A single report. Five years of compounding returns.

How Square's flagship thought leadership campaign grew from a gated PDF into an integrated content engine — ranked, measured, and still converting.

Most content campaigns have a shelf life. The Future of Commerce was built to compound.

Square's annual global integrated campaign centers on original insights and stories about the evolving dynamics between businesses and consumers. It positions Square as a strategic partner for businesses navigating a rapidly changing commerce landscape — and reinforces the brand's global relevance to an upmarket audience. What started in 2020 as a single gated report has grown into one of Square's most durable content assets.

THE CHALLENGE: The challenge with flagship thought leadership is sustaining it. Year one is a bet. Year two is a test. By year five, you need to demonstrate that the investment has compounded — not just that it still works, but that it works better than it did at launch.

That means building a measurement framework that tracks performance across the entire funnel, aligning content strategy to shifting global marketing priorities each year, and tailoring execution for different markets, audiences, and channels without losing the coherence of the core campaign.

THE APPROACH: Each year, we developed a content strategy aligned to Square's global priority narratives and marketing objectives. Content was adapted for key markets and audiences, and integrated seamlessly into campaigns and activities throughout the year.

We measured across the full funnel — awareness, influence, engagement, and conversion — setting primary annual goals to reflect the overarching marketing strategy. The campaign evolved from a single gated asset into a multi-format program incorporating data reports, editorial content, webinars, and paid distribution.

THE RESULTS:

• Over five years, the campaign helped Square rank in the top three positions on Google for 118 keywords.

• The 2024 edition showed that visitors who engaged with the content were measurably more likely to take action with Square — driving significant increases in conversion rate.

• The 2025 edition hit half its annual form-fill goal within the first quarter, driven by integrating reports and webinars into active campaigns.

PROJECT DETAILS

Brand: Square

Format: Annual integrated campaign — data report, editorial, webinars, paid and organic distribution

Run: 2020–2025

Link: Future of Commerce