Year in Review
2023
Global Marketing & Communications
Year in Review
2023
Global Marketing & Communications
This year our team focused on launching the Our Services framework, supporting business development efforts globally, and further elevating our digital marketing capabilities to support our brand. In addition to these goals, we continued to co-create a variety of IP, studies, social media campaigns, events, and sponsorships that position Egon Zehnder as the world’s preeminent leadership advisory firm.
Our Services
Together with colleagues around the world, we introduced Our Services, a clear roadmap of our Firm’s offerings. This framework helps colleagues talk about what we do, and it also helps clients and candidates understand the different ways we can help them across the five categories of Discovering Leaders, Developing Leadership, Unlocking Transformations, Shaping Successions, and Advancing Governance. Our revamped website, engaging social media campaigns, and a dedicated hub on Sharepoint brought this framework to life, establishing Egon Zehnder as a leader in leadership advisory.
Bringing Our Services to Life Externally
Integrating Social Media, Employee Advocacy, and Digital Ads to Lead All Competitors. For the launch of Our Services, the Marketing team utilized an integrated approach across organic social media, My Company, and LinkedIn Ads to maximize reach and engagement, and drive more new users to EgonZehnder.com.
For Our Services, the My Company Post generated an additional 117 Posts, and an additional 150K+ Impressions. On average My Company recommendations are shared an additional 3.17 times across the 414 posts in 2023 (as of 12/4/2023).
Data-driven Marketing Strategy
The Global Marketing Team enhanced our data and analytics capabilities, upgrading Google Analytics to support better reporting, engaging a new Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firm, and adopting Parse.ly, a leading content analytics platform, to better understand the impact of our marketing efforts.
Egon Zehnder gained 49K followers and surpassed 374K Followers on LinkedIn, which is a significant milestone. Engaging our colleagues by sharing the My Company posts is the most powerful lever for corporate marketing, and is an area where Egon Zehnder leads among the SHREK firms. Thank you to our amazing My Company users!
In the first half of 2023, Egon Zehnder surpassed 18K LinkedIn engagements with 221 fewer posts than our closest competitor on social, Heidrick & Struggles. In the same time period, Egon Zehnder garnered 153% more engagements per post than Russell Reynolds, and 141% more than Spencer Stuart who posts nearly twice as often. We achieve this growth through the powerful combination of differentiated content, engaging visual design and a curated social media audience.
Company
Linkedin engagements
# of posts
Egon Zehnder
18,380
279
Hendrick & Struggles
18,258
500
Russell Reynolds Associates
10,399
328
Spencer & Stuart
7,625
191
Campaign Highlights
Click on the arrows to explore each campaign
Women’s History Month Campaign, which resulted in more than 4,000 new followers on LinkedIn in March, and 506 of those followers were gained on International Women’s Day (March 8), our highest single-day growth of followers this fiscal year.
Pride Month Campaign, which garnered 5,100 followers on LinkedIn in June.
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month across September and October, we set out to amplify the work being done by Egon Zehnder to support Hispanic communities. To do this, we amplified experiences from 7 employees of the firm through quote cards, posting them in groups throughout the month. For Hispanic Heritage Month posts, we achieved the following results:
25,700
Impressions
141
Reactions
6
Comments
10
reposts
3,205
clicks
Announcing new Egon Zehnder partners externally for the first time in a social media video. The post was widely appreciated by our social community and generated a high level of engagement:
39,062
Impressions
464
Reactions
79
Comments
27
reposts
1,139
clicks
One of the key reasons our social media strategy has been successful is the work we do to keep our colleagues aware of and engaged in the work we are doing through MyCompany posts on LinkedIn, The Thread, and EZ Share.
My Company
Employee Engagement through LinkedIn’s MyCompany page continues to be a great way to use social media as representatives of Egon Zehnder. When LinkedIn compared our employee engagement numbers to our competitive set as the SHREK firms, Egon Zehnder was the highest performing in employee engagement with our score being more than 30% of the median score of the competitive set.
