PHD Overthrow II website: fast adoption of thought-leadership content

The challenge

As a leader in their field, PHD create a number of well-respected thought-leadership publications. 2019 saw the launch of the book ‘Overthrow II’, written in conjunction with eatbigfish, a follow up to the successful ‘Overthrow’ published in 2012. The theme of Overthrow is challenger brands – disruptors in established industries that change the way companies and people think and behave in their sector.

In an effort to ensure Overthrow II received quick adoption with their target market, PHD wanted to focus on finding opportunities within their digital channels. To ensure this brief was met, Profound presented a multi-channel solution that included a content website to host key content assets, a content marketing campaign and an owned e-commerce channel.

The plan

The main content website was built using WordPress and had a pre- and post-book launch version to create a sense of anticipation for the launch. This was supported with a Shopify store that allowed a ‘buy now’ button to be overlaid into the WordPress site.

The content marketing campaign was split into two focus areas – before the launch and after the launch. The pre-launch campaign had an online quiz aligning with the book theme of ‘Challenger Types’. The campaign encouraged social media users and event attendees to:

  • take the quiz
  • find out their challenger type
  • sign up to an email campaign to find out more about their challenger type.

The final email of this workflow culminated with the launch of the book. This automated email campaign had a supporting workflow that displayed paid remarketing adverts across social media to those who had received emails but not engaged with the call-to-actions. Subscribers who completed the engagement cycle received a discount code to use on the book through the Shopify store.

The post-launch campaign is ongoing and engages with campaign subscribers and book purchasers to promote events and workshops. The goal here is to drive deeper engagement with the content and PHD as a brand.

Value delivered

The pre-launch campaign saw 24% of all quiz-takers sign up for more information. These quiz takers then presented an average engagement rate of 42% across the email content and 12% click-through-rate on call-to-actions. This was a much higher engagement rate than anticipated.

The book sold 340 copies over the first 4 months of launch, with 76 of these being through the owned Shopify e-commerce store, which was a conversion rate of 7.7%.

What the client said...

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