Fujitsu's Innovative Approaches to Global Thought Leadership

Speaker A: Welcome to B2B needs Don Draper, brought to you by TRU. For too long, B2B has lacked creativity and inspiration, leading to alarming declines in effectiveness and marketing departments being slowly devalued more and more within their organizations. We're here to change that by getting under the skin of what it really means to be a highly effective B2B marketer. We'll be speaking to some of the brightest minds in the industry to discuss. Discuss what they're doing to be a bit more, well, Don Draper. Now to our host, Nathan Anibaba.

Speaker B: Welcome back to B2B Needs, Don Draper, the show that's making B2B marketing fun again. I'm your host, Nathan Alibaba, and today my guest is David Gentle, the global head of message and insight at Fujitsu. Like Don Draper himself, David is a communication expert with a strong track record of delivering impactful messages. With years of experience in business and technology strategy, David defines and communicates Fujitsu's core business story, globally driving thought leadership programs. He's helped develop Fujitsu's global strategy and delivered content like the annual technology and service vision. He's currently working to boost Fujitsu's brand awareness and sustainability efforts. David Gentle, welcome to the show.

Speaker C: Hi, Nathan. It's great to be here.

Speaker B: Super excited to have you on the show. First of all, question we ask all of our guests, what does being a bit more Don Draper mean to you?

Speaker C: Uh, my perception of Don Draper and all of those sort of the 1960s, um, advertising people is they're really strong on ideas. There was always a clear and simple idea that the advert was built around. I remember there was one, um, advert from the 60s for Rolls Royce where it was talking about the, you know, the only thing you can hear at 60 miles an hour is the sound of the clock, which is such a. Such a simple idea. And the way that, that then brings together all of the, sort of the. The characteristics of the Rolls Royce brand, you know, how it's engineered, sort of the luxury part of it and, and so on. So I think that for me would be, um, you know, what's, what's great about, um, the sort of, the whole Don Draper thing, you know, that simplicity

Speaker B: of the idea, simplicity and clarity of thought, clarity of execution. Couldn't agree more. Let's talk a little bit about Fujitsu, because I think for a lot of listeners, they know of Fujitsu as a provider of computer hardware, laptops, desktops. You're a really big player in the enterprise server market as well. But there's a lot more to the company than just that. Explain.

Speaker C: We're sort of on this journey of, of transformation really at the moment from our legacy which is around um, IT hardware into more of the IT services um area and actually we'll be evolving further into becoming more of a consulting organization that's much more focused around offering consulting type services to our clients but particularly to move them into a direction that's not just around you know, business change, but around business change that enables organizations to be more relevant. So by relevant I mean sort of relevant in society. So um, you know we've seen a um, big kind of increase in the importance of uh, organizations being able to not just be um, you know, financially successful but be able to demonstrate you know that they are um, not harming the environment or you know they have a good um, you know, gender balance and a good um, set of values around sort of the way they treat different types of people. Um, so, so these kind of more sort of societal values if you like are becoming much more important in the business world and, and um, in our transformation. We're recognizing that and we're, we're looking at ways in which technology and innovation can be used to help our customers move more in that direction.

Speaker B: It feels as though we've sort of caught you at a really interesting time in that evolution. What's the role and the importance of brand marketing at Fujitsu versus more bottom of the funnel sort of demand type activities? Um, and what role does thought leadership play in, in sort of brand marketing? I'd just be interested in your thoughts on the interplay between thought leadership, educating a really senior decision making customer base on the future of the company moving in this sort of direction of consulting and strategy. What role does brand marketing play in, in in Fujitsu's go to market?

Speaker C: Uh, I mean the obvious answer is it's very important but I think we go through cycles where the branding becomes a, you know, a natural focus. So if we're going through a sort of a period of evolution, you know we want to, we want to sort of start to move in a slightly different direction. Um, the branding I think becomes more, more of the focus. Um, and then um, when we're in periods where we're wanting to sort of build on, build on that change and create momentum. That's where more the sort of the funnel activities become more of a priority. So um, the period of change that we're currently undertaking, ah, we've just recently launched a new brand called Fujitsu Uvance. So it's the first time we've ever done anything like this in Fujitsu and Fujitsu Uvants. It's a brand new brand that, that is there to drive a new set of global um, services and offerings that help our customers to sort of make this transformation. So we call it sustainability transformation. So it's the sort of the evolution of digital transformation. So it's particularly things like how we help customers to deliver transparency across their supply chains for instance or greater resilience in their supply chains or um, being able to um, measure their impact on the environment. Um, so um, in launching this new brand we've been very um, focused around driving the awareness that we need for launching something that new. Um, and we launched it three years ago. So now actually our focus is much more around you know, maturing that, which means, you know building much more of the business around that. Um, so I think if you'd asked me this question three years ago, I think I would have given you a slightly different answer. Uh, where you know, uh, I was much more focused around you know, what are the things that we need to do to get the message out, you know, get the market. First of all familiar with this new brand, but also familiar with what the problem that this new brand is there to solve that is being able to deliver sustainability outcomes as well as business outcomes. And then thirdly that Fujitsu is an organization that will help you to do this. Um, that was the focus as the brand was launched and has been the focus over the last sort of two or three years. And so now we're moving much more to how we can then grow that business and sort of build up the momentum.

