Approva Corporation

Company: Approva Corporation, Reston, VA
Entry Submitted By: DBC PR
Company Description: Approva’s the leading provider of continuous controls monitoring (CCM) software and the industry standard for 3 of the 5 largest audit firms and approx. 200 of the world’s largest companies. Founded in 2001, Approva automates IT and financial controls for all major applications companies use to run their business, helping reduce risk, prevent fraud, lower costs and identify areas of improvement.
Nomination Category: Marketing Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Marketing Campaign of the Year - For a Product

Nomination Title: Approva Corporation – “I Love a Good Audit”

1. Tell the story about this nominated campaign since January 1 2009 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

Let’s face it, enterprise software isn’t sexy. On top of that, enterprise
software dealing with auditing and Sarbanes-Oxley Act financial reporting
compliance – even less sexy. However, Approva Corporation, which sells
governance, risk and compliance software to folks like internal auditors and
controllers at large corporations, understood that accounting is the chosen
profession of these people – and many of them love what they do.

Rather than do what most enterprise software companies (e.g. SAP and Oracle) and
develop jargon-laden product messaging about “flexible, scalable solutions” that
are built with “cutting-edge technology” and serve “mission-critical
applications” within “top global clients”, Approva developed an alternative,
lighthearted campaign to engage their prospective buyers and communicate a
company, product and brand image that was fun, creative, irreverent and playful.
Approva’s bold strategy? Simple: treat your customers like real people and talk
to them in the context of their own needs.

To that end, Approva created its “I Love a Good Audit” marketing campaign and
theme. The company created buttons reading “I Love a Good Audit” that became a
hit at tradeshows and generated word of mouth buzz, while conveying the company
as a fun, creative vendor partner.

The “I Love a Good Audit” campaign and, more generally, the theme of “love” was
further supported by a microsite where people could ‘tell about the first time
they fell in love with their audit’, send e-cards to friends & colleagues and
deliver unexpected love messages to fellow auditors in a
virtual-refrigerator-magnet format. Additionally, Approva closely coordinated
and supported all product marketing through it’s popular blog, Audit Trail,
which provides not only timely, thoughtful commentary on industry trends and
news, but also more off-beat material with an irreverent voice.

In addition to receiving critical acclaim by marketing gurus such as David
Meerman Scott, who featured the campaign in his recent bestseller “World Wide
Rave” the “I Love a Good Audit” campaign contributed to a 50% increase in annual
inquiries and was a major contributor to Approva’s 35% revenue growth.

Approva’s core software solutions, as well as its recent comprehensive product
suite launch, Approva One, were all supported under the “love” marketing theme
umbrella. As such, both Approva as a company and it’s suite of software
solutions have carved out a highly unique and recognizable niche in its
marketplace, particularly versus larger, more traditionally marketed competitors
such as SAP and Oracle.

2. List hyperlinks to any online work samples, news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

'I Love a Good Audit' Microsite:
http://www.iloveagoodaudit.com/

David Meerman Scott ‘World Wide Rave’:
http://www.davidmeermanscott.com/books_wwr.htm

Sample Blog Write-Up of Campaign:
http://marketingisus.com.au/more-on-auditing-i-love-a-good-audit/

Happy 5th Birthday Sarbanes-Oxley Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2ylBKOURtw

Audit Trail Blog:
http://www.approva.net/audittrail/

Approva One Product Microsite:
http://approva.net/one/

Approva Corporate Website:
http://approva.net/

3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the team that carried out this campaign:

Michael Evans, Vice President, Marketing

Michael brings to Approva 14 years of experience in marketing, product
marketing, product management and business strategy.

Prior to Approva, Michael was Vice President of Marketing at Aspen Technology
(NASD: AZPN), a global provider of process modeling, manufacturing optimization
and supply chain management software and services.

Prior to AspenTech, Michael was a consultant at Gemini Consulting focused on
developing corporate strategies for companies in the software, technology and
telecommunications industries.

Michael holds a B.A. degree in economics and classics from Brown University and
an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.