Egon Zehnder's Engagements vs. Peers
Source: Brand Diagnosis Report by Linkedin, October 2023
Sponsored Content
60%
40%
20%
0%
Egon Zehnder
Median
Company Updates
20%
0%
Egon Zehnder
Median
Employee and Influencer Posts
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Egon Zehnder
Median
Differentiated Storytelling
Egon Zehnder was at the forefront of critical diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) topics, including publishing Search 2.0: The Future of Leadership Appointments, which offers an alternative to executive search that embeds inclusion at the core of the process; a CEO Insight on Reaffirming the Business Case for DEI in a Post-Affirmative Action World; launching the Blazing a Trail series, which highlights top leaders in India; and several articles that focus on mental health and disability.
We were also interviewed on this topic in major media outlets, including Fortune and Vox.
Top of the House
We grew our marketing efforts at the Top of the House, supporting events globally for board members, CEOs, and other C-suite leaders, and developing relevant content for their most pressing challenges.
We supported the consulting team in India on a joint program for current public sector banking board members with Harvard Business Publishing, The Directors Development Program (DDP). DDP is a unique approach to giving board members both a curriculum and a community in which they can learn and share best practices. Our content team took the summaries from each of the 16 virtual and in-person sessions held and distilled key insights. We also created a microsite to house these summaries. Our work with these board members has led to multiple additional leadership advisory engagements. 2024 will mark the third year of this program, and the local team has plans to potentially scale this model for insurance companies in the region as well.
We also added three regional focuses to the 2022-2023 Global Board Diversity Tracker, highlighting Mainland China and Hong Kong, South Africa, and Italy.
Lastly, we produced two actionable guides for board members on timely topics: Rewiring Boardroom Cybersecurity and The Board Member’s Guide to Overseeing AI. We did not yet have Parse.ly when the cybersecurity report was launched, but the AI report has consistently been one of the top-performing pieces of content since it was published, which has been viewed 1,100 times since its publication date of Sept. 21 and was picked up by the FT’s Board Director Programme.
Egon Zehnder was highlighted in multiple media interviews, including Fortune, The Economic Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
Top visited content
Best Performing Months
July – 25k page views, 14k visitors
November – 18k page views, 11k visitors
October – 15k page views, 9k visitors
Sustainable Impact and Global Recognition
We continued our focus on sustainability, internally supporting the efforts of our Impact Team and externally through content.
We published Elevating the CSO’s Voice, a global survey of Chief Sustainability Officers, which follows up on some themes from our 2021 survey. Among the top findings was that CSOs have a broader scope that now encompasses all five domains laid out by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (environment, social capital, human capital, business model, and innovation and governance). To deliver in those areas, CSOs need clear expectations and support from both management and the board.
In the week COP28 started, we also launched "The power of procurement", a thought provoking and insightful piece in collaboration with the WEF’s First Movers Coalition.
We had several media interviews on sustainability, including with The Wall Street Journal, IMD Business School, and HRM Asia.
Marketing Integration for Consultant Visibility
After first exploring the application of integrated marketing strategies to sponsorships in the US and German markets, the Global team supported the expansion of integrated strategies across many new global engagements. By strategically amplifying what Consultants are already doing in the market, we enabled their work and perspectives to reach key audiences in an efficient and meaningful way.
NACD
The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) is the premier professional association for Board Chairs in the US, hosting an annual gathering that attracts close to a thousand corporate directors. An Egon Zehnder team of 10 people began meeting 6 months prior to the event to choose our sponsorship level and plan out all avenues of participation. Ultimately, teamwork allowed us to be able to co-host a private reception with Extraordinary Women on Boards, prepared Partners to speak on two conference panels, set up a booth for Egon Zehnder at the event, supported business development efforts, and amplified our presence on social media with posts both before and after the event). Because of the shared responsibility of every team member, and the strategic thought that went into both personal communication and brand-building, marketing was able to partner with the team to program multiple touchpoints for the most important relationships we wanted to nurture during the event.
