Small Campaign Made Better

My very favorite marketing colleague ever is Adrienne. She often asks, “What’s the purpose?” when peer editing. When I first started working with her I met this remark with a blank stare. To which she said, “What do you want the potential client to do when they see this marketing piece?” Often this would lead me to look at my piece with fresh eyes and realize I needed to scrap much of what I just finished. I tell you this story as I am confident that the person who created the original ads for this project did not have the benefit of a great peer editor like Adrienne.

I was contacted regarding an event with one of our newly acquired companies. The team was feeling panicked as the event only was four months away. Transitions before the acquisition had caused chaos in their marketing department. The CMO of Endeavor Business Media asked that I meet with team members and come up with an action plan. The good news was that they did have some items in place but there was quite a bit left to be done. Plus, some of the “done” items needed refining. Exhibit A: The banner ad campaign.

The campaign had been produced by a marketer with an overwhelming workload who was unfamiliar with the team and event. The marketer assured me that the ads were completed and just needed to be placed on the associated media sites and with retargeting programs. After reviewing the ads, the team and I agreed that additional work needed to be done.

The original marketer would not be available for revisions and the new marketer had yet to be assigned. It was my job to fill in and give this event a proper kick-off. In addition to revising these ads, the publisher and editor helped me to establish key words and verbiage that would resonate with the industry. The original creative design team was not available to re-do these files. I reached out to the creative team for the native collateral that was consistent with the branding used on the website and landing pages. Within a few hours I was able to produce two 300x250px banner options for the team to review. I recommended that they move to the design that was brand consistent, with a clear call to action, but also gave them an option similar to the original. After gathering feedback from the team I was able to produce an effective ad package by the end of the day. Over the course of the week I also met with the CMO, event coordinators, and sales team. This allowed me to make strategic recommendations to the CMO for placing an available marketer who knew the industry with this event team.