The Challenge
Can a company change how it’s investing its advertising budget to get a better return? C&EN and Ashland explored how the company could adapt its approach to find more attractive results in advancing Ashland’s reputation. C&EN devised a plan to create a custom content campaign to highlight lesser-known markets — pharma and environment — and demonstrate Ashland’s commitment to customer integrity and profitability.
C&EN Media Group was tasked with solving these questions from the team:
Our Approach:
Custom content and audience development
Know what makes your audience tick (and click)
Demand attention with premium positioning
Ask for the action you want
The Program
Below, screenshots show Ashland’s sponsored content campaign. The campaign was focused on creating editorial-quality content that would be of interest and helpful to its target audience. Maps and product graphics were used to keep audience attention throughout the content.
“I need information, and an article gives it to me. It also makes me actually know what the company is all about. I think this is important for highly technical companies because their particular niche can be complex..”
– – Ashland Post-Campaign Survey Respondent
The Results
In the case of Ashland, experimenting with tactics greatly enhanced the outcome of the company’s campaign.These results were tracked through on-site analytics, in addition to benchmark surveys run across the campaign.
Said They Learned Something about Ashland (vs. 31% via Ads)
Click-Through-Rate
Said Reading Ashland Content Increased
Likelihood of Buying (vs. 23% via Ads)
