Following the multi-billion dollar merger between GE Oil & Gas and Baker Hughes, we needed to create awareness and tangible relevance for customers and shareholders. We had to instil salience and belief in the new vision of the company and what this would mean for the future of oil and gas.

In July 2017, two industry giants merged to become Baker Hughes, a GE company—the world’s second largest oil & gas services company. Oil & gas remains the essential driving force throughout many aspects of our daily lives, and BHGE supplies essential machinery, technology and expertise to a range of global household names, including Shell, BP and Chevron.

Our brief was to reach C-Suites and Business Decision Makers at Oil Majors, Private Equity Investment and Asset Managers and energy influencers across 7 key markets, and underline the philosophy behind the new company.

We needed to generate interest and emphasise the brand’s new purpose. The fundamental shifts taking place in the sector also had to be conveyed. New skills will be needed as the sector moves towards a more cost-efficient, digitally
powered era.

BHGE’s ‘fullstream’ offering is underpinned by digital industrial technology, global scale and expertise. It was important to convey the industry context, BHGE’s capability and its role as a trusted, global partner.

We had two key challenges:
• This is a business community under pressure to deliver in a tough environment, but it is driven by knowledgeable and passionate experts. Any activity had to be positioned in a trusted media environment that cut through and was able to suitably showcase the new company’s vision and capability.
• Ensure the creation of BHGE could not be misinterpreted as a marriage of convenience, but more a united force of talent, skills and resources that can drive real transformation.

BHGE needed to attract attention and positively engage with the oil and gas sector and wider group of business leaders to showcase the impact and ambition of the new company and its combined assets.

The oil and gas sector has experienced volatile times in recent years, from price fluctuations to seismic overhauls of products and operations. Our target audience wanted reassurance that BHGE was ahead of the curve and was
actively taking steps to future-proof its business.

Our strategy was simple. We knew that many in the oil & gas industry face significant business challenges, often feeling pressured and under-valued. However, these people will be inherent to the success of BHGE, so our strategic
direction and communications plan would place them front and centre.

We would produce an ad campaign, event sponsorship, branding and content series within trusted media surrounding the formation of BHGE as a public entity. This multimedia solution would allow us to inform, inspire and
engage our target group and the wider business community.

Insights told us that our C-suite target audience and Business Decision Makers rely heavily on print for business and financial information. This formed a core element of our strategy.

We would ensure impactful print ads in Tier 1 publications to achieve scale. We would also ensure presence in a group of influential trade publications, across both digital and print, as these publications still hold significant weight
in this industry.

Real-time exposure to be ensured when BHGE formally launched onto the New York Stock Exchange with branding and coverage around the renowned ‘Ringing of the Bell’ event.

Nauanced digital strategy – display ads with subtle visual motifs and intriguing copy to our audience across their daily journey – at home, in the office, travelling for business meetings and during their downtime. We would then retarget them with the hero advert to tell a fuller story.

Longer-term engagement ensured though creative custom content showcasing how BHGE and its customers can shape the future of oil & gas, sharing valuable expertise and inspire discussion.
• It would underline how BHGE was a solution, and why all oil and gas companies will need to adapt.
• It would highlight how new skills are needed in the sector through talking with experts and interviewing analysts.
• It would demonstrate how BHGE was investing in training and mentoring.

We turned a business transaction into an industry-changing moment that garnered interest from leaders and influencers around the world.
The results exceeded expectations. 35 million impressions ran across the US, UK, Germany, Norway, UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Coverage was phenomenal. The prominence of the Times Square billboard ensured 1.6 million views of the BHGE ad.

We successfully raised awareness and promoted the brand. Based on the brand study we used to measure effectiveness, awareness of the brand was up by 2.5 index points, and our campaign had a positive impact on brand
attributes – up by 11.8 points for ‘transforming the oil and gas industry’, and up by 6.6 points for ‘world’s only fullstream company’.*

Bloomberg content series drove strong results:

• 2 million video views on Twitter
• 71,508 social interactions
• 90,345 Bloomberg page views – exceeding benchmarks by 15%
• Pre-roll showcasing BBDO’s hero ad achieved a CTR of 1.36%
• 2.45 mins – average dwell time

BHGE ads were served over 750,000 times directly to the target audience in their offices. We achieved the highest levels of engagement at Chevron’s office in California, Exxon and ENI offices in Norway and BP’s Headquarters in
London. Engagement increased further when our target was seen in locations outside of their offices, and during evenings and weekends re-emphasizing the importance of reaching them whenever and wherever.

We owned the conversation on Google, with performance of Search ads peaking at 8.9% CTR over the course of the campaign.

We didn’t launch BHGE – we rang the opening bell for the next wave of the energy revolution.

Independent research conducted by Kantar MillwardBrown