Background

Headquartered in Germany, ngena (next generation network alliance) provides a global platform that merges the local networks of all the company’s global telco partners, forming a single Software-Defined Network (SDN). Leveraging the advantages of virtualization technology and automation, ngena facilitates a flexible end-to-end configuration and provisioning of all services, thereby enabling local alliance partners to deliver consistent data connectivity services to their enterprise customers on a global scale.

The ngena solution is built on Cisco technology, and in 2019 they formalized their Cisco partnership. As part of this elevated partner level, ngena was invited to participate in Cisco IMPACT, an annual 4-day event in Las Vegas that attracts more than 18,000 Cisco sellers – including sales representatives and reseller partners. ngena would have a simple white wall-style space with a TV monitor and a pedestal – the same as the other partners who would be exhibiting. Cisco does not allow any giveaways or handouts at the booth. Wanting to have a big impact at the very large and session-packed event, Alisha Attarwala, Senior Marketing Manager at ngena, approached Yeager to help them execute a unique strategy to get attention and drive traffic to their booth. “It was fantastic working with Yeager’s team to brainstorm, design, and execute a highly impactful digital campaign that drove positive attention towards ngena’s brand at Cisco IMPACT – exactly what we aimed!”

Objectives/Goals

Our goal was to drive booth visits from Cisco and partner sales people that would be interested in selling the ngena solution to their customers.

Strategy

There is a lot of activity at the conference, including keynote presentations, informational sessions, and technology demos, so capturing attention and cutting through the noise was a requirement for ngena. Yeager Marketing decided getting out ahead of the event would be a good strategy to help create awareness with attendees and get them thinking about visiting with ngena before the conference, and then reinforcing that awareness during the event.

Ads targeting attendees, before and during the event, spiked in-person and online conversations.

Tactics

Yeager targeted Cisco sales people and partners on LinkedIn with sponsored ads a few days before the event. Then during the event, Yeager would run targeted Google Display and Responsive Search ads to event attendees by geofencing around the Mandalay Bay where the event was being held. Ads were triggered based on search terms focused on Cisco Impact and SD-WAN topics and a broad list of negative keywords were used to ensure proper targeting. All of the ads leveraged the colorful ngena brand and promoted their presence at the event and their booth number. The ads also linked to a landing page on the ngena website to learn more about the company.

Results

Both LinkedIn and Google campaigns both outperformed industry averages by a substantial margin. Over the 4-day ad campaign, Google ad impressions topped 69,000 with over 700 clicks to the landing page. LinkedIn Sponsored Posts topped 8,000 impressions with over 120 clicks to the landing page. The client had more traffic to their booth than other vendors, and was able to have conversations with a few hundred conference attendees.