Slalom: A Zero-Legacy Approach to B2B Demand

Slalom's Zero Legacy campaign broke through B2B sameness. A 3-phase test-and-learn across 6 channels proved that enterprise buyers convert after progressively specific messaging, not all at once.

Client

Slalom Consulting

Role

Media Strategy, Media Planning, Buying & Optimization

Paid Media Campaign

Audience & Culture Mapping

Key Takeaway

Enterprise buyers don't convert after one impression. They convert after progressively specific messaging. A 3-phase test-and-learn across 6 channels delivered a +6 pt brand awareness lift (2.4x the LinkedIn norm) and +34% lead conversion, proving the path from awareness to pipeline is a progression, not a moment.

Context

Breaking through B2B sameness.

The B2B consulting market has a sameness problem. Every firm promises transformation. Every campaign leads with capability. Slalom wanted to break that pattern with Zero Legacy, a bold narrative that repositioned legacy technology as strategic assets rather than technical debt.

The positioning was sharp. The question was whether it could generate pipeline. Slalom needed sales-ready conversations with enterprise executives in a market where most campaigns blend together and most buyers have learned to tune out.

Approach

Why the media plan was built in phases.

Progressive messaging as campaign architecture

Enterprise buyers don't convert after one impression. They convert after a period of progressively specific messaging. That insight shaped the entire media plan: content sequenced to build engagement over time, not force a single moment of action.

Progressive messaging as campaign architecture

Built to cut fast and scale what works

Most campaigns launch with a fixed plan and optimize around the edges. We built a 3-phase structure designed to test broadly, cut fast, and scale only what the data validated. Every dollar had to earn its place before getting more budget behind it.

Built to cut fast and scale what works

Partner credibility as creative strategy

In enterprise consulting, brand association matters as much as brand message. We made a strategic bet on co-branded creative with AWS and Google, testing whether ecosystem proof of capability would resonate more than standalone Slalom positioning.

Partner credibility as creative strategy

Solution

Three phases, six channels, one learning engine.

Broad launch across six channels

We launched across OOH, endemic publishers, Demandbase, LinkedIn, podcast, and CTV simultaneously to generate baseline performance data. Every format, audience segment, and channel got its initial read.

Broad launch across six channels

Cut what didn't earn its place

Channels and formats that didn't earn their place got cut. Budget shifted to what the data showed was working. Most campaigns stall here because teams are reluctant to kill things they've invested in. We weren't.

Cut what didn't earn its place

Full budget behind validated combinations

The surviving combinations got full budget behind them. Every dollar in-market was backed by validated performance data, not assumptions.

Full budget behind validated combinations

The surviving combinations got full budget behind them. Every dollar in-market was backed by validated performance data, not assumptions.

Hypersegmented testing at every layer

Within that structure, we tested hypersegmented ABM against firmographic targeting, document ads against lead ads, and various landing page configurations. The goal was a system that continuously identified what worked and moved budget accordingly.