Best B2B product launch campaign - Winner

Best B2B product launch campaign

Winner: Rackspace

Agency: Base One

Campaign: Intelligent messaging

During 2006 Rackspace became aware that companies were increasingly outsourcing IT applications, i.e. running applications such as email on a remote server, rather than having the administrative, financial and technical burden of managing such applications in-house. As a provider of managed hosting with an unparalleled reputation for reliability and customer support, Rackspace had cultivated an image based on its technical excellence and the unusually high dedication of its staff to their customers' needs.

The company was aware that its reputation would make an ideal springboard for extending its services into the new marketplace of managed email services. Rackspace knew the sector was growing fast and wanted to secure its share.

Rackspace has an excellent relationship with Microsoft. It holds the highest level of accreditation as a ‘gold' hosting partner, and invests heavily in staff training to ensure that customer-facing staff are also Microsoft certified. The close relationship with Microsoft meant that Rackspace was ideally placed to offer the Microsoft software, Microsoft Managed Exchange, as part of a wider solution.