“It's been a phenomenal catalyst on the business side, as well as on the social impact side. We're now looking to do more activations, so we can keep doing good and bringing our similar core values to life.”
For Bailey Roberts, an account-based marketing manager for the commercial business unit at Salesforce, building relationships is her job.
She and Trevor Chase, an account executive, wanted to do something fun to nurture their relationships with CrowdStrike, a global cybersecurity company and one of their clients.
One of Salesforce’s core values is giving back, and Bailey noticed that they shared that with CrowdStrike.
“There was a really big emphasis on the CrowdStrike Foundation,” says Bailey. The CrowdStrike Foundation offers a scholarship for individuals to study coding or cybersecurity, and they provide a pro bono cybersecurity program. They also donate “wherever help is needed”, including supporting nonprofits worldwide during COVID-19.
“It\'s just a great foundation,” says Bailey. “[CrowdStrike] cares a lot about it and we care a lot about giving back.”
Bailey noticed the CrowdStrike culture also had a “huge emphasis on Formula One racing”, from sponsoring the winningest team in history to providing a fully branded CrowdStrike pace car.
“A lot of the C-suite is also very interested in health and wellness. So from that, I thought, okay, what can I do that brings all of these things together?”
Bailey got the idea to do a Charity Miles challenge in the month leading up to the US Grand Prix, the only Formula One race held in the United States. In 2021, the race was October 20-24.
“We put on a challenge to see who could complete 185 miles, which is how long the Formula One race is,” says Bailey.
CrowdStrike employees did the miles, and Salesforce sponsored donations to the CrowdStrike Foundation. Anyone who completed the challenge got a custom Formula One model car with the CrowdStrike and Salesforce logos.
When Bailey and Trevor brought the idea to CrowdStrike, their CMO loved the idea, and so did their team for social impact, internal communications, and equality.
“It just so happens that CrowdStrike was ringing the bell for the New York Stock Exchange that same day,” says Bailey. Because of that, “they were launching an internal campaign for all CrowdStrike employees on how they can give back because that's a huge emphasis for them.” Salesforce’s Charity Miles initiative got to be part of that larger program.
Within the first day, the initiative had three times as many registrants as Bailey’s goal. “They logged over 40,000 miles and we raised $20,000 for the CrowdStrike foundation, which was spectacular,” says Bailey.
How did they do it? “Lots of cycling,” laughs Bailey. “We have a lot of very passionate cyclists from the CrowdStrike team.”
Team members participated from all over the world. “The people were very passionate about hitting that 185 miles, and very passionate about the entire thing.
“The feedback that we have received from their team has been extraordinary,” Bailey adds. Employees appreciated “the opportunity to get out and get healthy, for such a good cause. And the leadership team was blown away that we had the emphasis around racing and the CrowdStrike Foundation.”
As well as giving back, the initiative gave the Salesforce team the chance to build meaningful relationships with many CrowdStrike executives and leaders.
“It's been a phenomenal catalyst on the business side, as well as on the social impact side. We\'re now looking to do more activations, so we can keep doing good and bringing our similar core values to life.”
