A Brand and Platform for Small Business Partnerships
Introducing a New Digital Brand for Business Leaders
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s biggest business organization. For over 100 years, it has advocated for American business, both big and small. It believes that a vibrant and free business sector creates opportunities that benefit us all now and will benefit future generations. In 2018, it sought a partner to position this historic organization for growth and continued relevance in the digital era.
1
The Challenge
When the Chamber approached Code and Theory, it was facing an interesting challenge. The Chamber has long-established connections in Washington, D.C. and on Wall Street. Extensive surveys of small and medium sized business owners across the United States revealed a deep disconnect between the Chamber and these businesses. Put simply, they felt that the Chamber cared more about Wall Street than Main Street.
The Chamber needed an approach to overcome this challenging perception. Additionally, the Chamber itself needed to develop a scalable digital culture, one that could develop and foster diverse audiences on owned platforms with a distinctive look, feel and functionality. Previous attempts to launch digital campaigns failed to scale up.
2
The Strategy
After conducting extensive audience research, we determined that small and medium sized business owners were looking for a reliable partner to deliver insights and advice to help them grow their businesses. Specifically, this audience segment was looking to connect with a network of peers and experts, ask and get answers to their most pressing questions, and grow their businesses within a supportive framework.
Relevancy, we learned, was the number one criteria for delivering value to this audience—generic platitudes were a waste of time. They needed actionable advice to help their businesses grow.
3
The Solution
Introducing CO—
A new brand and digital destination for small and medium sized business owners to get actionable information about how to start, run and grow their businesses. We created CO— as a community, collaborative space and a source of compelling information and advice.
We designed CO— to produce highly specific, prescriptive and findable content that answers the questions that matter to the small and medium business community. These answers come from fellow business owners sharing real life experiences from their own businesses, and this content strategy was employed throughout the site. Additionally, editorial features like the Midnight Oil newsletter target this audience in the late hours when audience research indicates they are working late.
4
The Conclusion
Thrive in Good Company
We are helping business owners connect, collaborate and co-create. USCC provides business owners with a strong community, enabling them to find reliable and relatable support from peers and experts.
