Company: Thomson Reuters Elite
Company Description: Thomson Reuters Elite offers an end-to-end enterprise business management solution that allows law firms to run all operational aspects of their firms including business development, risk management, client and matter management, and financial management. For over 60 years, we've demonstrated we understand the business and financial aspects of firm operations.
Nomination Category: Marketing Campaign Awards Categories - Industry
Nomination Sub Category: Marketing Campaign of the Year - Legal

Nomination Title: Thomson Reuters Elite: Marketing Campaign of the Year Submission

Tell the story of this nominated marketing campaign for the judges (up to 525 words). Describe the genesis, planning, execution, and results to date of your campaign. If applicable, remember to describe what's unique or innovative about your campaign:

Objective:

Introduce Thomson Reuters Elite’s new business mission to become a full enterprise business management solution (EBMS) within the legal space to over 1200 customers during the June 2012 user conference at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

For many years, Elite has been the leading financial management software provider to large law firms. Over the last 18 months we listened to our customers intently and it was clear they desired additional software solutions that extended horizontally but integrated seamlessly with their existing Elite products to serve four key business process areas: financial management, business development, risk management, and client & matter management. This presented a substantial growth opportunity but also required significant investment to either develop or acquire the necessary solutions to serve their entire legal enterprise.

By June 2012 the necessary acquisitions had been made and new products developed in order to launch the first phase of this transformation to our existing customers.

Strategy:

A multi-tactic launch campaign was developed in conjunction with Ogilvy and Mather and Thomson Reuters Global Creative Services. The strategy was to highlight the benefits Elite now offered in an array of new products that were in fact, asked for by our own customers. The objective was to get existing customers to buy-in to this broader business model, see the new offerings, and investigate the appropriate software applications for their organization. The theme of the campaign used the iconic phrase of the legal profession, “Versus” as a comparative between business and practice effectiveness and the lack of operational transparency and control.

Tactics:

In addition to video, super scaled graphics, program ads, and collateral, new customer touch points were created, both human and digital. A “We’re listening” booth was created; customers were invited to either Tweet or cover the walls with custom post-its with their comments and ideas. Many applications now featured mobile capabilities, so a new user session, “The Exciting World of Elite Mobile” drew standing room only crowds and served as a showcase for many existing and new extended offerings. This generated significant positive feedback verbally and on Twitter.  At the end of the event, people were invited to let their hair down at the finale of the conference which featured a gala party with music by the B52s.

Results:

The campaign has had a significant positive impact on our customer base, evidenced by customer engagement, inquiries and sales.

The We’re Listening initiative generated over 500 digital and paper based responses providing critical customer engagement, insightful metrics and product sales leads.

Versus the 2011 FY, 2012 sales increased by 48%. This put Thomson Reuters Elite at 102% of sales plan, and the best estimate is that 85% of those sales were generated by existing customers.

The momentum of this EBMS launch continues and the Versus campaign has launched to the entirety of the law firm market. Thomson Reuters Elite is the largest provider of financial management, and now, ancillary software solutions to the 100 largest global law firms.

Upload a collection of supporting files and web addresses to our server to provide more background information to the judges. You may upload any number of attachments and URLs through the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above. (Do NOT list your URLs below.)

Provide a brief biography of the leader of the team that planned and executed this marketing campaign (up to 125 words):

Elisabet Hardy, Vice President, Product Marketing

Elisabet is responsible for leading Elite’s Product Management, Marketing and Communications, Product Documentation, and Partner Program Teams. She is accountable for new product development, roadmap, and product life cycle strategies; product integration; market positioning and communications; and pricing strategies and packaging. She has more than 13 years of experience building top-performing product management and product marketing teams for software companies. Recently, Elisabet was Vice President of Product Management & Product Marketing at Approva Corporation, a Virginia-based provider of continuous controls monitoring (CCM) software that enables Fortune 1000 companies to reduce fraud, manage risk, and streamline audits. Elisabet earned a degree in economics from Vaxjo International Business University and also a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Villanova University.