Ida Gamban Brand and Creative Build better brands. Tell better stories.
511.org
511.org is a San Francisco Bay Area transit organization wanted to promote its “All-Nighter” service after midnight. Here’s the outdoor campaign that we created.
Agency: Palmer Advertising SF
Engagement role: Concept copywriter
Gerstein Eye Institute
Client: Gerstein Eye Institute
Engagement Role: Website copywriter
eBay Digital Marketing
Agency: Yes Lifecycle Marketing | Client: eBay
Engagement Role: Content and Creative Director
As the agency liaison working onsite at eBay, I provided brand and creative consulting services while leading the development of innovative digital marketing campaigns and content with my counterpart and creative partner, Mike Metschan, in the agency’s Portland office.
Key responsibilities:
1) Lead the concept development of eBay’s CRM (Seller) online marketing campaigns
2) Direct and produce content for the “Real Sellers” storytelling initiative
3) Manage the client relationship by:
- deepening their knowledge of best practices
- championing the brand
- providing problem-solving and support to marketing teams
CONTENT MARKETING & STORYTELLING EXAMPLE
“REAL SELLERS” INITIATIVE
I directed and produced content for the “Real Sellers” Initiative. This high-profile content marketing program told engaging real-life stories of eBay’s top sellers from different verticals. I sourced the sellers and photoshoot locations across the country; directed the photo shoots and set design; and controlled the budget. I led the content marketing strategy, plus the development of asset examples for the program, which featured human interest stories, testimonials and tips for usage and repurposing across multiple marketing channels and campaigns.
Photographer: Nate Watters | Nate Watters Photography, Seattle, WA
Here are a few examples from the shoot.
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CAMPAIGN EXAMPLE: “STRETCH GOALS”
Overview: eBay identified an opportunity to capture sizable revenue by increasing the frequency and size of sales transactions from active eBay sellers. Stretch Goals was an automated campaign designed to drive more sales from these sellers. They received personalized sales goals and a series of emails that provided coaching and selling tools as well as a sweepstakes to motivate them. eBay sent the sellers updates on their performance, reminders and congratulatory emails.
Assignment: Develop the campaign theme and a series of emails that encourage sellers to “stretch” and reach their sales goals and win a valuable prize.
Solution: We created the theme “Top Your Totals” and produced a highly customized series of emails that gave sellers data-driven insights into their sales, all in a clean—yet information packed—responsive email design.
Results: Segments within the target audience increased their sales performance significantly.
Emails featured responsive designs. Here’s how it looks on mobile.
EMAIL #1 – INTRODUCTION
EMAIL #2 – REMINDER
EMAIL #3 – SALES PROGRESS REPORT
EMAIL #4 – CONGRATULATIONS ON MAKING YOUR GOAL
EMAIL #5 – HERE’S YOUR SWEEPSTAKES AWARD
Content marketing examples to come.
Burger King | Radio
Lexmark Worldwide Marketing
At Lexmark International, a global enterprise technology company, I led numerous initiatives for the Worldwide Marketing team.
1) I planned, managed and executed a complex B2B nurturing lead generation program that spanned five verticals and three personas, plus developed content aligned to the customer journey;
2) Helped successfully launch 40+ new products (Lexmark’s biggest launch in history)
3) Handled corporate website rebranding efforts from a brand voice and copy perspective
4) Developed a content marketing /social media strategy and marketing program
5) Interviewed key customers, industry analysts and more to write case studies, blogs, etc.
As Worldwide Marketing Manager for Nurturing Demand Generation Campaigns, I successfully launched Lexmark’s comprehensive, event-triggered nurturing/lead generation campaign. I managed efforts of our outside agency and internal team of SME/content strategists—which required work that was wide in scope and short in turnaround time. Responsibilities included:
- Developing messaging strategies — The brand campaigns manager and I created message maps for several vertical markets: banking, government, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing and retail —which were further segmented by three buyer personas.
- Directing the communications agency and freelance writers — I provided guidance on the new corporate brand voice and copy tone, plus reviewed, edited and approved all campaign content (100s of emails/ landing pages, and 50+ marketing assets).
- Collaborating with cross-functional teams — From determining lead scoring and the next A/B tests with marketing ops, to gaining insights from subject matter experts, to handling editorial reviews, I kept communication flowing and projects moving forward to meet tight deadlines.
- Establishing brand voice and copy tone — As part of the corporate rebranding efforts, I helped establish Lexmark’s new brand personality and voice, as well as copy tone. I started the corporate brand and copy guidelines for the marketing department.
