Tag Archives: SAP

Smash Marketing Helps SAP with “Searching for Salaì” Online Campaign with Content that Grounds Podcast Fantasy

Smash Marketing Adds Online Support to Innovative Marketing Campaign that Uses Dramatic Series on the Digital Renaissance to Promote the SAP Leonardo Platform.

Denver, USA — It’s challenging to gain the attention of busy business professionals, even when you have an intelligent enterprise technology that could revolutionize their business. That’s why SAP (NYSE: SAP) recently launched a nine-part fantasy podcast series, co-produced by Column Five Media. Searching for Salaì (http://searchingforsalai.com) is as an entertaining approach to educate executive listeners and entice them to learn more about SAP Leonardo®, SAP’s extensible, intelligent cloud computing environment. To tie the dramatic podcast back to real-world Leonardo applications, SAP engaged Smash Marketing to design and deploy the Searching for Salai website.

Searching for Salaì is a fictional tale about a time traveler who comes to the 21st century to learn about the digital renaissance. Claiming to be an apprentice of Leonardo da Vinci, the mysterious Salaì explores new ideas driving digital innovation, seeking the spiritual link between the science of Leonardo’s era and the technology of today. Taking its format from old-fashioned radio mysteries, Searching for Salaì is pure entertainment that invites the listener to ponder possibilities and seek their own path to embrace the Digital Renaissance, and learn more about SAP Leonardo including use cases through the website.

“This is a brilliant, innovative marketing campaign designed to engage professionals in a different way and invite them to explore new ideas,” said Leila Ahmed, co-founder of Smash Marketing. “The podcast captures the listener’s attention, but you still need to tie the idea of the Digital Renaissance to real-world applications. We designed the Searching for Salaì website as the bridge between the story and real-world applications.”

Although produced by SAP and Column Five, Searching for Salaì never mentions either company. It does, however, invite listeners to learn more about what they hear in the story at http://searchingforsalai.com. The website that supports the podcast includes reports in written and audio format developed by Futurum Research that profile SAP Leonardo use cases and customer successes in 15 separate industries. The website also includes blog entries and other content to complement the podcasts.

Subscribers have already shared positive reviews of the podcast series:

“Such a clever way to introduce people to digital transformation.”
“I’m kinda hooked. It’s probably because I’m a huge history geek; a fan of mystery stuff.”
“Da Vinci must have been awesome to be around.”
“I don’t really take the time to subscribe to podcasts; this one, however…I so look forward to the next episode!”

“We were seeking a way to humanize the SAP brand and tell a story that would connect with customers on a visceral level,” said Ginger Shimp, Senior Marketing Director at SAP. “We chose Smash Marketing to help us with the online strategy because we knew they could deliver a web experience that would support the emotional response while providing the connection to the SAP Leonardo platform.”

“We wanted to engage on a different level to dramatize how technology can impact people’s lives, without the buzzwords. Searching for Salaì is our way to stimulate new thinking about digital information and transformation with something new and unexpected that promotes real interest and conversation. We see this as a breakthrough in brand marketing,” added Jeff Janiszewski, Marketing Director at SAP.

The podcast medium has been around since the first Apple iPod, and Americans continue to consume more audio. According to Edison Research, Americans spend four hours a day listening to audio. Forty-four percent of Americans listen to podcasts (http://www.convinceandconvert.com/podcast-research/the-13-critical-podcast-statistics-of-2018), and 64 percent use their smartphone or tablet to listen on the go. One in four of those surveyed say they have listened to a podcast in the last month, and weekly listeners consume an average of five podcasts per week.

Searching for Salaì is available to subscribers through the website, through Apple iTunes, or from any outlet where listeners access their podcasts.

For more information about Searching for Salaì including a podcast archive, visit http://searchingforsalai.com, or see the preview (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3ZRUb1AKkpQMLiJIKNexNRw038JnZeaS).

SAP Leonardo powers the Intelligent Enterprise, with intelligent technologies, services, and expertise to optimize processes and resources. SAP Leonardo harnesses a design thinking methodology and SAP expertise to ignite innovation and help you rapidly adopt new capabilities and business models.

To learn more about SAP, visit http://www.sap.com/products/intelligent-enterprise.html.

To learn more about Column Five, visit http://www.columnfivemedia.com.

About Smash Marketing
Smash Marketing is a full-service marketing agency, developing and executing end-to-end programs that encompass building awareness, strategy and planning, content development, demand generation, and marketing and sales support. Co-founded by Leila Ahmed and Cristy Gonzalez, both experienced marketers having worked for Fortune 500 companies, Smash Marketing is the “Goldilocks Agency,” developing and delivering marketing solutions that are “just right” for their clients.

