MRM Worldwide is a full-service direct and interactive marketing solutions agency that works with customers on leading edge media campaigns. The agency employs 2,000 employees with 64 offices located in 37 countries. In late 2006, MRM Worldwide undertook an initiative to increase the level and quality of internal corporate communications with the company's worldwide offices and employees in 2007.
Working with Insidedge, a team of employee communications specialists, MRM Worldwide decided to hold a worldwide webcast as the most efficient and effective way to simultaneously speak with teams around the world. For MRM Worldwide, a live video webcast would have the "personal connection" that a conventional conference call didn't have, while being logistically simpler than a live meeting. Furthermore, the webcast would be recorded for replay by those unable to attend the live event due to time zone issues.
As MRM Worldwide didn't have the internal resources to plan and produce the webcast, MRM Worldwide sought a company that could provide an end-to-end solution that could enable all the global offices to be connected. Based on Insidedge's recommendation, MRM Worldwide selected ON24 Inc., a leading webcasting and rich media marketing solutions company, to produce the webcast.
"Each time we inquired about the best webcasting service provider, the response was that ON24 was the best company to consider," stated Ann Melinger, Vice President of Insidedge.
On May 2, 2007, MRM Worldwide held a live streaming video webcast originating from New York and London to the company's 64 offices globally. ON24 provided the following solutions:
- ON24 Webcast Center: Recording from studios in New York and London, ON24 converted the audio and video streams and broadcasted the webcast live to over 60 offices worldwide.
- Interactivity: ON24 provided MRM Worldwide with the ability to hold a live, email Q&A session. As executives located in New York or London responded, ON24's scalable and reliable platform enabled MRM Worldwide to smoothly transition from one location to another in real-time.
On the day of the event, everything worked very smoothly, with some employees watching the live video webcast late at night. Nearly 60 percent of all company employees viewed the event live, with an archive of the webcast saved to the company's intranet for new employees. Due to the success of this live video webcast, MRM Worldwide plans to incorporate live video webcasting as part of the company's internal communications strategy.
"This live video webcast was something that we couldn't do ourselves. We were very happy that in hands of an experienced and professional company, in combination with our communications specialist, Insidedge, this event was a success. ON24 alleviated my concerns about the technology and logistics so I could focus on the content."
- Bradley Starr, Chief People Office with MRM Worldwide
