, blog responses and leads generated)
o 2,500 responses to online Eco survey
o 1,800 average click through rate on Eco stories in e-newsletters
o Staff blog responses – 98 per cent positive
o 740 attendees at Project Blackbox tours (with target representative samples from
customers, partners and influencers including 22 journalists)
o Millions of dollars generated in sales leads as tracked via CRM system
 Customer awareness of eco-responsible practices (measured via online survey).
o Following the initial benchmark survey, a second survey was conducted in May
2008. Among other things, it showed:
 growth in awareness of green IT practices with an 11 per cent increase in
organisations with green plans at the IT department level.
 Industry influencer awareness achieved, with positive analyst reviews including:
“Sun Microsystems deserved credit as the first server vendor to consider these issues,
stating publicly as far back as three years ago that it would reduce the power
consumption of its servers.” Kevin McIsaac, IBRS Industry Analyst, ARN Green Special,
August 2007.
Based on the success of the campaign, Sun has committed to an ongoing program. The second
survey forms the foundation of the 2008/2009 campaign.
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