EY

A BETTER WORKING WORLD

Overview

Best known for its history as one of the Big 4 global audit firms, EY sold off its consulting practice in the early 2000s and was out of the business for nearly a decade. Upon re-launching a new consulting practice, the firm needed to build awareness and educate new buyers among new and existing clients. EY’s traditional audit buyers (the CFO and CEO) held the company in high regard, but their colleagues in operations, innovation, marketing and transformation didn’t see EY as a go-to partner. EY’s root in audit made it well-positioned to consult clients on risk management, operational excellence, and big transformation projects. The firm needed a new go-to market strategy and a messaging platform to target new buyers with a high degree of relevance. Together, we launched NextWave Consumer Financial Services, a thought leadership platform designed to promote the firm’s expertise around the future of the financial services industry.

Approach

To differentiate NextWave, we decided to focus on the consumer of financial services as a driver of change in an industry (e.g. banking) that was struggling to deliver alpha. The strategy enabled us to move from the back to the front office in telling stories about the future of the industry. We approached Reuters under embargo with advanced access to the storyline, which enabled them to publish first and more in-depth on the day of the launch. The coverage in Reuters led to pick-up in The New York Times, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal, to name a few. To amplify the NextWave message, we launched a paid campaign on LinkedIn targeting CXO prospects at large banking and insurance companies in New York, Chicago, Charlotte and Los Angeles.