You’ve heard about a win-win situation. How about a win-win-win-win situation?
The Ecopreneurs, a documentary-style video campaign from Salesforce and FORTUNE Brand Studio, is one:
- Win 1: The series earned a record response from Salesforce+ streaming viewers.
- Win 2: Climate-action entrepreneurs and organizations featured in the series grew their reach and raised more money.
- Win 3: The audience of The Ecopreneurs got to see, hear, and read amazing stories.
- Win 4: The Ecopreneurs was named Best Integration of Purposeful Marketing and Best B2B Branded Content Campaign at the 2023 Content Marketing Awards. It’s also a finalist for Project of the Year and propelled FORTUNE Brand Studio’s Megan Gilbert onto the list of 2023 Content Marketer of the Year finalists.
Let’s explore this multi-victorious campaign.
The Ecopreneurs campaign from @Salesforce and @FortuneBranded earned record-setting audiences. @AnnGynn explains how via @CMIContent. Click To TweetThe Ecopreneurs video campaign
An ecopreneur is “an environmentally minded entrepreneur who leads and drives climate action worldwide,” according to the documentary.
The Ecopreneurs follows innovative thinkers across the globe to profile their work in the field. The 11-episode series takes viewers on trips, from going under the water to see regenerated seascapes (90% of the Earth’s coral reefs are in danger of dying by 2050) to having a bird’s-eye view of 15,000-foot peaks in the Andes Mountains to glimpse some of the rarest and most remote ecosystems on Earth threatened by climate change.
The 11-episode The Ecopreneurs series follows innovative thinkers across the globe to profile their work in climate action, says @AnnGynn via @CMIContent. Click To TweetIn the 10-minute episodes, viewers not only see the landscape positively affected by the ecopreneur but also hear from the innovators themselves to understand the problem they’re working to solve.
But the campaign isn’t limited to video. The FORTUNE Brand Studio and Salesforce teams packaged all their research, interviews, images, and videos into a content hub for each episode.
Each episode includes a short overview video and a featured quote from the profiled ecopreneur.
Episode three, for example, features the work at Acción Andina: “High in the Andes, climate change threatens forests and glaciers as well as the millions who depend on them for water. See how Acción Andina is reforesting this mountain range to save an ecosystem – and a way of life.”
The featured quote comes from Constantino “Tino” Accua, president of Acción Andina: “Who are the ecopreneurs? It’s us: local communities, native communities, local stakeholders, and other partners trying to do real action on the ground to protect this planet.”
Viewers can watch the full-length video on Salesforce’s streaming platform (Salesforce+) and explore the organization and topic. In this episode, Salesforce and FORTUNE Brand Studio surround the video with detailed articles about the mission and work of Acción Andina, an explanation of how restoring forests in the Andes can temper the climate crisis and support a culture.
It also includes a Q&A with the ecopreneur (Tino Aucca), which doesn’t appear in the video, and takes viewers behind the scenes of the episode to see how they gathered the story on the ground.
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The Ecopreneurs impact
“The Ecopreneurs focuses on personal stories to demonstrate a global commitment to climate action while appealing to audiences outside traditional B2B areas,” according to FORTUNE and Salesforce. It was “crafted to celebrate achievements and inspire action in future generations of ecopreneurs.”
The long-form, character-based storytelling approach, and its related content were distributed through dark posts on FORTUNE’S channels and native promotion on Fortune.com.
According to their award nomination, The Ecopreneurs campaign met or beat all KPIs and objectives, including promoting Salesforce’s core value of sustainability, driving organic traffic to Salesforce+, and demonstrating the world of possibilities in branded B2B content.
The series ranks No. 1 in average monthly views for Salesforce+ exclusive shows. It also leads all shows in the percent of video viewed and exceeded benchmarks in the view rate, total watch time, and average watch time, with the No. 1 and No. 2 most-watched episodes on Salesforce+.
The Ecopreneurs episodes on Salesforce+ rank No. 1 in average monthly views. It also has the first and second most-watched episodes on the streaming platform.
In addition to Salesforce+, they released the first episode – SeaTrees – on YouTube, where it’s amassed more than 3.3 million views to date.
The Ecopreneurs campaign also brought attention to the entrepreneurs and organizations featured in the series. All have benefited from increased awareness, social followers, volunteers, employees, and/or monetary investments.
SeaTrees organization’s audience increased by 7 million, and its income grew by 80% after the episode’s debut. It also received its first $1 million donation, according to FORTUNE and Salesforce.
Acción Andina’s Tino Aucca was named a Champion of the Earth by the United Nations. He also spoke and screened his episode of The Ecopreneurs at Davos, the annual conference of the World Economic Forum.
Powerful storytelling wins more than the content game
Powerful stories told in visually engaging ways and through multiple formats not only grab an audience’s attention but inspire them. Through The Ecopreneurs series, Salesforce and FORTUNE Brand Studio created content that did just that. They achieved their business goals, and the audience was inspired in part to support the profiled organizations and entrepreneurs.
Those triumphs are worth the celebration.
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
