The back story

Dennis Publishing is home to brands such as The Week, Auto Express, Computer Shopper, IT Pro, Viz and many more across the Automotive, Finance, Current affairs, Lifestyle and Technology sectors.

Dennis stands squarely behind its brand promise of ‘brilliantly different’ and is dedicated to growing Britain’s best loved media brands, restlessly innovating across different platforms to bring audiences new sources of inspiration, information and entertainment. It had recently been acquired by Private Equity powerhouse Exponent who had huge ambitions for the brand, including expansion into the US market.

 

117%
increase in revenue 2019
1,419%
increase in profit 2019

 

The quest

Competing with the global search and social platforms for media spend is becoming increasingly important for Dennis. As these platforms develop and improve, they’re able to target audiences with a scale and efficiency that’s very difficult to compete with.

Using AI, Dennis’s new platform allowed marketers to find, nurture and grow their own leads and opportunities. By bringing together Dennis’s unique blend of audience knowledge and deep subject matter expertise, the platform made advertisers less dependent on simply buying leads from the major platforms and instead offered a more effective and sustainable approach to generating opportunities.

Dennis wanted to move clients away from a world of volume-based lead creation and towards a world of intelligent demand generation.

Our brief was to name the new offering, develop and brand and story, and launch it to the market.

We set out to:

  • Develop a name, story and brand identity for this new division of Dennis publishing.
  • Deliver 50% revenue growth in targeted sectors.
  • Reframe lead generation conversations away from targeting, CTRs and PPC pricing and towards real opportunities and sales conversations.

 

Nowse Product Launch, 2019.

 

The audience

Primary – Media agencies serving clients in the IT and Automotive sectors. Media Planners and Client Account Directors.

Secondary – Advertisers across the IT and Automotive buying sectors. Marketing Managers.

 

Insights

  • Cramming more leads into your sales funnel is the junk food of today’s marketing departments.
  • It bloats sales funnels making them difficult to manage.
  • It’s addictive, creating a desire for even more leads tomorrow.
  • It’s unsustainable as everyone’s simply fighting over the same opportunities.

 

Strategy

A simpler, more sustainable approach to demand generation. Building opportunities, not just harvesting them. Not simply targeting people, but moving them.

 

The organising story

Don’t just find people. Move them.

We told a story born from the insights we’d gathered during our research phase: painting a picture of traditional lead generation as the junk food of today’s marketing departments – a bad diet that’s unsustainable, empty and ultimately damaging. We showed how by taking Nowse’s healthier approach, marketers could create opportunities, not just harvest them.

 

Nowse Product Launch, 2019.

 

Activation

  • New name – We called the business Nowse, alluding to their intelligent and insight-driven approach, and positioning them as the intelligent choice for the commercially savvy marketer.
  • New Identity – We created a fresh and unique brand and visual identity inspired by the organising story.
  • New guidelines.
  • New brand film.
  • New website.
  • New sales collateral.
  • PR launch and press release.
  • Webinars.
  • Internal launch. Deskdrops and sales tools provided to help everyone at Dennis share this new story with their clients.
  • Industry launch event at the Gherkin with attendance from media agencies targeting our key sectors.

 

 

“In my career, I’ve found it very rare to come across an agency that delivers meaningful strategic inputs, cut-through creativity, and excellent account management, but Rooster Punk absolutely has these bases covered… and then some!”

John Webb, Managing Director at Nowse

 

 

Storynomics

  • Nowse has enabled Dennis to grow their B2B Tech business by +117% in revenue over the course of 2019 with profit simultaneously increasing by 1,419%.
  • Using Nowse, Dennis diversified revenue streams across key accounts, allowing them to retain business quarter-on-quarter and build strategic platforms into 2020 and beyond.
  • Dennis is now a shortlisted partner for a number of key accounts where Dennis previously didn’t have any relationships.
  • Nowse has been shortlisted for several OPA awards.
  • Nowse has changed the conversation from short-term considerations such as lead volumes and price, to a longer-term partnership focus on sustainability and quality.