The Cobbler’s Kids Had No Shoes

Client: Momentum Worldwide
Company: Momentum Worldwide
Project Role: Digital Content Strategist

The Opportunity:

Global marketing agency Momentum Worldwide had a problem: It made some of the best marketing experiences in the world, but if you participated in a Momentum-built activation, there was little coverage of the agency itself or the creative teams behind the work.

We wanted to drive external attention to Momentum itself, highlighting the work, agency culture, and our status as the leading experiential marketer, to attract future clients and top talent. Our two-person communications team identified that if we increased the conversation about experiential marketing in general, through publishing, content creation, and by positioning key agency executives as industry leaders, we could enhance the agency’s perception in the industry. We’d measure initial success by looking at increased engagement and followers on social media, as well as monitoring employee turnover and recruiting numbers; long-term success would be earning significant new client wins and seeing more press coverage of the agency’s work, along with industry-wide “notice” moments like key award shows and honors.

Altering perceptions about experiential marketing and Momentum began by applying the agency’s creative approach to our client work to the agency’s brand experience. After first auditing the agency’s communications platforms and competitors, I designed a new brand voice and persona for Momentum and a content strategy and calendar for each social and external communications platform. By making the agency’s brand more human and with a brash, bold edge, we drew more attention and interaction with our content, highlighting the agency as a creative force. Two examples: I revived the moribund Instagram channel, turning it into an agency culture/recruitment tool—significantly growing the channel’s followers and increasing engagement by over 2000%. Twitter served as the agency’s hosted cocktail party, where we seamlessly bop around from topic to topic while making high-impact contacts with client partners, industry leaders, press, talent, and more. Year-over-year engagement and growth numbers exceeded 134% of my KPIs across all social platforms.

As part of the refresh, I coined the agency’s new tagline in a speech I wrote for the CEO. “It’s what brands do that matters.”

“THIS. This is what we’re all about!” He wrote back to us on the draft, and Momentum’s new branding was launched.

With the initial successes on social media, it was time to execute the long-term strategy: We needed to demonstrate how and why experiential marketing mattered and show Momentum was leading the way.

We designed a publishing strategy putting Momentum’s executives and leaders center-stage with industry trade press. I began ghostwriting op-eds for the CEO, President of North America, Chief Technology Officer, head of sports and entertainment, and more, while serving as editor and providing writing support for all other op-eds including from the Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Marketing Officer (global, and North America), Chief Creative Officer, Chief Talent Officer, and others. 

To further boost our agency’s profile, we positioned our leaders as primary contact points for industry reporters whenever they needed expert analysis or comments. We entered the agency in more awards than before, and I created an internal class, teaching teams how to write entries effectively, and served as the editor and final pass on all award entries. The course led to the agency winning more awards than ever before. 

Thanks to our efforts, Momentum reduced employee turnover by nearly 60%. We assisted in helping the agency win some of its most significant and biggest new clients, including Verizon, SAP, and Chevron. With those wins, the agency increased its headcount by nearly 150 people, and the attention and higher profile we’d created made recruiting a significantly more manageable process.

Following those successes, I created the strategy for and then wrote the agency’s Ad Age A-List submission, resulting in Momentum becoming the first-ever experiential agency on the list—and then becoming the first experiential marketer to make it in back-to-back years. This industry-wide recognition had been a critical signpost goal for our team and was a significant statement to the industry that Momentum (and experiential) had arrived.