Cisco
2020
hi5 agency
As Cisco entered its first year working with hi.5 agency, there were many creative and strategic hurdles presented. At a top level, Cisco is universally one of the most ubiquitous presences in the technology and networking sectors, yet, their brand awareness was much lower than that of their competitors. On a granular level, their social channels had very little engagement. Their B2C approaches often left consumer experiences confusing, vague. On top that, Cisco had very strict brand guidelines, as well as differing brand guidelines across their products such as Cisco Webex, Cisco Digital Hub, and Meraki Go. Creatively, the challenge was to a) Explore, study, and have a thorough understanding of the multitude of guidelines for each vertical, and b) Interpret them to create humanizing and engaging content in a way the brand had never seen before.
In the middle of all of this, the Covid-19 pandemic changed workplaces as we knew them, and we quickly had to pivot many campaigns to be the focus of how to safely and effectively work remotely, and how Cisco plans to help its customers do that.
Overtime, we were able to develop a great partnership with multiple business units, and hi5 was named a “Cisco Preferred Partner” in Spring of 2020. Below are a few of the campaigns I have directed with a small team of very talented designers, motion artists, and editors.
Cisco x Tokyo Olympics 2020
To highlight Cisco as a proud sponsor and partner of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, we created a hero piece for social that infused the power and strength of various athletes visually infused with elegant portrayals of technology, symbolizing how the two are coming together for the event.
Cisco Enterprise Networks Hardware Videos
These videos were a part of a campaign visually driven by the sleek and attractive design of various server and access point products. In comparison to the larger body of work we produced, we were encouraged to go beyond traditional guidelines and make these videos feel more futuristic and mysterious
CIO Storytelling Campaign
In the wake of the Covid-19 campaign, with many new worries about adjustments working from home, the role and expectations of company CIO’s changed quickly. Through an internal and external campaign focused on data visualization, we wanted to highlight the ways CIO’s have changed the WFH narrative.
Cisco Designed for Small Business Instagram Launch
Cisco launched a new vertical designed to target small businesses that may think that Cisco is too corporate or expensive for those that are not enterprise sized. Strategically, the challenge was to come up with authentic and relatable content that showed how Cisco products have helped small business owners and entrepreneurs achieve their dreams. Creatively, we wanted to the art direction to feel like a part of the Cisco world, but in a bold and more youthful direction that didn’t feel so sterile, a direction that invigorated the content. Below are the case studies we designed to launch the Instagram account.
One row posted each week tells the story of small businesses, businesses affected by Covid-19, and women and entrepreneurs of Color.
Cisco Digital Hub: Digital Marketing Training Video
This introductory animated video was designed to use internally for new Cisco marketing employees and narrates how to approach digital marketing from a top-level perspective. The video had to be informative enough to educate experienced marketers, but in language clear enough for executives to grasp as well. Creatively, we got to step outside the realm of Cisco’s core branded colors of blues and oranges, and followed the guidelines specific to the Digital Hub.
Future of Work Infographic
Created for internal circulation for Cisco Webex
Social Toolkits
Over the year in our partnership, we created quarterly social “toolkits” consisting of a collection of statics, gifs, motion loops, and short videos that encapsulated a theme or product for promotion, ending with a call to action.
Executive Perspectives
Our Executive Perspectives toolkit was unlike any toolkit created for Cisco in the past. Instead of relying on the stereotypical image of “men in suits” as executive leaders and just showing people typing on a laptop, we featured a diverse, more business casual array of people, and leaned into portrait-style photography and bold graphics to evoke emotional connection with the viewer.
Connected Experiences
In our Connected Experiences toolkit, it was important to visually show how Connection, Security, and Automation are not only standalone services, but come together as one for a powerful experience.
Enterprise Networks SD-WAN and Security Videos
These two 30 second spots, also slated to go live in Q4, highlight the importance of having a secure SD-WAN network while working remotely, and how Cisco is the go-to SD-WAN network providing the most security for users.
