Akamai
Discovering and activating the Purpose of the silent heroes behind the internet.
“Conspiracy of Love is exactly what the world needs right now. They did a brilliant job partnering with us to unleash our Purpose, further maximizing our impact on society.”
Kim Salem-Jackson, EVP & Chief Marketing Officer, Akamai
The challenge
As the “silent heroes” behind the internet, Akamai’s global server technology, infrastructure and algorithms have been enabling the speed and security needed for global brands like Disney, Airbnb and Honda to operate and market in today’s global economy.
And because Akamai creates the magic in the background, the immense value it brings to business, brands and consumers everywhere hasn’t been widely understood or appreciated. We were asked to help change that for good.
The brief
Help us articulate not just what we do, but also what it enables in the world.
The insight
After engaging leaders and employees across the company, we discovered that Akamai’s unique superpower is its culture. Driven by incredible intellectual firepower and an obsessive tenacity with solving the hardest problems, it can tackle the most challenging issues of today’s and tomorrow’s digital life.
This unique capability is met by an increasingly connected world that is in dire need of a secure, reliable, high-performing and stable internet that:
supports modern life and enables people to work, play, learn, connect and transact
powers the hyper-connected world of the future and enables the fourth industrial revolution
creates new opportunities for humanity everywhere while helping to heal the planet
New Purpose, Mission and Vision
Based on the deep discovery work we did, we articulated Akamai’s new Purpose, Mission and Vision, giving voice to the enormous value the company brings to the world, touching almost every digital experience on the planet, from banking to entertainment, healthcare, travel, and transportation.
Purpose
We make life better for billions of people, billions of times a day
Mission
We power and protect life online
Vision
A safer and more connected world
Purpose employee guide
To explain the new Purpose, Mission and Vision to leaders and employees, we developed a guide that laid out how the new Purpose statement was developed, why it’s right for Akamai, and how to bring it to life across the organization.
Six month roadmap
To inspire employees to activate Purpose across the business, we developed a six month Purpose activation and employee experience roadmap, empowering everyone at Akamai to create value by leaning into the new Purpose as part of their work.
The results
After we discovered and defined Akamai’s new Purpose, Mission and Vision, and designed the internal engagement program around it, Akamai launched the work externally as part of its first global consumer-facing campaign.
With Purpose at the center, the campaign performance surpassed all expectations, proving the Power of Purpose in engaging customers worldwide:
Campaign engagement reached 5x the engagement of other programs
Digital campaign exceeded click-through-rate performance benchmarks on all platforms
Twitter campaign beat benchmarks by a factor of 1.5
Cost-per-click was 55% more efficient than Akamai’s platform benchmarks
Nine out of 10 people were more positive toward Akamai after seeing the brand Purpose TV spot
Two-thirds went online to find more information
One in three thought Akamai could be a suitable partner for their business.
Featured in media
How Akamai Answered the 'Why" Regarding Its Brand Purpose
Interview by Marie Griffin, B2B Marketers Magazine
How Akamai Rediscovered the “Why” of Its Business
2023 ANA Brands for Humanity Conference: Leaders of Impact
Soon after being named EVP and CMO of Akamai Technologies in March 2021, Kim Salem-Jackson realized that the brand was missing its “why” — the reason it exists beyond profit. Working in partnership with Afdhel Aziz, Chief Purpose Officer at the agency Conspiracy of Love, Salem-Jackson introduced a new purpose statement for the company: “We make life better for billions of people, billions of times a day.” In this session, learn about how the tech company hit on its brand’s purpose, the strategies employed to bring leaders and employees along on the journey in an engaging and authentic way, and the unique role marketing plays is activating purpose for all stakeholders to drive growth and profitability.
Watch the full interview:
