The Remarkable Results

The SAP post-meeting debrief extracts lessons from data and the insights captured by event scanners, surveys, observation and more. Team members learn who attended and what content they consumed and feed this info to the sales force. Within a few weeks of the show ending, every salesperson has specific feedback for every customer and prospect so they can follow up with leads and thank clients.

Content from SAPPHIRE NOW will be available for other events and via the event Web site, SAPPHIRENOW.com. A site search produces brochures and connects to event videos, PowerPoint presentations and audio tracks. Later the content will be integrated with other marketing efforts and content syndication. Hundreds of internal teams leverage content—especially for sales presentations.

SAP has indentified three levels for measuring success:

  • Diagnostic (i.e. How was the food?)
  • Results (i.e. How many people attended the top sessions, how many online sessions were emailed to others?)
  • ROI (i.e. Pipeline influenced, deals closed or progressed, opportunities generated.)

The team measures ROI by identifying actions that lead to financial return—either in transactions or pipeline movement. SAP considers all the stages in a pipeline tracking entry as well as closure of opportunities. Closed opportunities and the total event investments are used to determine ROI.

Social media provided feedback on the brand objective in first-person commentary, testimonials, concerns and challenges. Execs wanted to know what people were saying and what they cared about. Direct commentary informed SAP about progress on less easily measurable goals.

SAPPHIRENOW transformed SAP's marketing philosophy and drove significant change in the organization. It set the stage for "The SAP Experience," an initiative to bring a more consistent and amazing experience to all its audiences.

With the SAP Experience, the company is creating a simpler, more compelling way to talk about SAP. They will connect on a more human level to make SAP more accessible. SAP can't just "tell people" its message, it has to build an experience that informs, empowers and inspires. This effort will integrate in the company culture to help meet its goal of 1 billion people using SAP software by 2015.

Our primary objective with SAPPHIRE NOW was transforming the brand and pipeline acceleration. Did we transform the brand? Yes. As a result of the event, people think of us as an amazing company, they think of us as necessary to their solutions, they think of us as going in the right direction, they're more likely to recommend us and they're more likely to buy and buy sooner. These measures are results against stated brand objectives that I can show you I measured and improved against a cost. Did we accelerate the pipeline? Yes. We can show increased opportunity movement and deal closure among attendees to both the physical and online elements.
Scott Schenker, vice president of global events
Some people question if the era of the big event is over. The big event is not over, it just needs to evolve to accommodate the way people consume information and engage with experts today.
Tom Zeuss, senior vice president of Ecosystem Marketing
We learned about The SAP Experience by creating simplicity and authenticity for attendees at SAPPHIRENOW. All of this is the byproduct of those three days. We learned from those moments of truth, that vivid imagery and those simple and compelling messages and experiences. We've taken all of that and created a transformation platform for the company. That is the story.
Marty Homlish, former chief marketing officer