Molex - Reputation/Brand Management Campaign of the Year

Company: Molex, Lisle, IL USA
Entry Submitted By: HetzelMeade Communications
Company Description: Molex is a global electronics leader committed to making our world a better, more-connected place. With presence in more than 40 countries, Molex enables transformative technology innovation in the automotive, data center, industrial automation, healthcare, 5G, cloud and consumer device industries.
Nomination Category: Communications & Marketing Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Reputation/Brand Management

Nomination Title: Molex Thought Leadership Brand Campaign

Specify the date on which this campaign or program was launched: October 2020

Molex has been in business for more than 80 years, and is recognized globally as an industry-leading provider of interconnect solutions. However, a challenge for marketing stemmed from the fact that Molex traditionally focused on promoting and supporting approximately 100,000 products rather than positioning itself as an industry thought leader.

Another barrier is the traditionally unassuming role that connectors have played in the electronics industry. Often described as “invisible” parts, connectors must work flawlessly to ensure seamless communications and data services. Of late, this backseat position is changing as the demand to connect everything in our digital-first world continues to grow exponentially.

Connectivity solutions are fast becoming front-and-center topics that impact nearly every megatrend relevant today: 5G, connected health, connected home, connected mobility, IoT, etc. In electrified vehicles, for example, high-speed connectors perform critical functions, and have been described as forming the central nervous system of tomorrow’s connected cars.

The genesis of this campaign was to capitalize on the ever-increasing role of connectors while raising awareness about Molex’s momentum in driving major innovations in this area. The Molex Thought Leadership Brand Reputation campaign was conceived to elevate Molex’s participation in emerging industry conversations by sharing opinions and ideas of distinguished executives and seasoned subject matter experts.

Over time, the program will evolve to influence the direction of important industry conversations. To accomplish this, a global marketing, communications and PR team are developing compelling, concise and consistent commentary that complements a multi-faceted strategic marketing and brand reputation management program.

Molex’s Thought Leadership Brand campaign kicked off with a customer satisfaction survey in November 2020, followed by a strategic brand perception workshop in December. The customer survey polled 400+ current customers to better understand their reasons for purchasing from Molex along with perceived brand position, including product value, quality, engineering innovation and partnership focus.

Molex’s current brand position was analyzed in relation to customer personas and needs, customer buying journey, employee perceptions, competitive movements, technology evolution, divisional investment strategies, product portfolio, target verticals and business culture.

In parallel, Molex developed a topical thought leadership program to elevate the company’s perspectives on megatrend topics. A calendar of monthly thought leadership topics was created and aligned with each division to establish a regular cadence of survey data, infographics, blogs, bylines and customer case studies.

A steady drumbeat of surveys, infographics, podcasts, press releases and blogs, starting in January 2021, drove an uptick in news coverage, website traffic, blog subscriptions and social-media engagement. In June 2021, the new Molex brand awareness program launched internally, underscored by a compelling new tagline:Creating Connections for Life.

The new brand focus also was portrayed in an internal video that presents the Molex story using emotive, personal imagery and storylines about how Molex technology improves everyday lives, creates a safer future and enables faster, reliable access. A worldwide digital ad campaign was launched to expose business and industry media readers to new assets supporting the stories. A phased rollout of additional assets and extended communications is underway.

Since January 2021, Molex has executed monthly thought leadership campaigns to address top megatrends; half of those campaigns were augmented with market surveys to drive news coverage. To date, the company experienced a 65% increase in users to the thought leadership section of its website, with a total of 111,000 visitors to date.

Additionally, the company has amassed 432 pieces of coverage, totaling nearly 5.4B in potential online audience reach. Also, 543 downloads to gated content were attributed to the thought leadership efforts. Molex executives have participated in the thought leadership program, including Joe Nelligan, CEO; Mike Giresi, Chief Digital Officer; Mike Bloomgren, SVP, President, Transportation & Industrial Solutions; Don Hnatyshin, SVP, Chief Supply Chain Officer; Paul Chaffin, President, Medical and Pharmaceutical Solutions; and Aldo Lopez, President, Datacom Solutions.

The program’s success has been reflected in strong internal traction as over 3,500 employees have viewed new brand resources, including the video and bi-weekly newsletter,The Download,nearly 26,000 times. Customer and prospect engagement are on the rise since January. Nearly 50,000 unique page views of new branding and thought leadership landing pages have been recorded to date.

Increased engagement with the Molex website has resulted in 8 million+ sessions with more than 5 million users, resulting in a 3% to 4% increase in visitors and 6% in organic traffic over the past six months. Sales enablement and engagement have been impacted positively as new assets have been used effectively to support lead- and demand-generation activities.

Reference any attachments of supporting materials (REDACTED)

Brand Presentation:
This presentation was used to align Molex’s executive team with the goals. Deliverables and timelines associated with the thought leadership brand awareness program. This asset ensured consensus around the program elements, timelines, resources and budget required to execute the program successfully worldwide.

Select slides from Strategic Marketing Update:
Select slides have been pulled from a presentation delivered to executive leadership in July 2021 to share the vision for strategic marketing while providing a series of references and results of the program execution to date.

Internal Brand Video:Creating Connections for Life
Creating Connections for Life - YouTube
This video is the first of a series of internal assets designed to convey how the Molex storyline can be elevated to tell a more compelling story about the role of Molex connectors in transforming how we live, work and play.

Sample News Coverage Report: From Automotive thought leadership campaign executed in January 2021.
This report encapsulates represents 110 pieces of coverage with a total potential audience reach of 1.59B, representing two announcements issued as part of the January thought leadership campaign. The first announcement, issued January 6th, summarized findings of Molex’s global automotive survey on the “Car of the Future.” The second announcement, issued on January 27th, unveiled sensor innovations in automotive active noise cancellation to improve safety and driving experiences.

Brand Book:
This internal resource explains the new brand and why it is critical to Molex’s business goals.