So what exactly is a campaign?

That’s a great question. Each campaign can have totally different elements in it, or campaigns can repeat the same type of main assets, but look different. In my experience, here’s what they all have in common:

  • They’re a core group of materials created ideally across a paid, earned, shared, and owned approach that articulate a company’s point of view on something and how their products and services fit in – it could be an industry trend, a product, or something else
  • They have a longer run time than a “news announcement” – however, they could generate news
  • They’re intended to build brand awareness, generate demand, or do both. Put simply, after experiencing one, you should think, feel, and act differently towards that organization.
  • The best ones have some spark, insight, or nugget that’s novel. Or offer something totally provocative to catch attention, ie, a stunt. Which leads me into…

Lenovo’s Most Famous Product Engineer

While I supported the consumer PC business unit, our VP of Marketing at the time, Jeff Meredith, entered into a relationship with Ashton Kutcher to help develop and market our Yoga line of convertible tablets and laptops. We dubbed him a “product engineer” and got lots of behind the scenes photos and videos of him meeting with our engineering teams around the world (he legitimately did). From a PR perspective, my job was to make the most of this opportunity and generate press coverage and interest in our products. I worked on two major media and influencer launches – the first Yoga premier, which we held at the YouTube studios in Los Angeles and livestreamed, and for the second iteration, we held the press launch event at a venue in London, which we also livestreamed. I developed the script for each product launch and was deeply involved in the production and media coverage of the announcements. I facilitated his involvement in other minor launches around the world and global media interviews as well. One of the highlights for me was hosting media interviews with Ashton in LA and giving him directions for his presence on stage in London.

Here’s a recap from the London event.

Even while some media were skeptical of his title of “product engineer,” (read the press release I wrote) we had a tremendous amount of positive press coverage, given his legitimacy as a technology investor. Our brand team created several funny ads with him, and we teased the partnership on social media with just this image:

And before I head to the next campaign, enjoy a few scenes from the events.

Ascom Virtual Nursing

This campaign helped Ascom claim leadership among traditional nurse call vendors in the North American market by positioning Ascom’s integration with virtual nursing provider AvaSure early as hospitals were investing in virtual solutions. I used industry research to develop a full funnel campaign that targeted Chief Nursing Officers and Chief Information Officers at hospitals with the message that Ascom elevates virtual nursing. Core elements of the campaign were:

Ascom Smart Alerting and Alarming

This campaign focused on raising awareness of our smart alerting and alarming solution as we drive customers towards workflow solutions, not individual products. It clearly explained the need and how our solution works to solve a common issue hospitals are dealing with today – alarm fatigue.

This campaign comprised a number of assets, including:

  • Whiteboard video
  • Social media (organic and paid)
  • Brochure
  • Sales presentation
  • Channel partner webinar
  • Website refresh
  • Email signatures for employees
  • Banners across all owned assets

Ascom Nursing Satisfaction Study

One good way I’ve found to generate news coverage and interest in a brand is to create news from research. In our report on nursing satisfaction, we surveyed 900 nurses across the U.S. about their satisfaction at work and the role technology plays in it. We linked this to how our workflow solutions can help.


7 Reasons to Love Telligence 7

We created a campaign to launch the next generation of our smart nurse call – Telligence 7. For this one, we zeroed in on the value proposition of seven key features that make it easier, faster, and less costly for hospital IT administrators to deploy Telligence 7. We produced a full slate of assets, from press release to infographic to buying guide, eBook and walkthrough video with the product manager. Plus, we did another whiteboard video that breaks down the key benefits. To be efficient with resources, we sliced and diced all this content and used it across paid, earned, and owned channels. I also created a series of articles with SEO/AEO in mind by researching competitors AI results and cross-referencing with our website to find areas of opportunity.

Lenovo Beyond Boundaries