Cognism outdoes expectations with a page-turner of a campaign

The challenge

When Cognism partnered with Reachdesk in 2021, their Sales and Marketing teams were quick to embrace direct mail and establish personalized activation and engagement strategies, as seen in this 2022 video case study. However, Cognism arguably didn’t find their gifting groove until one very special campaign helped them unlock the true power of Reachdesk.

In July 2022, Cognism CMO Alice de Courcy started to gather LinkedIn posts she had written with the aim of creating a book that charted her journey since stepping into the role two years prior. The book’s primary audience was B2B senior marketing leaders, or anyone who aspires towards becoming one. 

After six months of writing, the result was a 200-page book titled The diary of a first-time CMO. Alice then approached Senior Demand Generation Manager Jamie Skeels to brainstorm campaign ideas for launching the book in Q1 2023.

From the beginning, it was decided that the campaign would promote three assets: the physical book, an online hub where the book’s content could be accessed for free, and an audio book. According to Jamie, the main goal of this project was to try something different and break out of the traditional channels that B2B companies often use. 

At no point did the team anticipate selling copies of the book. It was thought that any demand and attention drummed up by limited supply of physical books would be leveraged to promote the online hub and the audiobook. However, the team also agreed to ensure that anyone who requests a physical copy would ultimately receive it.

The success of the campaign would be measured by the number of physical copies that were ordered and delivered, as well as the number of recipients who posted about the book on social media and followed up with Cognism to learn more about their products. 

The solution

For the physical edition of The diary of a first-time CMO, Reachdesk facilitated the printing of 180 copies. However, the Marketing team’s pre-launch messaging teased that there would only be 100 copies available in order to drive the “scarcity” factor.

By the time launch day came around, the Marketing team were expecting their waiting list to have a few hundred requests, at most. The actual amount was closer to 4,000. Considering the team has zero intention of selling the book, this was a fantastic and wholly unexpected result. 

Reachdesk oversaw the production, storage, and distribution of the 180 redeemed books to countries worldwide. Each book was delivered in Cognism-branded packaging and a personalized note featuring witty wordplay. Recipients appreciated the level of effort put into the presentation and posted photos to their social media accounts, which provided the campaign with ample free promotion.

Despite this immediate success, the team didn’t have much time to enjoy the moment as they knew the campaign would have to pivot in order to meet demand. 

The issue was quickly resolved by listing additional physical copies of the book on Amazon, and using Reachdesk’s digital gift voucher capabilities to give prospects an easy way to redeem their copy. 

The results

Jamie praises Reachdesk’s contributions to this campaign – from printing, storing, and distributing the physical book, to rapidly solving problems whenever they arose. 

He credits much of the campaign’s success to Reachdesk’s involvement. 

• 966 physical books sold
• 4,000 physical books requested
• 3,000+ unique visitors to online hub
• 1,400 unique audiobook listeners

The Cognism Marketing team have been using this momentum to run additional campaigns off the back of this one, so these numbers will continue to rise.  

Finally, Jamie also praised the speed and usability of the Reachdesk platform, commenting that the process of managing requests for the physical book was simple and intuitive.