The television landscape has undergone dramatic changes over the 15 years as unscripted programming has matured into a formidable genre. Dismissed as meaningless, mindless filler on a network’s lineup initially, it is now an entertainment industry titan and pop culture touchstone that attracts loyal and passionate audiences. With its focus on the high-stakes aspects of running a business, THE SHIFT is a groundbreaking, branded reality entertainment docuseries akin to CNBC franchises THE PROFIT and AMERICAN GREED. As with those successful reality shows and others, each episode of THE SHIFT features a dramatic conflict, nail-biting narrative and emotional payoff.

The pandemic and its aftermath created a huge need for strategic insight as companies across all verticals struggled to adapt to volatile business conditions and ever-evolving “new norms.” Salesforce wanted to fill that void and challenged the CNBC Brand Studio to develop a content program that would position Salesforce as an innovative, solutions-oriented enterprise partner. Recognizing Salesforce was in a tough competitive environment in which multiple companies are undertaking similar endeavors, the company also wanted to inspire viewers with stories of businesses that experienced significant challenges – many of them pandemic-related – and emerged successfully. CNBC regularly showcases business success stories and thought leadership and has a lineup of longform docuseries, creating a longform franchise combining the three was a natural fit. Establishing a unique value proposition was a key objective in order to differentiate our groundbreaking series from both CNBC editorial content as well as content from other brands.

Our strategic approach was to create a first-of-its kind, “big splash” content program that breaks through the B2B content clutter. We proposed a linear-led, omnichannel franchise to reach CNBC’s vast viewership of C-suite executives and executive-level business decision makers across all business verticals, including Operations, Finance, Sales, Marketing, IT, Business Tech and Human Resources. The series aimed to provide risk takers as well as the risk averse with actionable examples and supporting rationale to make crucial decisions during a time of heightened uncertainty, as our internal research demonstrates that the CNBC audience strongly prefers content with utility. Secondarily, we pitched the series as an important client relationship tool which would provide key Salesforce customers with an opportunity for significant exposure to CNBC’s massive audience of business decision makers.  

THE SHIFT is a formatted documentary-style branded television series spotlighting seven Salesforce enterprise clients as they evolved their operations through digital transformation to adapt to changing business landscapes with the help of Salesforce's innovative technology. The seven-part series positions Salesforce as a superlative enterprise strategy partner by showcasing real-life use cases and business victories. Each 22-minute episode features one business, with the first act devoted to establishing the “problem” and subsequent acts highlighting the strategic and decision-making process and, finally, successful transformation and resolution, which are made possible by innovative technology from, and partnership with, Salesforce. The series showcases multiple paths to partnership with Salesforce by featuring a wide array of businesses, including a bank, a nonprofit, a startup and an established global retailer among others. Salesforce messaging or branding is subtle and organic, so that it never interferes with the individual dramatic narratives.

This type of long-form branded content, running in paid programming time, was a first for CNBC. Linear premieres were the “crown jewel” of the program, airing at 2:30pm EST on CNBC for nine consecutive Saturdays including two encore presentations. We leveraged our knowledge of branded content performance to maximize viewership and engagement with supplemental digital syndication and an extensive multiplatform media campaign. Following their TV debuts, episodes were published to CNBC.com, the Salesforce+ streaming platform, and alongside popular entertainment offerings on NBCU’s Peacock streaming platform, another first for this groundbreaking branded series. Significant promotion on all CNBC digital channels, social media and Peacock maximized awareness and viewership. In total, 164 video assets were created for use across channels, from footage taken over 60 shoot days in five countries spanning the first three quarters of 2022.

Content engagement exceeded benchmarks on several key metrics. Video completion rates were above benchmark by double digits, and digital viewers engaged with multiple episodes. Salesforce brand awareness among episode viewers increased 37pts, brand favorability was +41pts, and recommendation intent was +56pts over non-viewers. 3 in 4 survey respondents look forward to future CNBC/Salesforce collaborations, with Salesforce brand consideration rising to 87% and brand opinion to 82%. 78% were interested in seeing more content from Salesforce. The groundbreaking nature of the branded series led to coverage in several trade publications. The target audience took notice, and we received multiple inquiries from businesses interested in being featured in future episodes, which provided Salesforce with real lead generation opportunities. Most importantly, Salesforce considered the program an unqualified success by all measures, and we are now in discussions for a second season of THE SHIFT.

Convincing high-growth, high-profile companies (all Salesforce customers) to allow viewers behind their PR team's steel curtain and into the decision-making process that led their organizations to success was challenging, since companies largely avoid unnecessary scrutiny. It took a very long time to negotiate and secure the featured businesses. Securing CNBC editorial approval to air longform branded content was also challenging, so when it happened, people took notice.