Media relations campaigns are fundamental to most high-level PR engagements because they support a company’s leadership messaging and positioning. The national Media Relations Awards from PR Daily honor the best of the best in this arena. This year, we are proud of our First Place award in the competition’s Thought Leadership Campaign category for our work with Rabobank.
Based in the Netherlands, Rabobank is a well-known financial services leader throughout Europe. In North America, it needed to enhance its reputation as a provider of a range of financial services to the agriculture and food industries.
“We knew that Rabobank had deep sector knowledge that would resonate with its target audience of executive decision makers, given the right media strategy and execution,” noted Bob Musinski, CBD’s Vice President who leads the agency’s Rabobank PR team. “So we created a thought leadership campaign leveraging media relations and social media tactics to demonstrate the bank’s unrivaled expertise, which resulted in extensive high-value media placements and substantial progress against social media KPIs.”
Musinski added that pitching subject matter experts to provide their perspective on major breaking news as it happens was one of the primary means by which CBD was able to connect Rabobank analysts with journalists at outlets including Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and Bloomberg. The campaign delivered scores of media interviews with these top outlets and 74 earned placements.
The social media strategy was designed to build audiences and engagement for Rabobank’s Twitter and LinkedIn platforms, with the goal of reaching prospective clients, prospects and influencers across each of Rabobank’s key sectors. Twitter became an ideal medium to connect with top national and trade media reporters, while also amplifying Rabobank content and media hits. LinkedIn saw a dramatic year-over-year increase of 2,408 new followers, increasing total audience size by 49 percent YOY in 2018.
“Rabobank has a large team of highly respected analysts covering virtually all food and ag sectors,” said Lori Colman, CBD Marketing’s Co-CEO. “The media coverage our team has enabled is truly gratifying and we are honored to receive this very competitive, national award.”
About CBD Marketing: CBD is a Chicago-based integrated, digital-first marketing and advertising agency that builds strong connections between brands and the hearts and minds of their customers. Founded in 1988, CBD serves national and global clients in manufacturing, energy, appliances, food, building products, education, retail, financial services and other industries. Companies and organizations count on CBD to Market What’s Meaningful, building more intimate and profitable relationships in emotional and rational ways.
Contact:
Jean Ban
CBD Marketing
jban@cbdmarketing.com
312-661-1050 (O)
312-259-4648 (C)