Future Foodtech
Convening leaders from across the Agrofoodtech space in San Francisco every year, Future Food Tech is an interesting mix of leaders, innovators, founders, and investors in the food space, and Egon Zehnder has become the exclusive talent partner of Future Food Tech. This year’s goal was to maintain momentum in brand-building activities of years' past, such as video interviews and content creation, while also allowing maximum time during the conference for business development meetings with attendees. In total, close project management allowed for the team to capture 3 video interviews with CEOs, lead a breakout session on talent for conference attendees, host 13 executives for a Top of the House dinner, and hold 25 business development meetings, all in 3 days. With only 3 consultants attending the conference in person, these results were made possible through extensive support from afar by EAs, Experts, and the entire Global Marketing Team.
Berlin Global Dialogue
The Berlin Global Dialogue is a new international forum that brings together business and political leaders to find common solutions for a global economy in transition. This landmark event brought together ministers, chancellors, chairmen and CEOs from different sectors around the world. Our Chair Michael Ensser and Rafaella Mazzoli attended and Michael co-hosted a high-calibre panel. On his LinkedIn, he commented: "At this motivating gathering, it was clear that there is a collective recognition of our shift towards a decarbonised future. It felt like I was part of a global board that values and embraces diverse perspectives. Achieving this vision requires a robust culture of courage and optimism. In the two days I witnessed, there was more listening, understanding and dialogue than when I started my career – it's necessary and it makes me hopeful."
Product Management Festival
Egon Zehnder participated in the Product Management Festival in Zurich, which had over 700 attendees and was one of the biggest Product Management Conferences in Europe. Together with consultants Judith Pertl, Sara Najafi and Mark Krymalowski, we hosted a morning session for around 100 female product leaders, focusing on transitioning from product manager to product leader. The group engaged in discussions and networking, and we were able to position ourselves as Leadership Advisors at the entire event, with a minimal sponsorship investment.
Local Market Highlights
Each market engages in Marketing from a very local perspective, but we all share the same goal to deliver on our purpose of leadership for a better world. Some markets shared highlights from this year. Please take a look at these examples.
Australia and New Zealand
We celebrated our 50th anniversary in ANZ with custom logos (multiple versions), custom Templafy email signature templates, website modifications, event collateral (banners and booklets for two main events) and general support with Michael Ensser’s visit to support the events. The Marketing and KCI Visual Solutions Teams produced fantastic, high-quality materials.
Progressed our local efforts to position our firm value proposition in market with the rollout of the new firm materials that showcase our umbrella of services in a new/contemporary way. We are putting these to good use!!
Germany
German Flagship Event 2023
The German flagship event "Encounters with the Future" took place again in 2023 under the title "The Industry of the Future". On May 25th, 120 high-profile guests gathered at the Haus der Kunst in Munich for the panel with speakers: Wolfgang Schmidt (Head of the Federal Chancellery), Tanja Gönner (Managing Director of the BDI), Peter Bakker (CEO of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development), Nils Aldag (founder of the first hydrogen unicorn Sunfire). Moderation: Theo Koll (Had of the ZDF capital city studio). Afterwards there was an open, exciting discussion with all participants.
Leading Global Champions
The new CEO book "Leading Global Champions" shows the development from hidden champions to global champions in Germany and Europe and the resulting challenges that their leaders have had to overcome and will have to overcome in the future. In addition to comments on the changed framework conditions and requirements for corporate leadership, chairs, CEOs and leaders of a total of 47 global champions share their challenges, experiences and most important personal lessons learned. The authors also provide an overview of the seven key areas for the future success of Global Champions and why leadership and #culture will be central in the future. The book launch included an exclusive event with key political and business leaders from Germany.
Study on cultural diversity in German companies (with McKinsey)
Our joint study with McKinsey on cultural diversity in German companies was published exclusively on SPIEGEL Online (Germany's largest online medium). The study shows that Germany is missing out on 100 billion euros due to a lack of cultural diversity. People from immigrant families have to write more applications, receive lower salaries and are less likely to be promoted. This not only slows them down, but also the economy.
