The demand generation team needed a brand awareness campaign to highlight new products. We were awarded incremental budget – with the caveat that we had to use it before the end of the quarter. This out-of-home campaign was created in a mere three weeks. The four-month flight of digital billboards and airport signage were featured in 10 US cities and supported by campaigns for net new and upsell.
ROLE Creative direction and execution. Coordination with media agencies, copywriters, and stakeholders in marketing, product marketing, and demand gen. To get buy-in quickly, I concepted a few billboard directions, and the “Meet Brilliant” concept was chosen (and wordsmithed by an excellent copywriting team). The brilliance of our own WebEx users introduced the brilliance of video on the new Sparkboard.
DESIGN/UX CHALLENGES Because of aggressive timing the campaign was completely digital. We decided to go with 10 cities that offered the most ideal placements and had the greatest potential to improve awareness for WebEx Meetings and Cisco Spark.
SOLUTION The grid had to be flexible enough to work with a variety of digital formats: posters; bulletins; and verticals. To be efficient, I created an image system using an array of device and talent combinations that could be positioned against seven colorful urban backgrounds. The primary font was Cisco Sans. Because users could draw notes or sketches directly on a Sparkboard (a new feature) I referenced this by using Mathlete – a hand drawn font. The headline “Meet brilliant” was flush left and stacked over supporting copy, or shown on a single baseline with justified copy below.
To extend our reach and to improve the campaigns effectiveness we simultaneously launched assets for SEM and landing pages.
We extended the Meet Brilliant campaign experience into landing pages. Net new customers would begin the journey with programmatic, and paid or organic search.
DESIGN/UX CHALLENGES Moving quickly, we looked at past testing and where we could convert low-hanging fruit. We targeted two main personas for the end-user market. Katie (Up-and-Comer), and Marcus (Stable-and-Tenured). Assets from the digital campaign were manipulated for smaller form factors.
SOLUTION An automated bidding solution enabled us to produce a highly targeted campaign that surfaced when most relevant.
RESULTS The view-thru period was 30 days. If a prospect clicked to the landing page, and made a decision to sign later, the conversion was attributed to demand generation efforts.
These animated banners targeted two persona types – they helped extend brand awareness and drove traffic to the free trial landing page.
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Meet brilliant.
Gorgeous video.
Clear audio.
Plenty of space.
Meet brilliant.
With WebEx and new Cisco Spark!
Content of this landing page encouraged the net new target audience to sign up for a 30-day free trial of WebEx plus Cisco Spark. This was also the first set of landing pages that were responsive.
ROLE Design extension and execution.
UX/DESIGN CHALLENGES The key issue with this set of landing pages was how to explain the value of Cisco Spark without detracting from the value of WebEx. Our approach was to focus on how each product supported and created a superior team collaboration solution.
DESIGN SOLUTION Two personas: Katie/Up & Comer and Marcus/Stable & Tenured get rolled up into a single End User bucket. Images featured models that were friendly, fresh, and approachable set against lively, colorful urban environments.
RESULTS In conjunction with the overall campaign, these demand generation tactics drove more than 72% of conversions.
The first in a series of lively employee stories – called "Two Minute Takes" – gives a peek at the real people using the products. Our objective was to balance a traditional sales approach with a lighter, more personal glimpse into Cisco culture and shine a light on the WebEx and Spark products.
ROLE Working with a skilled internal video team and a social media manager, I provided creative direction and developed mood and story boards. After interviewing subjects and getting a sense of their stories, I wrote loose script outlines to present a personal face for the people behind the products. I was art director on set and worked with stylists for wardrobe.
UX/DESIGN CHALLENGES Users were not searching for Spark as it had little to no product awareness. But people did know WebEx and that provided an opportunity to introduce Spark. I positioned the new Spark product below the fold with a short video.
SOLUTION According to YouTube, 64% of customers are more likely to buy a product online after watching a video about it. We saw this as an opportunity to improve conversions for the “Meet brilliant” landing pages.
RESULTS As part of a series that had been created for social channels, this embedded video helped increase conversion rates by 76%.
These animated banners extended our brand awareness campaign and targeted customers that had signed up for a free trial that was near expiration and drove traffic to the upsell landing page.
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Meet brilliant.
Get more for less with our best offer yet.
Meet brilliant.
With WebEx and new Cisco Spark!
We identified existing users who were were actively hosting and attending meetings on their WebEx 30-day free trial. We used the opportunity to promote the advantages of a paid account to any user that hadn’t yet made the upgrade to Premium.
ROLE Design extension and execution.
UX/DESIGN CHALLENGES We targeted freemium customers that were using the product and highlighted the fact that they would soon lose Premium features unless they upgraded. The time-bound offer added to the sense of urgency.
SOLUTION Following the established design system for the campaign, I opted to use the model from the successful persona-based landing pages. Her image gave us the highest conversion results and seemed a likely choice for the targeted “end user” persona.
RESULTS This landing page drove an average of 124 unique visitors per week and we saw conversion rates rise by as much as 34%.
Created for Cisco partners and affiliates, the guidelines were delivered with assets to promote WebEx video conferencing and Cisco Spark as a bundled offer. Style guidelines were provided to partners and social posts featured the hashtag #MeetBrilliant.
ROLE Writing and design based on Cisco corporate templates.
DESIGN/UX CHALLENGE Because we were releasing assets for partners and agencies, every attempt was made to show a variety of scenarios and best practices around them.
SOLUTION Historically, the more junior designers at our external agencies were prone to creating unusual solutions for simple grids and layouts. Those pieces were conveniently featured in a “What Not To Do” section. By showing examples of typography, grid system, layouts, and imagery I set up clear design parameters with real-world examples.
RESULTS Partner and affiliate marketing colleagues had assets created for them to distribute. These guidelines ensured brand consistency.