Plowshare

Overview

Plowshare, a subsidiary of Publicis, is a media placement & communications agency . What makes them special isn’t just their offerings, it’s their clients. Plowshare works exclusively with the federal government and nonprofits, seeking out and supporting clients that work to drive social good and meaningful change. They’ve worked with dozens of impactful clients, including the Wounded Warrior Project, Girl Scouts of USA, March of Dimes, The US Marines, and the Special Olympics.

The Challenge

For the past 20+ years, Plowshare have worked tirelessly to get their clients ad time for a fraction of the traditional cost. This meant either leveraging the cause and finding broadcasting networks that wanted to champion that particular nonprofit, or finding blocks of unpurchased ad space and negotiating a reduced or a free “donated” rate.

Given the nature of the clients, stretching media budgets is crucial . And in instances where it isn’t, money saved on marketing and ad purchases can be used for great causes elsewhere. While Plowshare had found tremendous success with their current processes and models, there were opportunities to optimize data sets– media monitoring, campaign tracking, and data analysis services would provide more value for client’s media budgets. Furthermore, it would mean lower overall costs, higher efficiency, and faster results. While Plowshare recognized the benefits of implementing these practices, they didn’t have a path forward with their current toolset and infrastructure.

The Task

Plowshare contacted us to see how customized tools could help streamline and optimize their media monitoring & campaign performance measurement processes. New technology is critical in their space, and any kind of new offerings, particularly in tracking ad placements, would give them an edge.

Our Process

We worked very closely with internal teams to identify needs, pain points, and potential blind spots. Over the course of development, we shared progress with the Plowshare team to allow them the opportunity to give input and redefine goals as needed. This iterative process allowed them to continuously shape the direction of the project as new needs were identified.