The UK DIT needed to engage with the international business community to underline that the country has a long history of business partnerships, continues to be home to innovative companies, and remains very much open for business.

It is important that the business community continues to be represented overseas. The UK DIT’s partnership with Bloomberg Media Studios aimed to convey the benefits of working with UK companies and to present compelling
reasons to keep them top of mind among decision makers.

The client wanted to target C-suite and decision-making executives who could be involved in importing/ purchasing a broad range of UK goods and services.
Given the volatile nature of domestic and international politics in 2017 it was important that this campaign was nonpolitical in nature, but direct and powerful in its message.

These are uncertain times for the UK’s relationship with the world. Our decision to leave the EU after more than 40 years has raised questions about our openness and international outlook.

Regardless of how Brexit negotiations unfold, it is vital to the UK’s economy that we continue to nurture our thriving business community – both as a place to trade with, and invest in.

The UK Government’s newly formed Department of International Trade needed a creative media partner that is truly global in scope and has the credibility among business leaders and decision-makers. Bloomberg – named the number one business media brand in Europe for the last three consecutive years by Ipsos – was the perfect fit.

• Reach international business executives with positive, upbeat stories of UK business innovation, openness and ability to form partnerships. Timed to start the conversation as soon as possible after the formation of Theresa May’s coalition government (June 2017).

• Help offset incorrect perceptions about UK business and negative media coverage about its position by focusing on great companies, leaders and partnerships.

Raise awareness and recall of the GREAT brand, and drive positive sentiment (perceptions) about UK businesses as trade partners: innovative, welcoming, creative, quality.Specifically reach business leaders in Core Markets identified
as: US, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, China.

The power of the campaign relied on finding relatable business leaders with an international outlook and strong story to tell.

We knew having leaders prepared to express an authentic POV on real industry concerns would resonate against our target audience. We needed this to come through without getting too overtly political.

We used data and trends form Bloomberg Intelligence – our bespoke team of 300 global analysts – helped to identify the key sectors most active in exports and international partnerships.

Armed with this information – we interviewed 15 leaders across the highest ranking sectors: Automotive, Technology, Healthcare, Finance, Retail, Aviation, Telecoms, New Energy, Drinks, Marketing Services.

• Three strong chapters (The Makers, The Believers, The Leaders) produced topical, informative, relevant editorial, pictures and statistics and accompanied by a series of compelling short films.
• 38,376 hours of total exposure time.
• 45,000+ Completed Video Views via Bloomberg.com and social
• 5,534 sign-ups to UK DIT site = Strong, verifiable leads
• 10,129 Twitter Actions (replies, retweets, likes, shares)

Whilst many research studies seek to understand shift in brand perceptions, we were attempting to measure shifts in perceptions of a Country. To do this Bloomberg Media partnered with independent research agency DVJ Insights
to understand how effective the content was in positively shifting perceptions and attitudes towards the UK business trading market.
*Outstanding perception results
Bloomberg media positively impacted all 14 key attitudes and perceptions across of the UK business trading market across Europe, America and Asia, notably:
26% increase in those agreeing the UK business trading market has a low cost of doing business
22% increase in those agreeing the UK business trading market has plentiful opportunity across sectors
22% increase in those agreeing the UK business trading market is open to new people and ideas
The content itself also scored strongly, clearly resonating with a global audience: and well outperforming the DVJ Insights Global benchmarks across 7 metrics, notably:
61% agreed “The Believers” was exciting compared to the DVJ Insights top 20% benchmark of 44%

“This work reminded me of how great the UK is when it comes to leading business ideas and innovation. I know the country will find its way during these uncertain times and continue to be a valuable partner for us, and a welcome force within global trade.”

• The campaign generated significant international press coverage, including The Drum, M&M Global, InPublishing, PRWeek US, Digiday US, Customer Experience Magazine, Business Matters