Siemens' new ad campaign tells how it's helping firms innovate, cut costs

Building emotional connections with the end consumer has long been at the heart of most business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing. Things are not so simple for business-to-business (B2B) marketers. They ultimately need to reach business decision makers, who have their own set of influencers ranging from internal/cross-functional committees to outside consultants. This framework entails a certain “distance” between the marketer and his customer and assumes that decisions are more “rational” than “emotional”.

In short, a B2B marketers need to offer a strong “reason why” to the consumer and create “excitement” around their brands too. Technology giant Siemens has addressed the twin issues with a new campaign ‘Ingenuity for Life’. Spanning digital and out of home, the campaign puts the spotlight on the digital solutions the firm offers to industries as diverse as automotive, pharmaceuticals and infrastructure. The creatives highlight three different case studies to highlight the role that the company is playing in improving consumers’ lives at large. 

The first digital film features carmaker Mahindra & Mahindra and establishes how Siemens’ technology solutions are playing a critical role to help the company produce affordable vehicles. The second film cites Wonder Cement as a case study to highlight how the cement player is contributing to infrastructure development while saving energy and cost, again by leveraging Siemens’ solutions. The third film in the digital series demonstrates how pharma giant Cipla is using Siemens products to make superior quality medicine at an affordable cost. 

Explaining the background, Ramya Rajagopalan, head of communications, Siemens India, says, “The digital films drive our focus on electrification, automation and digitisation. Being a B2B company, most of the time consumers do not know the important role that we play to power services they experience. The goal is to show how we benefit the end consumer.”

In a sense, the campaign also demystifies Siemens, the brand. The company is largely associated with heavy equipment and machinery. This campaign shows there is more to Siemens — it provides digital solutions to 23 sectors including energy, aviation etc. Brainstorming sessions at the company leading up to the campaign focused on out how to humanise the communication.

And that’s the big challenge its creative agency Ogilvy & Mather had to address. Harsh Bhatt, senior vice-president, Ogilvy & Mather Advertising Mumbai, says that for more than 165 years, Siemens has been a technology leader customers could depend on. But in the era of digitalisation, the scale of the challenges and opportunities has moved beyond engineering and innovation. Therefore, “the focus of the messaging was to make Siemens relevant to the B2B customer and instill a sense of confidence, empowerment and optimism that Siemens is the right partner in every function through the production process”, says Bhatt. 

The campaign required stitching three different stories from respective verticals to bind a common purpose and vision. It entailed shooting at multiple factory locations, covering complex machinery and processes.

The media-mix for the ‘Ingenuity for Life’ campaign is restricted to digital (60 per cent) and OOH (40 per cent). Rajagopalan reasons that a B2B brand does not need a mass reach as offered by TV at a high cost. Digital media offers high recall and stickiness promising a more targeted audience. And, billboards at airports will help promote visibility. 

Siemens has set up 20 MindSphere Application Centres at 50 locations worldwide, with four centres in India. 

Each centre, which specialises in a particular vertical market, co-creates digital applications with customers. These digital solutions are developed using MindSphere, Siemens’ open, cloud-based operating system for IoT. 

The company is currently pursuing 100 plus digitisation pilot projects with 150 odd clients. Siemens leverages its MindSphere centres to showcase its digital products and solutions and demonstrate to consumers how these offerings can help them transform and digitise their existing plants and facilities without disrupting operations.