Celebrating 10 Years of Cisco’s Marketing Velocity
It’s not often that you can say you’ve helped change an industry’s approach to channel marketing. Today, as we reflect on the 10-year anniversary of Cisco’s Marketing Velocity program, we get to do just that.
10 years ago, Cisco was presented with a challenge:
Develop an immersive program that will help increase the number of partners engaging with them in co-marketing, while simultaneously improving their overall marketing expertise to drive greater return on their co-marketing investments. And this program needs to be one that can be easily replicated across the globe. They needed a program that would help make stronger marketers across their channel by giving them not just tools but also the knowledge in how to use them.
It was a tall order. Creating an entire program from scratch can be a daunting task, but we had a vision. Rather than talking at partners, we wanted a program that talked with them. We wanted to engage them. Today, when you say thought leadership everyone rolls their eyes. It’s right up there with synergy, deep dives and thinking outside the box in terms of overused corporate buzzwords. 10 years ago, the notion of empowering resellers to become marketing thought leaders was not common practice. We changed that.
Featuring powerful speakers and industry insiders, Cisco’s annual Marketing Velocity conference became the cornerstone of the program. Rather than sitting idly and hearing about the latest product promotion, along with updated speeds and feeds, the content was focused on helping partners learn about and capitalize on the trends and shifts happening in marketing through things such as social media, buyer personas, revenue and content marketing, and digitization. This approach, don’t shovel Cisco-centric promotions down their throats, but instead help them become stronger marketers was unheard of.
And guess what?
Everyone loved it.
To continue the momentum, we helped start-up a monthly online series that leverages video and the far-reaching power of the web. The constant engagement reminds partners that Cisco has their best interest at heart in helping them truly become stronger marketers, and is eager to continue acting as a marketing Sherpa for their partners.
By designing and producing a multi-faceted program that spoke to the latest trends in marketing, we helped Cisco relay information that gave their partner community the tools to complement their business strategy, accelerate sales and increase profitability. And we’ve been a driving force through it all.
- Agenda and Session Content Development
- Event Planning, Logistics and Registration services
- Creative Development
- Speaker Sourcing
- Onsite Video Production & Partner Testimonials
- Event Photography
The program was truly revolutionary when it started and continues to be a driving force in Cisco’s partner marketing initiatives. What was once a novel approach of not being company-centric, but instead focusing 100% on helping partners become better, stronger marketers has become an industry best practice. It has garnered awards such as Best Vendor Conference of the Year and won high-praise from Cisco’s global partner community including the highest ratings of any partner event that Cisco puts on through the course of a year.
So, the baby is growing up. And it continues to evolve. At 10 years old, the program is every bit as cutting edge as it was back when Facebook was still something for college kids, and before the world understood the power that could be unleashed in a 140-character Tweet (or even what a Tweet was).
We’re loving every second of this journey and are honored to be here as Marketing Velocity continues to push boundaries in its 10th year as a powerful channel marketing staple.
