«Return to Blog List One Case Study Helps Land FIVE Major Customer Awards
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Never doubt the power of a single case study or the positive impact for the featured customer.
Last year, United Airlines racked up five major awards – and countless resulting PR – for its CRM and direct marketing efforts for the MileagePlus loyalty program:
- 2012 Gartner and 1to1 Media CRM Excellence Awards – Silver
- 2012 DMA – Marketer of the Year
- 2012 1to1 Media Customer Champion
- 2012 DMA Innovation Award
- 2012 Travel Weekly Magellan Silver for Loyalty
What fueled every application for the award entries was a single case study, initiated by United’s data partner, Acxiom Corp. United teamed with Acxiom for data integration, enhancement and segmentation, helping bring together 90 million records for the United and Continental Airlines merger, as well as for United’s companywide CRM initiative.
I worked with Acxiom to help the company and United document the story. From there, we used the case study to populate the dozens of questions throughout the award entry forms.
When awards were announced, and press releases drafted, I saw that same copy appear again and again in various publications. Best of all, it was in language that United and Acxiom had approved, giving all positive exposure in the perfect pitch they desired. The internal champion for the project at United also got recognition within the company for his efforts.
It’s a powerful but often-overlooked way to get more mileage out of a customer case study.
Companies build goodwill with their clients by submitting case studies for relevant industry awards. In this case, Acxiom took on the award submissions so United didn’t have to. It’s a big benefit for customers. You can even put awards in the list of benefits when approaching a customer about participating in a case study.
Over the years, I’ve helped several clients use case studies to apply for and win awards, but this is the most successful outcome ever.
How about you? Have you used a case study to apply for awards?
Brilliant idea. Write the essentials once with client approval and then enter into awards. Thanks