Best Other Online Campaign

Digi-Key’s CEC, launched in January 2012, and was created as a six-month-long online learning university hosted on Design News, with the goal of educating design engineers on a host of design engineering technologies and in turn generating leads, engagement, and branding for Digi-Key. Digi-Key’s CEC had a unique value proposition in that it was an online learning environment with live chat capabilities and expert lecturers hosted in a forum that encouraged participation and conversation. Attendees could attend lectures from the comfort of their desks and still have the opportunity to ask questions and network with other attendees. Design News was the perfect platform to host this program as the site targets design engineers and generates an average of 790,000 page views and 141,000 unique visitors each month. The results were astonishing, generating 37,973 registrants; 22,976 total attendees; and 18,861 total messages in the first six months of the program. The program was so successful that Digi-Key renewed for a second semester, which began in July 2012 and outperformed the previous semester with 44,011 total registrants; 26,608 total attendees; and 18,136 total messages. Digi-Key has renewed again for a third semester in 2013. The series has helped to establish Digi-Key as a known brand in the industry. What began as a six-month thought-leadership and lead-generation program turned into a permanent educational series on the Design News site and solidified Digi-Key’s reputation in the B2B design engineering industry as a top player and thought-leader in the market.

Contributors:

VP Global Brand Management, Digi-Key:	Kevin Brown
Sales Director, UBM’s Design News:	Al Schmidt
VP of Technology, UBM DeusM:	Chris Williams
Director of Project Management, UBM DeusM:	Julie Muroff
Sr. Integrated Program Manager, UBM Tech:	Colleen Heckman
Brand Director, UBM’s Design News:	Rich Nass
Marketing Director, UBM Tech:	Joy Daniels
Design Director, UBM DeusM:	Ken Surabian
Content Ombudsman, UBM DeusM:	Kevin Cramer
Managing Director, UBM DeusM:	Steve Saunders

UBM DEUSM

Location: U.S.