Speaker B: Just talk about how is Fujitsu's thought leadership content contributing to the overall brand positioning of the company and how you want to be seen in the world.

Speaker C: Really it's something that's connecting the dots. So um, we've got a changing market. We've got obviously these different um, stakeholders that we need to communicate to the customer being the primary one. But our partner ecosystem, um, our colleagues and so on. So um, we've been doing quite a lot to promote the new brand. But one campaign that was particularly um, particularly central was, was a media campaign or a thought leadership campaign using media partners, um, that myself and my team um, have been running for the last last couple of years. Um, and it sort of comes back to what I was saying just now around the um, you know, trying to, trying to sort of communicate these, these new messages, you know the, the issue that we're, that we want to solve for Businesses and sort of connecting the Fujitsu brand with that. And I suppose another important part of it for us was around um, who are we communicating to? And we felt particularly the C suite audience, the senior business audience was a really important one for us. Um, as an organization we deal with a lot of. I mean we deal with a lot of major organizations from around the world. Um, often we're connecting with people at the sort of um uh, you know, a technology level. If I could, I could call it that. So, um, people who buy technology services. Um, but when you're, you know, you're making a transformation like we're making as organization, the real decision makers, organizations, we need to sort of communicate it to them. We want to, we want to reach them. So that was one of the key thoughts behind um the campaign. Um, so we partnered with the Financial Times, um and Nikkei, um, who actually own the Financial Times but are obviously the big news organization um in um Japan. Um and we also partnered with cnn. Um and um, we sort of internally although we didn't sort of brand the campaign as this but we called it the Art and Science of Sustainability Transformation. Um so we sort of had this sort of yin and yang of um something that was a bit more kind of emotional and a bit more sort of um. Kind of, you know that the art if you like and something that was a bit more sort of um. Practical, a bit more sort of around um uh perhaps a bit more sort of thoughtful. Um and the two elements actually work really really well. So cnn, um, they did a great job for us around building a campaign that was really quite emotional um uh content. So it featured um people that were real sort of pioneers in sustainability but people that were using technology um in innovative ways. Um so we featured. There's a great actually um customer of ours called Botanical Water who were featured in this campaign. Um and they're using technology to um, provide better um sources of clean drinking water which they do by. By recycling um uh sort of food, um, water from food production and food growing. Um but they also use um blockchain technology to be able to sort of validate that the water has come from this source. So um, there's a fantastic story there, really nice sort of emotional um, engaging story. Um, so that was that side of the campaign, um, and there were several more examples of that featuring people who have really sort of had great powerful stories um to tell. And then on the um ft Nikkei side of the campaign that was much more based around research. So we commissioned um a major piece of Research into business attitudes, um, towards sustainability and the role that technology plays in that. Um, and that was much more sort of based around facts and figures. And we used that campaign then to feed into a lot of events that we were running. So we ran um, uh, roundtables with business leaders and use the research really as an input into those meetings to say, do you agree with this? Is this an issue that you see? Uh, what are your business priorities around that? So, um, between them, the emotional side and the more kind of thoughtful side, um, it really worked very well and it gave us lots of different sort of angles and lots of different sorts of routes into um, conversations with our customers.

Speaker B: It's been interesting to hear you say that you've been working with so many interesting media partners and different channels to sort of get this message to market. Uh, a lot of technology, big B2B tech brands use the same old channels to communicate their message to market. Email, newsletters, events are typically kind of what we see time and time again. And in B2B now we've got this really amazing tapestry. We've got this amazing canvas with which to paint, um, really, uh, sort of exciting pictures. Um, there are so many more channels that have opened up to B2B marketers recently. Um, and I just think there's a lot more that can be done as far as sort of channels are concerned. Ah, have there been any other channels that have been particularly interesting to you that you've found valuable in sort of getting this message to market? Are there any channels that you're experimenting with? Ah, I'd just be interested to sort of hear your thoughts there.

Speaker C: Yeah. So, um, I think something we found really valuable, um, with the recent campaign was that we, we took a portfolio approach to it. So we had lots of different types of content, um, that sort of spanned the um, span the campaign. Um, and so we were able to not only kind of reach lots of people through different channels, but we also able to sort of see which things work better than. Work better than others. And we were also able to try new things. So one of the things that we, we tried for the first time was a, Was a global podcast. Um, so we, we had a, um, um, we, we, we created this forward. This, this, this podcast called Forward Better. And um, again it was part of the CNN campaign. We, we had m. A series of these sort of sustainability pioneers who are using technology in innovative ways. Um, uh, come to the podcast and it was hosted by Hannah Fry, who's, Who was absolutely fantastic. Um, so this is the first time we'd done something like this at a global level and we learned a lot from it actually. And we also, I mean, um, for us, as a global organization with quite a big base in Japan, we weren't sure how well that would work and whether we sort of thought it might work better in some markets than others. But actually we found that we had quite a lot of listeners in Japan and in Southeast Asia, which surprised us. So definitely that looked like a, uh, format that had a lot of promise in it.

