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ON24 Targets ‘Dummies’ with Smart Campaign

July 29th, 2011

ON24 Receives Marketing Innovation Award from Merkle/CMO Council

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.—July 29, 2011—ON24, the global leader in webcasting and virtual event solutions, has announced that the company was awarded a 2011 Marketing Innovation Award for the marketing and branding campaign featuring its Virtual Events For Dummies.

The award was presented to ON24 by customer relationship marketing agency Merkle and the CMO Council, a global network of over 6,000 senior corporate marketing leaders and brand decision-makers. It recognizes the brand that puts science into marketing through the use of innovative multi-channel mix optimization and measurement to engage customers.

The Marketing Innovation Awards were designed to celebrate the accomplishments of companies which effectively drive integrated customer marketing through smart technology and enterprise-wide marketing process integration, as exemplified by the Virtual Events For Dummies campaign. The call to action throughout the campaign was to download the book that ON24 co-authored with Wiley, which publishes the “Dummies” series.

Campaign Components
The campaign was kicked off with a virtual event, the VUE Virtual Events User Experience, in December. The event featured as “emcee” rap star and social media pioneer MC Hammer, as well as senior-level speakers from 14 companies, including CA Technologies, IBM, Cisco, Fiserv and Oracle, who shared tips and tactics on successfully implementing virtual events.

The event registrants subsequently became members of a new online community for virtual event professionals, allowing them to “continue the conversation” by networking with peers and sharing best practices. In addition, in 2011 the program continued with a 12 million-impression online campaign with rich media ads on premium business and trade media sites, premium news sites, blogs and targeted ad networks.

Campaign Results
As a result of its campaign, ON24 achieved the exceptional results that led to the recognition from the CMO Council and Merkle:

  • An event digital marketing campaign incorporating social media and direct customer and prospect outreach generated significant buzz—and more than 4,000 event registrations.
  • An associated PR campaign resulted in extensive media coverage, achieving 57 million media impressions and $3.2 million in advertising equivalencies.
  • Some 7,800 copies of Virtual Events For Dummies were downloaded.

“We are thrilled that our Virtual Events For Dummies campaign was recognized by the CMO Council and Merkle,” stated Denise Persson, CMO of ON24. “As the industry leader in virtual events, ON24’s goal is to provide useful tools and guidance to marketers. Not only did we deliver a comprehensive how-to guide for virtual events, but we also created a professional community in the virtual events space. In so doing, we are illustrating how virtual events can achieve significant ROI.”

About Virtual Events For Dummies and the VUE
As part of the iconic “For Dummies” series, Virtual Events For Dummies explains in simple terms how to create a successful online event. This downloadable e-book makes virtual events easier – covering all aspects of virtual event production, including content creation, promotion, securing attendance, generating leads, and, ultimately, delivering ROI.

The VUE online community for virtual events professionals is tailored for those who use or want to learn about virtual events as a way to communicate with customers, prospects, partners and employees. Featuring a message board, videos, the latest Twitter feeds and other interactive content, the objective of the VUE community is to enhance the value of members’ online events.

About ON24, Inc.
The recognized global market share leader, ON24 provides webcasting and virtual environments for corporate communications and demand generation. The ON24 platform is a complete Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) cloud offering; no deployment resources or audience downloads are required. ON24 offers fully integrated, enterprise-wide solutions for applications ranging from partner expos, user conferences and trade shows to training, sales enablement and company town hall meetings. More than 750 organizations, including IBM, Cisco, CA Technologies, Merck, AstraZeneca, Fiserv, Credit Suisse, GE and Oracle, rely on ON24. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices throughout the world. For more information, visit www.ON24.com.