THE 14TH ANNUAL SHORTY AWARDS

The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media and digital. View this season's finalists!

Industry

See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Auto See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Beauty See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Business to Business See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Consumer Brand See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Education See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Entertainment See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Financial Services See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Fitness, Health, & Wellness
<br>See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Food & Beverage
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Strategy & Engagement

See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Brand Partnership See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Call to Action See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Community Management See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Creative Use of Technology See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> CTV/OTT See previous winners and honorees for Insights and Trends here.</a> <a href=https://shortyawards.com/17th/"https://shortyawards.com/category/16th/data-visualization">See previous winners and honorees for Data Visualization here.</a>"> Data & Insights See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Earned Media See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Event & Experiential See previous winners and honorees here.</a>""> Gamification See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Humor See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Innovative Media Buying Strategy See previous winners and honorees here.</a>""> Integration with Traditional Media See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Internal Communications See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> LGBTQ Community Engagement See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Micro-Influencer Strategy See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Multicultural Community Engagement See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Music & Dance See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> On a Shoestring See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Organic Promotion See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Paid & Amplification See previous winner and honorees here.</a>"> Physical and Digital Convergence See previous winner and honorees here.</a>"> Public Service Announcement See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Real Time Response See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> SEO & SEM See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Social Commerce See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Storytelling

SAP x 1000heads | Bring Out Your Best | Social Strategy

Entered in Business to Business

Objective

Booked a flight? Bought groceries? Ordered something online? SAP is the engine running it all.

But while SAP’s impact was undeniable, its social presence was a different story. 

SAP had the tech, the knowledge, and the influence, but its social media was playing it too humble, too understated.

It was time to stop quietly facilitating from behind the scenes and start being more proud of how awesome and valuable SAP's solutions really are.

A deep dive into the brand's social media activity revealed that most of the engagement came from its employees, not from its customers.

SAP needed to step out from the shadows, exit the echo-chamber and show the world how essential and game-changing it truly is.

 

Strategy

So how did we do it?

We reimagined SAP’s entire approach to social.

Out went the dry, sales-driven content—and in came brand-building communications with a more human touch, a sharp sense of relevance, and a focus on “Useful Entertainment”.

We shifted from simply talking about what SAP does to showing what it stands for.

We made tech approachable.

Instead of burying our audience in jargon, we simplified complex topics like AI and cloud ERP, turning them into clear, customer-first stories that built trust and showcased SAP’s capabilities

This new strategy was all about fit-for-feed creative—content that felt native to each platform but still allowed SAP to lead with personality while talking about cutting-edge technology. From making SAP’s ERP interface ‘brat’ to aptly jumping on the ‘Humans saw this’ trend, we put SAP at the forefront of internet culture in an unexpected way. 

We blended thought leadership with cultural relevance, using a voice that felt fresh and engaging, not corporate and distant. Tapping into human truths around office culture, we sparked conversations in the comments section about out-of-office emails, asked teams what their theme song would be and created remote working memes that entertained. 

We also took community building to a whole new level, and gave SAP superfans a chance to receive their own AI generated festive sweater which even garnered a cheeky comment from SAP’s CEO himself, Christian Klein.

By stripping back to the essentials, we showed that SAP could be both innovative and relatable.

We set out to not only be heard - but to connect, on a deeper level to the customers and potential customers SAP serves.

Results

SAP didn’t just break out—they broke through.

Engagement per post soared by +51%, signalling that people were not just passive viewers but were actively interacting with our content.

Video views doubled, indicating that our audience was not only interested but staying engaged for longer periods, consuming our message in full.

+91% more people shared our content, which meant our reach expanded far beyond their employee network as the conversation around SAP spread to new audiences.

By cutting back on content and sharpening our focus, the new strategy delivered significant lifts across every key social metric, proving that quality content drives deeper engagement.

This wasn’t just an adjustment—it was a bold transformation.

When SAP promised to Bring Out Your Best, we made sure it showed in every interaction.

Media

Entrant Company / Organization Name

1000heads, SAP

Links

Entry Credits