Transforming HK's Data Center Industry: NTT Communications Case Study

1. Core submission documentCampaign CategoriesPR Awards is organised by Marketing magazine, a division of Lighthouse Independent Media Ltd. 2/F Connaught Harbourfront House, 35-36 Connaught Road West, Sheung Wan, Hong KongTel: + 852-2861-1882 Fax: + 852-2861-1336 www.marketing-interactive.com

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3. Entry Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fxUbUWS1C8

4. Challenge • Overview • With more than 50 data centers operating in Hong Kong, NTT Communications (NTT Com) was set to launch its latest data center in the city. It needed a way to showcase the new facility as something unique, local, fresh and new. But the challenge NTT Com faced was a pool of niche media that had lost interest in data center openings. • The agency was tasked with driving awareness among IT decision makers at MNCs and large enterprises headquartered in Hong Kong that NTT Com’s new facility was open for business. The team needed to show that the data center’s innovative construction was designed to deliver cutting-edge services, save energy and cut user costs. Making the sale in hyper competitive HK was a critical step in NTT Com tapping a data center market in Asia Pacific expected to be worth US$65.2 billion by 2019. • Strategically reposition NTT Com’s new data center to drive leads: The successful launch of NTT Com’s first HK data center in the complex, in 2013, was a double-edged sword. It targeted financial services users, now prospects and press misunderstood the new facility’s strategy seeing it as a building upgrade, with limited its appeal to companies outside finance. • Target Audience • Companies that view HK as a gateway to China, Asia and global markets. • Key Competitors • Top-tier data centers in APAC esp. Hong Kong • and Singapore e.g. Equinix, SUNeVision, etc.

5. Strategy • Core Strategy • Shift new data center’s positioning from an infrastructure designed for financial services, to an innovative facility adopting the latest technology that helps enterprises across a wide range of industries with transform digitally. • Cut through the HK press’ data center launch fatigue to drive media conversations and compelling stories on why enterprises should adopt a future-proof data center strategy. Focus on the new facility’s ability to digitally transform customers’ business. • Cut through intense market competition in APAC: there are 50+ data centers in HK alone. • Campaign Concept • Advocate that the new NTT Com data center is not just a technical enhancement of its first facility, nor is it just the opening of a “regular” data center. It is a critical ICT enabler boosting Hong Kong’s bid to be Asia’s regional ICT hub, and a driving force for digital transformation of enterprises across a range of industries – from retail to logistics. • Boil down the new facility’s technical complexity and highlight its value and services for numerous industries by curating a wide range of story narratives. • Go beyond the data center trade press by leveraging the agency’s media relationships to win in-depth coverage across local, regional and global media categories – business, finance, IT, telecoms and the HR-employment sections of daily press. • Create buzz, excitement, coverage and conversations around the data center’s debut.

6. Strategy • Creative Rationale • To give our story the widest reach possible, we needed to hit a number of verticals with our narrative, from business/finance, China& Japan media, IT media, telecoms trade, right through to the HR media. But the topic itself lacked newsworthiness for most media, so we created a number of tailored news story narratives to allow NTT Com to break through the boundaries of the ‘bread and butter’ data center press and broaden the audience. • Narratives we crafted ranged from crafting an investment story for business & finance media which centered around the vision to accelerate digital transformation of enterprises; to a story for China media on the ever growing and changing business needs in Greater China; through to engaging IT media in a discussion around how the new data center can combat regional competition from Singapore, and support the government’s vision to transform the city into an APAC information and communications technology (ICT) hub.

7. Execution Campaign Implementation

8. Results • Made a big impact on data center’s bottom-line by pushing leads through sales pipeline • Provided strong support for NTT Com’s lead generation and repositioning at the beginning of data center’s buyer journey / sales cycle. • 2. Developed excitement around new data center’s capabilities that helped sell 60% of its racks* (4,000 rack capacity in total) within seven months after the launch (as of Jul 2016) – an impressive sales figure given the longer sales cycle of the data center business. • Our earned media approach had far reaching impact • Our earned media approach enabled the story of the new data center to reach far beyond the usual trade media. By keeping close to the media’s needs and agenda, we successfully place a wide spectrum of creative story narratives to meet particular needs of different categories such as local news, business, finance, IT, telecoms, data center, HR media and Japan newswire service. • *Information not to be publicized and disseminated beyond the judging panel in any way.

9. Results • Our campaign helped the new center to effectively target MNCs and large enterprises that see HK as a gateway to China, Asia and global markets. Key highlights include: • 1. Secured 11 in-depth interviews from an extensive range of media categories, including, Computerworld Hong Kong, Bloomberg Businessweek, Data Center Dynamics, Headline Daily (HR section), NIKKEI, HK Economic Journal, HK Economic Journal, Light Reading, Sing Toa Daily (HR section), South China Morning Post and The Asset • 2. Built FDC2’s media visibility in China by facilitating a China Influencers’ Engagement: CBN TV, CFC365, China Data Center Committee, China Information World, Jifang 360 and Xinhua Finance Agency • 3. Reached a wider audience base to complement the vertical media strategy through broadcasting media: ATV news, Commercial Radio Hong Kong, RTHK and iCable News • Generated impressive ROI for NTT Communications with a modest budget • 1. Advertising value equivalency (AVE): HKD 5.67 million • 2. ROI: 22.8 times (compared to budget: USD31.2K) • 3. Total of 63 features stories generated • 5. A total of 27 journalists attended the launch event

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