What makes the Holloway Forum different

The Holloway Forum helps companies shape ideas that move business forward

By leveraging the unique experience of Nigel Holloway and his network of skilled editors.

By listening closely to the client to define the audience and understand its business needs.

By distilling the Forum’s perspective into research that will answer the need for information and analysis that’s

Timely
Relevant
Easy to read
Forward-looking
Useful
Thought-provoking

Armed with cutting-edge research from the Holloway Forum, clients improve their chances of
 
Winning new business
Building their brand
Influencing executive decision-making
Developing a business community

Examples of value-added thought leadership

A good example is a project to create an interactive website on behalf of SAP, the global software firm.

SAP wanted to build their brand image among senior executives worldwide. The Economist Intelligence Unit, of which Holloway was the research lead on the project, provided the audience with solutions to help them run their businesses better in the economic environment. This was achieved by creating a Corporate Expectations Barometer to give SAP’s target audience the ability to compare their confidence levels on the state of the economy with those of their peers. The research team provided them with customized content from the Economist Intelligence Unit to help them improve their business decisions.

In the six months through January 2010, the CEB received more than 31,000 page views and there were 18,000 unique visitors from around the world to the site.  Susan Popper, SVP of Marketing Communications at SAP, said: “We had thousands of responses, and it just brings something of interest and something of relevance to our target audience. The findings were on a sponsored area of their site, and a very high percentage stayed on our landing site to watch videos and download content, showing that the thought leadership environment provided a targeted, engaged audience.”

Ingersoll Rand set up the Ingersoll Rand Sustainability Council to influence the discussion among C-level executives worldwide about energy efficiency. It commissioned the Economist Intelligence Unit, where he was research lead on the project, to produce thought leadership that would help its customers gain insights into the challenges and opportunities of sustainability. The result was a report “Unlocking the benefits of energy efficiency” that garnered press coverage and greater visibility for the council.


“We conducted this research to better understand the gap between C-level executives and other senior executives about the effectiveness of energy efficiency and sustainability programs,” said John W. Conover IV, senior vice president, Ingersoll Rand and Chairman of the Ingersoll Rand Sustainability Council. “Understanding what it will take to bridge the gap is critical to make the business case for change.”

The Government of Ontario wanted to raise its profile in global markets as a home of innovation. Rather than simply tooting its own horn, it commissioned Holloway and his EIU team to examine the role of “talent hubs” in creating a climate of innovation. The result were two reports, Fertile ground: "Cultivating a talent for innovation" and "Talent strategies for innovation"  that placed Ontario as a thought leader regarding this hot topic. Holloway presented the research findings at subsequent events for top executives held in London, England, and New York. The minister of economic development, Sandra Pupatello, spoke about the main findings and the lessons from her province.

GE aimed to enhance awareness of its prowess in the healthcare industry, by commissioning a global index of the “Health of Nations.” The index ranked countries by the quality of their healthcare, its cost and people’s access to health services. We conducted a survey of more than 500 global executives and collected data from numerous sources. The idea was conceived by Holloway and his EIU team, and executed by their colleagues in London. See  GE Health of Nations.

Why success?

The key is experience. Nigel Holloway has been creating thought leadership since 2003, and has worked with clients representing some of the world’s largest corporations. He has distilled the experience gained as a business journalist in a career spanning five continents and three decades to create compelling research.

Members of his network of writers, editors, analysts, programmers and designers have careers that are as rich and as varied as Holloway’s.

The key service that the Holloway Forum offers is to work with the client to create thought leadership that resonates with the client’s targeted audience. This starts from the conception of the idea, to the design and execution of the research, to the analysis of the empirical results, to the write-up and editing of the piece of work.

But the engagement with the client does not have to end there. The Forum also provides: advice on how to pitch the report to the media; a write-up of the press release; and guidance on where to distribute the release. If the client wants to present the findings before an audience, he is ready to produce a powerpoint and present it before a small or large audience of executives. Webinars, blogs, interactive charts and tweets are also part of the service he offers.

A member of the network is David Didato of Magic Dog Creative, a producer and developer of online video content for corporate clients. Nigel and David have worked on many video projects together. Samples of David's work can be found at www.magicdogcreative.com.

How to begin?

The most important step is to listen carefully 
at the conception stage to the client’s needs and its audience. What topic will resonate? How will it meet the client’s objectives? If the topic and premise strike a chord with the client, there is a high likelihood it will do so for the audience.


Once the topic has been agreed upon, Nigel starts by creating a hypothesis for the research. What is the premise we are seeking evidence to show empirically? A good way of doing this is to consider the ideal headline at the end of the research the client would like to see in the Wall Street Journal or the Financial Times. This connects the premise of the research to the end result.

He then writes up the questions for the online survey that will help to test the hypothesis. Since an online survey can only last 15 minutes, all the questions must be tailored to collect evidence to support or disprove the hypothesis. If there are interviews with executives, they are intended to add anecdotal insights to the statistical results from the survey.

Once the survey results are collected, he analyzes the data. He is now able to write an outline for the report. The interviews are used to fill in the gaps, to provide case studies and to gather interpretations of the survey results. The statistical results and the interviews are then blended with the findings of desk research to create a fresh, insightful report. Areas of expertise: management, technology, globalization, finance, sustainability, governance, risk, compliance, corporate strategy. All industries and regions of the world.

 

Contact details

Nigel Holloway

The Holloway Forum,
3700 Hartford St,
St Louis, MO, 63116

+1-914-433-3041


nigel@hollowayforum.com

www.hollowayforum.com

Twitter: @hollowayforum

Nigel Holloway : The Holloway Forum : 914-433-3041 : Email Me : www.hollowayforum.com