Speaker B: You said a really interesting thing the last time that we spoke. You said so much of what people think of an advert is cultural. And I think you shared an example of, um, an advert that you saw in Japan, um, that you thought would just never work in the West. Can you just tell us that story?

Speaker C: Yeah, well, I think, I mean, there's a lot of adverts actually you'll see in Japan that are much more, um, you know, they're based around, um, you know, archetypes. You know, so sort of a successful, you know, a successful businessman would be, you know, typical character that you'll see in a, in a, in a, in a, in an advert. Particular an advert that's aimed towards a business audience. Um, and, you know, the, the, the story of the advert will typically show, you know, show this successful guy and show that he's, you know, because he's using this particular cloud application, um, you know, that he's. His, his business is, is, Is doing well and all of his employees sort of really love him. Um, does. The notion of trust in Japan is quite different. So you can sort of show something quite simple. But then when you sort of get engaged with uh, the organization or the sales process, then that becomes much more sort of personal and much more around sort of. What's that relationship? Um, what's that relationship mean? Whereas I think in the west our advertising is much more sort of nuanced than that. So I think an advert that, that presented such a sort of simple, um, uh, you know, concept I think people might feel a bit, a bit suspicious of. Whereas, you know, a really like, powerful advert, uh, in the west that um, you know, would connect with the audience so much that actually that might be. Then all they needed to convince them to do business with that, with that organization. Um, so I think it's interesting because on one level it's kind of simpler, but on the other level it can be a bit more complicated.

Speaker B: It's a lot more complicated. That's really fascinating. So, David, what Advice do you have for other B2B marketers who are creating global thought leadership for different audiences across the globe? What advice do you have on either? Execution, measurement, uh, channels, anything else that you think is worth mentioning?

Speaker C: I think a couple of things I'd say. So I think the first thing around is around stakeholders being aligned with your stakeholders. I think that's particularly uh, I think in larger companies that's particularly important and particular challenge. And it's something that if you work in an agency, you might not quite appreciate how important that is in a large business because the stakeholders, they provide the money to invest in the campaigns and so on. Um, in Japan there's a process called Nemawashi, which is the process that's followed really to make any major decision which is that you socialize a concept, um, in these one to one relationships, uh, with all of the different stakeholders. And really it's about increasing the level of trust, um, with the stakeholders and you reach a point where when you've completed it, everyone is on board and everyone feels confident that what you're proposing will work and then actually after that they tend to leave it alone. Um, so you then run the thing and you come back and demonstrate that yes, it has delivered what we agreed it would. Whereas I think the Western approach is much more. You're constantly iterating, evolving. So actually even when you're running maybe things will change and so on. So I think that's quite a good approach to take to make sure you've been around all the stakeholders and you're constantly sort of going through this process at the beginning to get them all on the same page. Um, and then the other thing is around the message. I talked about the sort of the art and science concept earlier. I mean I feel that really you're trying to do two things. You're trying to say something emotional and you're going to try and say something practical. And if you communicate both of those things you're going to um, make an impact with the audience, particularly with the business audience. Um, I think one of my favorite quotes is um, a slogan from Oliver, um, Cromwell. He gave a speech just before one of the Civil War battles where he said trust in God and keep your powder dry. And I think that's a really great example of what I mean by that. Something emotional, something practical. And the audience can, you're engaging both sides of the audience's brain and it's sort of very clear to them. Um, so I think those would be my sort of two takeaways.

Speaker B: Love that, David. Okay, we're going to switch to our speed round now. This is where I ask you some questions, quick questions, some short fire questions that you don't really have to think about too much. Respond from the gut as intuitively as Don Draper would. Are you ready?

Speaker C: I am, yeah. Yeah, go for it.

Speaker B: Okay. Advertising or abm?

Speaker C: Uh, advertising.

Speaker B: Logic or magic?

Speaker C: So the fact I have to think about this one means that probably the answer is logic.

Speaker B: Oh, that's interesting. Um, okay. Brand building or lead generation?

Speaker C: I would say brand building because it's more interesting.

Speaker B: What's the problem with B2B right now?

Speaker C: Um, I think it's that, um, people try to overthink things too much.

Speaker B: How would Don Draper fix the problem?

Speaker C: I think by going away, having a martini, forgetting about everything, and coming back to the office in the morning with

Speaker B: the idea with the right answer, hopefully. Um, what's the last memorable advert that you can think of that's resonated with you? B2B or B2C? Um, TV, online, wherever.

Speaker C: Uh, I would say it's the. The recent Ms. Christmas advert.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker C: Because of all the furore it caused in. In the media.

Speaker B: That's a great place to end. David Gentle, thank you very much for being on B2B needs on Draper.

Speaker C: Thank you very much. It's been a real pleasure.

Speaker B: I'm Nathan Anibarber. See you next time on B2B needs. Don Draper.

Speaker A: Find out more@True Agency.com com podcast.