Pragmatic and Powerful Marketing
AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION
BRAND REFRESH, DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION, AND CONTENT STRATEGY
Challenge: To deliver on its lung health mission and reach donors, American Lung Association (ALA) needed to invest in a brand refresh and a digital transformation that included both infrastructure and content to connect with today’s consumers. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Julia saw the need for clear and powerful messaging. People were looking to ALA to lead, and they needed do so with efficiency, accuracy, and confidence.
Strategy: Just as COVID-19 hit, Julia launched a brand refresh that took the 120-year-old brand from an outdated presentation to a look and tone that matched the ALA’s positioning. An upgraded Lung.org positioned them to deliver fact-based information about COVID with an optimized site that featured a solid UX and user-friendly CMS. Julia also supported digital platforms to deliver virtual versions in-person services, and championed a virtual telethon featuring Queen Latifa and other celebrities to raise funds during the pandemic. To improve constituent communications, ALA invested in the Salesforce Marketing Cloud automated marketing platform to create a better experience for constituents. To support the mission, Julia also invested in a digital and content team that helped tell ALA’s story and raise funds through digital marketing.
Results: Using digital content from the telethon and other lung health and COVID content, Julia improved engagement rates and increased digital fundraising revenues by 27% year over year. Email channel revenues increased 29%. ALA remained a reliable, accessible source for lung health when people needed it most.
Optimizing Brand, Content, and Digital Advertising to Serve the Mission.
Spreading Vital Messaging Through Quality Content
To deliver high quality content Julia partnered with agencies and developed in house talent to deliver high impact messaging for Covid Vaccines, Lung Cancer Screening, and Youth Vaping campaigns.
THERMOS
MODERNIZING A CLASSIC BRAND
Challenge: While staying true to its old-school brand, Thermos needed to join the modern world of e-commerce and digital marketing or risk being left behind.
Strategy: Julia directed the company online by creating rich content that highlighted the performance of Thermos products with various user groups - kids, commuters, athletes, and campers. The visual content modernized Thermos’s website, which was restructured for functionality. Julia incorporated the company’s rich heritage by assembling Thermos’s legacy products for branding purposes, plus uniquely ownable content. With focused content energizing the website, Julia implemented a frictionless e-commerce system for direct to consumer sales.
Results: Jump in website traffic and e-commerce sales. Upgraded brand positioning and appearance. Reduced obsolete inventory through online specials.
Modernizing the Brand and Introducing E-Commerce
AZEK Building Products
BRAND BUILDING WITH CONSUMERS & TRADE
Challenge: AZEK acquired TimberTech and although they were both premium brands in engineered decking, siding, and trim, they were largely unknown to consumers and underutilized versus wood by trade partners.
Strategy: As CMO, Julia created new brand architecture for the company that simplified the company's go to market approach and allowed for more effective marketing investment. She then launched a multi channel decking campaign to drive awareness with consumers and consideration with the trade. She created the "100% Smarter Than Wood" message that identified the largest growth opportunity for the brand - wood deck replacement. Then she used HGTV as a cost effective TV driver and coordinated print, digital, social, and trade marketing to get the brand name recognized and associated with its core competency - a premium wood replacement.
Results: HGTV placements gained over 8MM views accelerated web traffic. Overall adjustments increased AZEK awareness from 19% to 27%, increased site traffic 52% YOY, and increased contractor leads by 128% YOY. Sales increased 10% in 2017.
Building AZEK Building Products' Brand
Challenge: In 2016 AZEK wanted to regionally launch a new siding product and be viewed as a premium brand for multiple high performance home exterior products. Like most of the industry, AZEK's advertising had been exclusively male focused. As an added marketing challenge, there were no homes yet built with the new AZEK siding, so traditional photography was not an option.
Strategy: Through interviews with contractors and dealers Julia uncovered a key insight - the female head of household was the primary influencer of color, product, and brand that went into her outdoor living space and home exterior. Julia worked with the agency to launch a breakthrough campaign that influenced women with a "house purse" that highlighted AZEK's siding & other products. These striking images broke through the traditional consumer facing building products messaging in print, social, digital, and PR. Even the trade asked for the campaign for the postcards and door hanger activations that works on local contractor level.
Results: AZEK sales grew 15% in 2016, 20 key new dealers took on the AZEK products, AZEK was recognized as #1 Brand by the Builder Magazine 2016 Brand Builder study.
Connecting with AZEK's Overlooked Customer
Sylvan Learning
POSITIONING FOR GROWTH
Challenge: Sylvan Learning was experiencing declining sales in an increasingly competitive market. Its remedial tutoring focus was narrow, its brand presentation was out dated and it did not have a digital outreach strategy.
Strategy: Julia identified that Sylvan's biggest growth opportunity was expanding its positioning from a remedial tutoring company to an education company. Julia established the new STEM brand, Sylvan Edge, for robotics and coding, and the Sylvan Prep brand for kids preparing for the ACTs and SATS. The repositioning expanded Sylvan's target market and revenue potential dramatically. Enlisting Bill Nye as a key influencer provided national messaging and allowed the Sylvan Franchisees to focus on marketing Sylvan Edge in their local territories.
Results: Over 480 franchisees adopted and sold the Sylvan Edge Program, Declining sales stabilized and returned to single digit growth, Sylvan's social presence increased by 120%, and the leads to Franchisees increased by 20%. Company momentum followed suit.
Expanding A Heritage Brand To Drive New Business.
Content & Digital
SELLS HOLIDAY TOYS AT KMART
Challenge: Moms weren't shopping Kmart for holiday because they did not think they could find the hot toys their kids wanted there.
Strategy: Julia created the Kmart Fab 15 hot toy list and had Rico Rodriguez from Modern Family introduce the list through videos, social media, a toy catalog, an event in Times Square and in print. We created a kmart.com/Fab15 site where we housed fun videos that revealed the toys, hosted a sweepstake, and promoted e-commerce. Then Julia took the Fab 15 to completely unexpected places for online toy shopping anywhere there was dwell time - airports, bus stops, food courts.
Results - The campaign received over 400MM impressions, over 18MM views of the videos, PR placements on the Ellen Show, Hollywood Access, and PerezHilton.com, 40% increase in Fab 15 sales, $35MM in toy Catalog sales, and new Kmart respect from the big toy makers.
