Braintree is the largest Microsoft Dynamics company in Africa with a 27-year track record of successfully growing businesses with technology. DUO Marketing + Communications has consistently worked on building brand awareness for Braintree, highlighting insights and expertise through thought leadership content, awards, partnership announcements, and case studies. It worked.
While these activities have been successful from a PR and brand awareness perspective, the leadership team still perceived themselves as “little old Braintree” and not a business that can stand shoulder to shoulder with the biggest partners in the world. If this is how the leadership perceived itself, how was it portrayed to the marketplace?
It was time for us to dig in and showcase who Braintree is and what a solid Microsoft partner they are … not just another partner, but a business in the company of, and competition to, giants. This needed a campaign strategy that spoke to heritage, capabilities, expertise and more.
DUO Marketing + Communications’ proprietary Concept-Content-Implementation Integrated Campaign approach came to the fore, and the results were outstanding.
Strategy and Innovation
Sometimes the strategy is innovation. We approached the problem with what we knew: Braintree is the largest Microsoft Dynamics company in Africa with a 27-year track record. It delivers multiple solutions in a short space of time with enterprise-level expertise. It produces world-class solutions, whether on-site or in the cloud. It deployed and maintains flexible solutions through long-term partnerships. Braintree has 150 employees and partners and conducts 40% of its business throughout the rest of Africa. It has an excellent staff retention rate, known for boomerang rehires. It is an award-winning business with a presence in the UK, with current, ongoing expansion.
This all adds up to a serious player, not a “little old Braintree”. We asked: How do we make this apparent to the business leadership, and the marketplace, in an authentic and believable way?
Through DUO’s Integrated Campaign approach: Concept, content, implementation
DUO’s fundamental belief is that no strategy will hold unless it is underpinned by a strong concept, a North Star so to speak, which guides, orientates, roots and influences the content and how, and where, it is used (tactics) for the biggest impact.
Concept
Our strategist asked: What’s in a name? Everything, as it turns out. Trees can symbolise many things: Growth, consistency, renewal, regeneration, strength, wisdom, prosperity and more.
The Braintree logo, a stylised tree with
a network of leaves, conjures these concepts, and when coupled with the name, it suggests knowledge.
Looking at what we already knew about Braintree, we decided to look beyond the tree.
Trees have extensive and deep root systems that aren’t visible, but are fundamental to the tree. Banyan trees have extensive root systems, the “Banyan Tree of Calcutta” has a root system that spans 14,500 square metres and has engulfed a nearby temple and lake. Baobabs have huge root systems to tap into water sources deep beneath the ground. Oaks have tap roots that extend far deeper below the ground surface than the tree stands above it.
Now, we know what a tree symbolises. For this campaign, we chose to amplify this and leverage the concept of roots to land our messaging of Braintree being an established leader in the industry.
- Braintree: Deeply Rooted
- Braintree: Deeply Rooted in Expertise
- Braintree: Deeply Rooted in the Best Solutions
- Braintree: Deeply Rooted in Success
- Braintree: Deeply Rooted in Partnerships
Content
A concept comes to life with the content. And so, we put our industry expert and professional journalist writers to work and developed content which showcased that Braintree, the established Microsoft Dynamics leader in Africa, is deep-rooted in success, the best solutions, expertise and impac
tful partnerships. Braintree, driving business transformation for almost three decades… and still growing. Businesses of all sizes have chosen Braintree for almost three decades because of it being deeply rooted in what matters to businesses.
The content was emotive yet factual. It was laced with metaphor yet grounded in proof points.
Implementation
We knew that for the entire leadership team to get on board, and for the market to sit up and take notice, we needed to feature the MD, Heath Huxtable, and reach B2B customers in various industries including retail, FMCG and enterprise.
The target was to increase brand awareness for Braintree – as a big, serious player with a strong heritage. Ultimately, and in line with how DUO is innovating in bridging the gap between PR and lead generation, build the foundation towards focused lead generation over the next financial year (2025) and beyond.
The implementation strategy involved a carefully curated mix of sponsored content (advertorials), social media promotion, and traditional PR activities to amplify results. DUO measured success through reads, clicks, and website visits, tracked via Google Analytics.
Impact/ ROI
Phase 1 included Forbes Africa & Business24:
On Forbes Africa, a Braintree advertorial, titled “Talent, Time And Customer Retention At The Root Of Business Strategy,” was published on the Forbes Africa website and promoted through their social media platforms.
- The advertorial reached 436 unique users, with a view rate of 1.31 per user.
- The campaign achieved 195,303 impressions and reached 99,284 individuals across Facebook, LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram.
- Social media performance varied:
- LinkedIn was the best performing platform with 84,507 impressions and 28,116 individuals reached, with a click-through rate (CTR) of 0.31%.
- X (Twitter) had 68,529 impressions and reached 47,203 individuals.
- Facebook saw 14,651 impressions and reached 7,624 individuals, with a high CTR of 1.74% and an engagement rate of 3.34%.
- Instagram generated 27,633 impressions, reaching 16,149 individuals.
- Website traffic from Forbes Africa resulted in 10 sessions, with a 40% engagement rate.
- Business24:
- A social display ad campaign ran for two weeks and resulted in 80,234 impressions, with a CTR of 1.77% and 99.81% viewability.
- The News24 mobile app had the most impressions (32,705), while the City Press mobile app had the highest CTR (3.1%).
Phase 2 included Intelligent CIO Africa & Business24:
On Intelligent CIO Africa:
- An advertorial and a full-page ad were published in the December print edition.
- The campaign resulted in 7 sessions, with an engagement rate of 83.33% and 39 event counts.
- Banners on the Intelligent CIO website generated 13,489 impressions and 37 clicks, leading to 22 sessions, a 45.45% engagement rate, and 78 event counts.
- The full-page ad resulted in 6 sessions, an 83.33% engagement rate, and 36 event counts.
- Business24:
- The advertorial went live on 3 December, with 9 sessions, a 55.56% engagement rate, and 72 event counts.
- The advertorial had 4,962 unique page views and an average read time of over 2 minutes, exceeding the benchmark.
- Companion banner ads generated 212 sessions with 105 engaged sessions and 845 event counts.
Added value and editorial content:
DUO created editorial content, off the concept of Deeply Rooted, resulting in:
- 16 pieces of earned coverage achieved off one editorial article, in addition to 3 broadcast interviews.
- Additional value included an A4 full-page banner in Intelligent CIO and running advertorials and banners in Business24 for an extended period.
Highlights
The campaign did exceptionally well for the very first integrated campaign for Braintree. Editorial content that is aligned to advertorial content is a good recipe for success, extending the digital campaign into the earned media space. The strong concept-content-implementation methodology demonstrates how IT services companies, operating in a niche environment, can amplify other channels.
DUO prides itself in only using the best writers available – with extensive media experience. The editorial content secured fantastic Tier 1 media interviews for Braintree, while the additional value added advert and advertorial placement extended the campaign beyond the initial timeframe. DUO, through extensive experience with other clients, made suggestions to Braintree to conduct testing on different platforms to find the unique sweet spot, which is the runway needed to head towards lead generation.
The integrated campaign helped graduate the Braintree team not just in how they perceived their own brand, but in how they perceive PR in the modern world. With a new appreciation for the power of integrated campaigns, Braintree’s team is now seeing PR for what it is: So much more than classic articles and media relations. Most importantly, it has set Braintree on the path towards genuine, content-driven lead generation as part of a broader PR and communications strategy.
