Simantel’s UX Program Takes the Gold

The votes from the 28th Annual Communicator Awards have been tallied and the results are in: we are honored to be the recipient of an Excellence Award for Branded Content in the User Experience category for our work on Caterpillar’s Tips, Tech & Tools program.

The Situation

When the client asked us for help developing an interactive, user-friendly environment that would keep customers up-to-speed on construction industry trends related to equipment, tools and technology, we couldn’t wait to dig in. You know we ❤️ all-things customer experience at Simantel – so our team took off running.

The Approach

Our approach was twofold: First up was delivering Caterpillar’s content to the right person at the right time. Next, was connecting the dots for customers across all the main machine family pages (think: one cohesive online experience to educate consumers).

We leveraged a sophisticated content strategy including webinars, podcasts, videos, articles and more and tied it all together with a nice little bow (okay, it was a little more complex than that). We also implemented the “Ask an Expert portal,” which connects customers directly with real-live Cat experts online. With everything together in a single landing page experience, we put it out into the world and, as they say – 20+ million impressions later – the rest is history.

The full customer experience included:

• • A portal to “Ask an Expert” — submit a question about a specific product or technology
  • A quick tips gallery — a slideshow of expert tips to boost productivity, increase efficiency and reduce operating costs
  • Over 250 articles from the experts
  • 16 webinars
  • A podcast tailored specifically for contractors on-the-go
  • A Payload Calculator to figure out on your own how much you can save with Cat payload technology
  • 69 product expert videos, with over 3.8 million views since launch

The Goal

While the main objective was to create awareness for Tips, Tech & Tools, the web page was created with one major goal in mind — providing a better customer experience, and in turn, increasing customer loyalty to Caterpillar.

And, while many B2B manufacturing brands are still running more traditional campaigns per product, Caterpillar and Simantel knew that to truly educate customers we had to get at the heart of the matter and produce a content strategy that delivered rich and deep knowledge that only a Caterpillar expert would know. So, we did just that and invested in a content experience that can be accessed anytime, anywhere – and all for free.

And it always feels great to be recognized for the hard work and dedication our team puts in every day. Cheers to adding one more trophy to the shelf!

Visit the Tips, Tech and Tools landing page to see it all in action.

About the Communicator Awards:

The Communicator Awards is dedicated to recognizing excellence, effectiveness and innovation across all areas of communication. Founded nearly three decades ago, they receive almost 5,000 entries from companies, agencies, studios and boutique shops of all sizes, making it, globally, one of the largest award shows of its kind. The Communicator Awards honors work that transcends craft—work that made a lasting impact, and provides an equal chance of winning to all entrants regardless of company or agency size and project budget. The Award of Excellence, their highest honor, is given to those entrants whose ability to communicate positions them as the best in the field. The Award of Distinction is presented for projects that exceed industry standards in quality and achievement.

Learn about the Communicator Awards at https://www.communicatorawards.com