Successful German Comms-Channels
German LinkedIn: 317.993 impressions and 3.698 likes, leading to an 6,2% engagement rate (3 times more than market competitors)
Content: More than 30 German articles published
Press: 19 articles in German media (FAZ, FAS, Handelsblatt, Börsen-Zeitung, SPIEGEL Online, FinanzSzene and more)
United States
Standardizing Event Support
The U.S. has an amazing network of consultants who convene leadership at the top of the house, supported by an amazing network of EAs who “make the magic happen” when it comes to these events. Marketing supported the research, gathering, and sharing of event best practices that connect teams with the guidance they need so they can avoid recreating the wheel with each event. Templates shared included invitations, bio books, name badges, and content planning documents. Training was also provided to teams on sending invitations and event notetaking.
Optimizing our Partnership Strategy
US colleagues receive many requests for support, partnership, and sponsorship from worthy organizations. To assist in the decision-making process, marketing partnered with US leadership to implement a framework for assessing each opportunity, also giving guidance on how to best leverage a partnership for relationship-building and brand storytelling. This framework helped colleagues identify the most important audiences to connect with and explore how to take energy already invested in “being in the market” to build a brand at scale. This was done with pre-event social cards, guidance on documenting relationship development activities, and suggested formats for post-event IP and follow-up.
Supporting New Markets
The strategic planning behind launches like The Seattle Office and Founder Services allowed our brand and insights to shine. Close coordination with consultants allowed us to manage complex timelines and bring in outside expertise – for Seattle, research teams polled local leaders on leadership trends, and for Founder Services, experts in UX writing were contracted to properly tell our story to Founders.
Working with Practice Specialists
This new form of collaboration allowed US practices to each build their own strategy and further established Practice Specialists as key centralized resources for industries and functions. Ongoing alignment throughout the year included the sharing of PR and event data, synchronization on the writing of new IP, and co-execution of strategic sponsorships. Practice specialists truly showed the marketing team how invaluable they can be by serving as the nerve center of each industry and function.
Italy
Tech & Digital Practice: a series of local events to reinforce key relationships in the market and position EZ as a well-recognized business partner
Venture Capital Investors Event
As part of our partnership with the Italian Tech Alliance (an association that aggregates all the major venture capitalists and tech founders in Italy) EZ hosted their board meeting , followed by a Gathering with an aperitif extended to a large part of the associated investors, about 40 invitees among the most relevant and influential people in Venture Capital in Italy.
Heritage - Climate Tech market trends
EZ hosted in Milan office a networking and fundraising event organized by Heritage Holdings, an alternative private market investment platform. The initiative was sponsored by Alarico Allegri, who knows one of Heritage founders. The idea was to offer our EZ Office to host Heritage event, whose objective was to facilitate networking initiatives with potential investors and support Heritage fundraising. Most of the participants were members of Venture Capital community (investors, VC investment professionals, etc.). The event had a focus on climate tech investments, as a thematic investment strategy. The objective was to reinforce EZ positioning in Venture Capital space, given the great work done in recent years by Fabrizio D’Eredità e Andrea Splendiani, while also generate potential business development opportunities.
In addition, cross industries events/initiatives:
High Potentials Dinners
The purpose of high-potential dinners is marketing-oriented, aiming to establish connections with potential future clients through informal gatherings, with a frequency of about four events per year. Considering the pool of "potential" individuals, the target consists of individuals under 40, with a balanced mix of participants of both genders, hailing from various sectors, excluding consulting.
Events with Thomas Huebl
Early in 2023 the Milan office decided on a marketing effort for new topics. The choice was to invite Thomas Huebl, together with Amy Fox of Mobius and Lena Triatogiannis. A dedicated team of experts and consultants led the effort to design a two day program. The program was built to address different audiences, from CHRO to CEO, blending one to many and one-to-one events. In detail:
- A guided meditation for clients (90 minutes)
- Three session one to one, dedicated to CEO clients (all leading relevant and successful companies with relevant competitive pressure)
- A CHRO event, focused on learning how to spot and deal with trauma symptoms in the organization
- A CEO breakfast focused on centering and balancing, recognizing how difficult is for top leader to deal with loneliness and pressure
- An EBP community session, to keep EBP alumni close to EZ
Real Time Leadership
We hosted a road show to launch the Real Time Leadership book in Europe. Carol Kauffman and David Noble met executives and selected CHROs in the Italian office.
Diversity & Inclusion C-level In The Boardroom