Credit Suisse wanted to explore what lies behind business success and unearth some of the essential ingredients inherent in entrepreneurial leadership.

Credit Suisse has entrepreneurial drive in its DNA. The bank was founded in 1856 by Alfred Escher to help fund the development of Swiss rail. As part of a restructure in 2018, Credit Suisse wanted to return to this entrepreneurial
heritage and its support for innovators under CEO Tidjane Thiam.

Credit Suisse wanted to be seen as an ambassador of not just entrepreneurs, but those working within corporate structures and demonstrating entrepreneurial thinking. This partnership was also considered to be a key
opportunity to promote the progressive work of Credit Suisse’s Impact Advisory Department.

Many investment banks want to position themselves around successful business leaders but Credit Suisse wanted to drill down further to delve into the mindsets of those successful people. What are the personal drivers that have helped them to succeed? Are these shared amongst others? Through a better understanding, is it possible to reflect on our own business drivers?

To maximise this new direction Credit Suisse needed a partner able to speak with authority and credibility in the space and the wider international business community.

Our strategy was informed by a comprehensive, global study into entrepreneurial leadership conducted among Bloomberg’s audience of Ultra ($50m+ FIA) and High Net Worth ($5-$49m FIA) individuals, in collaboration with Ipsos MORI.

We interviewed more than 300 individuals in one of the largest research projects of its kind.

Unique insights were gathered from face-to-face interviews with business leaders, and a quantitative survey was conducted across nine markets. Discourse analysis of the interviews by a team of semiotics experts revealed some universal and regional drivers.

This allowed us to dig deep into the motivations of the rich and super rich to unearth a range of defining behaviours and traits that we could explore throughout the content series.

Key insights 
1). There is a difference between people who describe themselves as “an entrepreneur” (for whom it was an identity and they tended to run their own companies) and those who identified with being “entrepreneurial” (which
resonated more strongly with corporate business leaders).
We would target both.

2). There are common ingredients that unite different, successful business leaders.
Typical shared traits include:

• Openness to new ideas.
• Conscientiousness in work and planning.
• Inner drive to achieve and be deemed successful.
• Ability to handle risk.
• Extraversion.
• Emotional stability.
• Handle stress well.
• Challenge the status quo.
• Do not distinguish between work and leisure time – they can be perceived as workaholics.
  These traits will be explored throughout our content.

3). They enjoy learning about business leaders and hearing from people they consider “like themselves”. They regularly read articles and watch videos to learn from related business worlds. We would ensure our content would include entrepreneurial voices at different stages in their careers and provide academic rigour throughout.

Combining findings of our research study with AiQ, Bloomberg’s AI-powered audience research tool, we identified key themes that would determine the direction and scope of our film and journalism content:

• Leadership
• Personal Assessment
• The Power of Mission and Purpose
• Education: Nature vs Nurture debate
• Attitudes to Risk

The documentary, videos, articles, event launch and research created a north star for Credit Suisse, internally and externally, during a pivotal period of transition.

Nicky Owen, EMEA Marketer, CS: “Our partnership with Bloomberg Media has provided us with a deep level of insight into those who share an entrepreneurial mindset and has served as the basis for an excellent multi-media content series. Bloomberg’s strong project management, expertise in the business world and authority among ultra andhigh-net-worth individuals has enabled us to publish a unique white paper, an outstanding short-documentary
and many thought-leading features.”

The hub…
217,576 page views
Top performing video: [The Characteristics of Entrepreneurs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LByzrLdhr3Y&feature=youtu.be) more than 17,600 views
Top performing article: Can You Teach People To Have An Entrepreneurial Mindset? dwell time 5mins 37 seconds (2.25 times longer than the Bloomberg benchmark)

Social: 170,627 video views
Facebook top engagement rate 4.54% *
Twitter example
Facebook example
YouTube example

Perception Shifts
Research by DVJ Insights measured the effectiveness of the content in developing and strengthening associations with entrepreneurial mindsets.

• 12% points lift in perception that Credit Suisse “has an Entrepreneurial Mindset.”
• 18% points increase in opinion that “Credit Suisse is a bank for entrepreneurs.”
• 15% points increase in opinion that “Credit Suisse provides access to bespoke research and analysis.”
• 14% points increase in opinion that “Credit Suisse has a good reputation.”

All standard and bespoke ad units outperformed benchmarks for viewability, interaction and CTR.
Best performer: Canopy Unit
Universal Interaction Rate – 17.09% (benchmark 3.3%)
Video Completion Rate – 24.74% (benchmark 9.84%)
Attention Quality – 52.84% (benchmark 31.3%)

“The insights we gather distil the entrepreneurial spirit down to its very essence. They illuminate the inner workings of an entrepreneurial mind and what drives the movers and shakers of our time to take it to the next level.”
**Tidjane Thiam, CEO, Credit Suisse