Enterprise Heavyweight: Mission North Combines 4 Practice Groups Into One Large Practice Serving Enterprise Clients

Over the past two decades, Mission North has expanded its domain expertise in response to emerging technologies – and Enterprise clients have always been at the heart of our work. So, we’ve brought together our Enterprise teams – Future of Work, Future Stack, Trust, and Commerce/Supply Chain – under one umbrella. And: the Enterprise Group is growing fast! 

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Enterprise Group clients choose us for our integrated approach – both in terms of the programs we offer, from earned and social media to paid digital campaigns, and in terms of our point of view. Our subject-matter experts collaborate across industries and topics to amplify our impact for clients.

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The MN Enterprise Group is headed up by Executive VP and General Manager Meghan Gardner. Gardner’s proudly geeky passion for the B2B tech space includes experience in industries like AI, data management, hardware, software, healthcare tech, and greentech. Here’s an edited version of what she had to say when we chatted about the newly formed Enterprise Group:

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How would you describe this team, and Mission North’s subject matter expertise within these practices?

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The Enterprise Group is an umbrella over four teams with specialized experience: Trust (including cybersecurity and fraud prevention), Future of Work, Future Stack and Commerce/Supply Chain. Our subject-matter experts in each of these areas ensure that, for example, the people most well-versed and passionate about data infrastructure are the ones working on relevant data clients.

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Can you further describe the consolidation – what influenced the decision?

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Ultimately, it all comes down to meeting our clients where they need to be met. We brought this group together so we can create more opportunities for our clients and our people.

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First, many of our clients operate in similar ecosystems, or need to influence similar audiences. The Enterprise leadership team helps our teams communicate and collaborate on shared earned-media opportunities as well as opportunities for thought leadership that might span multiple verticals and subject areas.

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Second, our team learns best when we learn together. Sharing information and ideas makes us all stronger – so we’re creating new channels for our teams to create cross-client pitches, plus surfacing new event and speaking opportunities that may pair panelists from multiple client executive teams. These are just a few of the perks we’re anticipating for the months ahead.

<split-lines>"We’re creating new channels for our teams to create cross-client pitches, plus surfacing new event and speaking opportunities that may pair panelists from multiple client executive teams."<split-lines>

How does the Enterprise Group help showcase Mission North’s wider tools and capabilities, particularly if you’re describing the team to a client or potential client?

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Two key ways: creative thinking and efficient working. By coming together, we foster more new ideas than we would in separate enterprise tech siloes. And we create efficiencies that, ideally, help our clients realize even more value from our work.

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Can you cite an early case where this group came together to deliver results?

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Sure, a great example is the happy hour we hosted this spring at RSA, which is the annual cybersecurity industry conference held in San Francisco and attended by tens of thousands of cyber-practitioners and vendors alike. We brought together current and past clients, journalists, and our own team to talk shop and share ideas in a non-competitive environment. We got such great feedback about the event that we’re turning it into a series for other sectors.

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What will success look like moving forward for this collective group?

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Simply put: growth and impact. We are focused on growing the business with new and existing clients. And, that growth hinges on continuously demonstrating our impact by delivering great results, unlocking potential and bringing new ideas to life for our clients’ communications programs.

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You can see the results we’ve been delivering for companies like Snowflake, IonQ and Canva by checking out the work on our website. For example, IonQ’s 2021 IPO showed how we can help cut through hype on emerging technologies to tell clear stories for industry leadership. And our work with Canva, centered on CEO thought leadership, has helped the brand outposition established Big Tech competitors.

<split-lines>"[Our] growth hinges on continuously demonstrating our impact by delivering great results, unlocking potential and bringing new ideas to life for our clients’ communications programs."<split-lines>

How will this group continue to adapt to rapid technological change?

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We need to look at new technologies and industry changes as opportunities to continuously improve and adapt. Generative AI is a great example. We know that adoption of tools like ChatGPT is exponential: What does that mean for how we integrate these technologies into our workflows and educate clients about them?

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Another example is the regulatory environment on climate change. Enterprise technology companies need a lot of energy to run the data centers and computing models that make their products and services possible. Our team, which shares ideas with the Sustainability group and other practices here at Mission North, can help our clients see the bigger picture and look for storytelling opportunities as the world around us changes.

<split-lines>"Our team...can help our clients see the bigger picture and look for storytelling opportunities as the world around us changes."<split-lines>

Lastly, what does it mean to you to lead this sizable group within the agency?

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This is a big opportunity and a big responsibility. I’m proud of the team that has gotten us to where we are, and excited for what we can build together!