For more information, visit http://www.smashmarketing.com.

Media Contact:
Leila Ahmed
Smash Marketing, LLC
303-741-2020
leila@smashmarketing.com

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Approyo Expands Team Adding Vice President of Marketing

Approyo Hires Kyle Ackerman to head marketing efforts to strengthen global footprint.

Milwaukee, WI, USA — Approyo, a leading enterprise SAP HANA Solutions Provider, announced today that Kyle Ackerman has joined the company to the position of Vice President of Marketing. In this newly created position, Kyle will lead all marketing efforts for Approyo.

“I’m thrilled to join the Approyo team in this role and help share Approyo story to the world,” Kyle said. “I’ve worked with Approyo for several years and I am excited about the positive momentum and culture developing at Approyo.”

“Approyo is ready to make the next leap in our business and we need to get our story out there to more businesses” said Christopher Carter, CEO of Approyo. “I believe Kyle can help Approyo get to the next level. He has worked with us as a consultant for several years and it is a pleasure to bring his marketing expertise to the team.”

In addition to over 10 years of marketing experience, Kyle has extensive experience within the technology industry. Most recently, Kyle, worked as a freelance Marketing Consultant, helping several small businesses achieve success through digital marketing. Additionally, Kyle has worked for several technologies based companies focusing on Cloud Computing, Hosting, SAP, Microsoft and Software Licensing.

Approyo has been providing SAP HANA solutions such as SAP S/4HANA 1610 in the cloud for the last three years. Approyo built an entire platform using the best solutions in the market, allowing clients to move SAP HANA quickly and benefit immediately without the massive upfront cost structure typically seen with those bare metal solutions.

About Approyo
Approyo is a global SAP HANA start up focus partner for products and services that include upgrades, comprehensive remote operations/managed services, consulting, migrations, hosting and implementations and cloud services. Approyo differentiates itself by offering scalable managed SAP HANA solutions for organizations of all size. Approyo has the capability to support global organizations and their applications with our Headquarters in Milwaukee, WI and offices in throughout North America, Europe and South America, plus partners around the world.

For additional information e-mail us at info@Approyo.com, call 404.448.1166, or visit us on the web at http://www.Approyo.com.

Media Contact:
Kyle Ackerman
Approyo, Inc.
262-894-1037
info@approyo.com
http://www.approyo.com

SAP Business One Project Rollout to China

As one of the biggest SAP gold partners in China, MTC can help global SAP Business One partners sub-contract and implement their project in China.

Newark, DE, USA — China is an attractive market for many foreign companies seeking to expand their distribution network and there are many reasons to pursue opportunities in this country. Once in China, these companies not only face the challenges of a different mentality, traditions and the culture of their Asian business partners, but also the legal requirements imposed on their SAP system.

Following a global template definition, regional/local rollouts require careful planning and preparation in various areas. An SAP roll out to China can be challenging:

• Ensuring compliance with local regulatory and tax legislation
• Optimizing the roll out strategy and roll out management
• Transferring knowledge to local resources
• Understanding and migrating legacy data
• Harmonizing master data and processes globally

Tackling these issues can be a challenge if Companies do not have a trusted partner who can speak the language and who understands the local requirements as well as the objectives of the headquarters.

MTC is headquartered in Shanghai, China and has offices in Tianjin, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Dalian as well as the United States. MTC has a proven track record of helping multinationals manage SAP roll outs and other IT related topics for their international subsidiaries around the world.

Overview of the advantages of rollout by MTC:

Regulatory compliance
• Convergence of international standards with Chinese GAAP
• Solutions for the Golden Audit
• Compliance with Golden Tax requirements
• Imports/Exports & Customs Reporting
• Other local requirements

Preparation and approach for local roll out
• Process selection and standardization
• Gap analysis
• Knowledge transfer and local support
• Preparation and project initiation

Localization and Training
• IT and functional localization
• Data take on
• End user training by native speakers
• Documentation and translation
• Go-live support

Each of MTC consultants has thousands of hours of experience with SAP products. By partnering with SAP in many emerging areas, MTC helps clients pioneer the latest technological developments. The Company is the right size to deliver an optimal customer experience. While ensuring a local offering overseas, MTC avoids the rigidity and difficulties typically experienced when working with large global systems integrators.

Sounds interesting? If so, please go to http://www.firsttec.com for more detail information.

Media Contact:
Wenyi Jiang
Firsttec MTC, LLC
302-366-1155
info@firsttec.com
http://www.firsttec.com