IBM Campaign
I was tasked by the client (as sole creative) with ideating a creative strategy to convince IBM sales teams to focus on small leads, which were being lost and becoming costly.
The campaign had to be immersive, so that sales teams could not ignore it; at the same time, I could not be abrasive or talk down to the teams in any way.
The strategic approach was:
1. A series of humor-based emails, covering introductory emails, reminder emails, progress-report emails, and congratulatory emails.
2. A series of in-office posters, designed to show how small things can be brought together to create great things. Each poster showed the work of an artist who had recreated classic buildings using thousands of matchsticks.
“Small leads matter. Don’t throw them away.”
3. An in-office (communal space) screen installation showing a “profit pipeline” as a regular (transparent) pipe carrying water. The pipe is leaking (representing losses). As the water builds, the financial loss is counted to the right of the screen. Also, the comedic IBM characters from the email series are seen standing beneath the leak, with the water gradually rising towards their necks.
“Small leads build up. Stop the leak!”
4. A luxury chocolate gift placed on every desk with a card reading:
“Small things matter. Thanks for your support.”
The client was delighted with the strategy and execution. It was used across IBM offices, apparently with robust results; and the email format was eventually used by IBM in B2C campaigns.
Company Newsletter
I was tasked with managing the team of content writers (in-house and third party). I began by forming an SEO strategy for content (B2C/B2B) , with content calendars split across teams, each covering specialist topics, based on strengths.
In direct relation to this, I played a leading role in mapping out social media content strategy, so that SM and newsletter content could be linked and mutually support/promote popular topics, driving engagement across platforms.
I also wrote my own thought-leadership pieces on the B2B side of the business, as well as contributing articles on the B2C side.
Additionally, A/B testing of subject lines, H1s and lead-ins, with a view to improving CTRs/ORs, played a large role in growing engagement. The tests, with an experimental approach developed and written by myself, led to new records for the newsletter.
Thought-leadership Piece (B2B)
Weddings Drive
A company who created websites for florists wanted to move into the weddings (B2C) market. Competition was stiff and we needed to create content that would have an impact.
I opted to create a series of long-form (2000 words each), image-filled articles on various aspects of wedding preparation: Choosing your wedding flowers, choosing your venue, choosing your wedding colors, choosing your photographer, and so on.
All the articles were linked to one main article: “Big Day Basics”, which gave a shorter guide to each of the topics; at the same time, each section invited readers to click through to the related 2000-word article for in-depth information.
This is called a Pillar Page – SEO-optimized to allow Google to understand how much information is being provided through related (linked) pages. The result in the SERPs was excellent; then we were contacted by one of the major wedding companies, asking if they could link through to our article, starting a mutually beneficial relationship.
A landing page was created, which linked out to the pillar page, along with a B2C digital ad campaign and social media postings. A B2B drive, including email campaign, was created for florists.
Pillar Page (rebuilt for portfolio)
Many of my strategic approaches are based on user research, feedback, demographics, user personas, A/B testing, and other data indicating engagement/action; or competitive viability, such as keyword analysis.