Scaling a regional solution into a global brand campaign
Earliest campaign iteration
The campaign began as a localized effort to boost Workiva’s awareness in Europe. Partnering with our agency, we crafted clever metaphors and a flexible headline to quickly convey who we are. This process highlighted the need for a strong tagline and recognizable campaign creative.
As the campaign gained enthusiastic internal adoption, it became clear we had been missing this level of messaging and design. Recognizing its potential, I took on the role of evolving it into a scalable creative system to support our organization’s brand goals.
Digital campaign expands to North America
Launching our digital campaign in North America, research showed the need for more platform context in ads. Adding in abstracted representations of our platform functionality not only addressed this insight, it also began to provide more core elements to drive visual cohesion across our growing campaign placements.
Clips from a tennis-themed CTV ad that ran during Wimbledon
Working directly with filmmakers and production, I contributed to creative direction for video ads to accompany our static ads. We mirrored the simplicity and bold graphic elements from the static ads, leaning into mid-day lighting with harsh shadows and vibrant light. This further drove cohesion in our visual campaign language, regardless of medium.
Establishing presence with big brand moments
With a goal of 150 million annual brand impressions, we sought big opportunities—starting with Workiva’s 10-year IPO anniversary at the New York Stock Exchange. Our challenge: how could we turn a 20-second bell ringing into a major brand moment?
I expanded the campaign’s creative system to support high-impact moments like a 70-foot NYSE banner, a Times Square ad, a WSJ takeover, and a fully wrapped bus. By integrating our signature zesty green and thoughtfully expanding the use of abstracted platform illustrations, I established the building blocks for strong brand cohesion and recognition across OOH, digital, and print placements. Our efforts resulted in over 10.4 million impressions and over 7,000 visits to workiva.com, and ignited internal momentum to invest in our brand.
Workiva at Climate Week NYC
At our first major Climate Week presence, I aimed to match the impact of our NYSE event, this time spotlighting our ESG Solution and Carbon specifically while still maintaining a high Workiva brand visibility. To accomplish this, I planned our placements and the look and feel of each around the attendee journey.
We greeted attendees with high-level “Where your most important work happens” creative at NYC airports, then a Workiva Carbon-themed transit hub outside the Javits center, and finally, ESG Solution and Carbon platform imagery at our booth inside the Nest at the Javits Center. The result was a Workiva presence in NYC curated to sustainability professionals, and we even earned organic praise on LinkedIn from attendees for our strategically branded approach.
Harnessing brand magic at scale
Following the success of activating at major brand moments, I extended the campaign’s visual identity down funnel with industry and solution teams, maintaining brand consistency while tailoring to specific audiences. We developed starter kits for industry and field events with the goal of creating a seamless and scalable brand experience for our prospects.
Agency partners: Mabbly
Team: Claire Allison, Abby Munn, Craig Pelz, Tyler Perry, Alexis Xuconoxtli, Drew Hays, Tanner Heinrichs, Andrew Markun, Chris Kent, Annika Monfort, Liz Philbrick, Suelen Hickman, Alison Frederick, Paige Hunyh, Jada Holst