- Optimizing the nurturing campaign based on analytics — I worked with key stakeholders in weekly reviews of the campaign’s results based on Eloqua reports. We optimized lead gen results by conducting a variety of A/B tests.
- Banking
- Government
- Insurance
- Manufacturing
- Retail
- Lexmark’s biggest product launch — The company introduced 42 laser printers and multifunction printers (MFPs), 22 of which were “smart” models that provided touchscreen access to workflow solutions integrated with Perceptive Software. I established Lexmark’s new brand voice and guidelines for this launch, developed brand messaging “themes” to help position the products, and wrote and edited launch materials, which involved guiding a two-person content strategy/copywriting team.
- Social media & content marketing programs – I developed a comprehensive, integrated social and content marketing plan that supported the brand awareness and demand generation campaigns. The program outlined benefits, rationales, strategies and tactics. It covered social channels including LinkedIn, Twitter and the corporate blog, featured an editorial calendar, an event marketing social media strategy, a content repurposing plan, an employee engagement strategy and more.
- Telesales on-site training in Barcelona Spain — Lexmark had established a new telesales center in Spain and needed to train the EMEA sales team. I researched and wrote a comprehensive set of sales battlecards to get them up to speed, and was then sent to Barcelona on the training team. Battlecards focused on: key vertical industries, target audiences segmented by buyer personas, and customer pain points as well as relevant solutions that would help solve the customers’ issues.
Lexmark’s marketing team discusses the day’s telesales training sessions with the EMEA team lead in Barcelona.
- Corporate website rebranding — I was responsible for assessing, editing and writing several industry solutions sections. This included integrating website content from Lexmark’s acquired company Perceptive Software. Other responsibilities included content strategy and SEO.
As Social Media Reporter, Blogger and Photographer…
Assignments included covering leading industry conferences and corporate-sponsored events. I held discussions with customers, analysts and influencers about industry topics and trends, Lexmark and Perceptive Software brand perceptions and more. Two of my blog posts were ranked in Lexmark’s Top 5 most clicked on blog posts for 2013. Here are some highlights:
National Retail Federation Annual Convention and EXPO (NRF 2013) New York – I scored an on-the-spot interview with Juicy Couture, a top fashion retailer and key Lexmark customer—then wrote an event/customer testimonial blog post that resulted in the highest website hits on the corporate blog that year. I was also the corporate event photographer.
- Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS 2013) New Orleans – At this leading summit for Health IT professionals, I was the Lexmark event photographer for the Perceptive Software booth and tradeshow activities, President Clinton’s keynote address, and the Mardi Gras-themed corporate customer event—in addition to covering man-on-the-street interviews.
- Lexmark Analyst Summit 2012 — I interviewed industry-leading analysts who came to Lexmark’s headquarters to hear about the company’s next chapter in providing world-class MPS and business process solutions. Analyst Angele Boyd from IDC offered great insights.
The conventional wisdom is that printing and imaging is turning into a services industry. However, it’s interesting that Lexmark doesn’t talk about their strategy that way. They don’t talk about becoming a services company; they talk about becoming a solutions company trying to solve business process problems where there are pain points, which is a pretty unique way of thinking about the business.” — Angele Boyd, IDC
Lexmark and the PGA of America Golf Championship 2013 Rochester – As the corporate sponsor, Lexmark was the sole IT hardware and solutions provider, delivering technical expertise, streamlining processes and ensuring connectivity. I secured an exclusive behind-the-scenes interview revealing how Lexmark helped make the event a success, and wrote a popular blog post on it.
Eden Roc Inn & Suites – Website
Eden Roc Inn & Suites is a popular hotel in near Disneyland in Anaheim, CA. The property recently was recently remodeled, and to promote its fresh new look, the company relaunched the website with a new brand look and feel. I was hired to create the new brand voice, write the website copy, develop creative theme names for the different suites, and help with the SEO.
HOME PAGE
ATTRACTIONS PAGE
ACCOMMODATIONS PAGE
In addition to writing copy, I created inspirational theme names for each type of hotel room and suite. Below are “Dreamland,” “Park Place,” and the “Adventurer’s Suite.”
Crowdcast Website
Silicon Valley startups are my specialty. I’m passionate about building brands from the ground up and these B2B high technology companies offer plenty of opportunity to do so.
For Crowdcast, a social business intelligence company, I worked with the founders, core launch team and production team to deliver a fully branded website, demo video and collateral for a tight launch date that was set in stone.
Startup company: Crowdcast
Crowdcast launch team: Mat Fogarty, Bobbi Frioli, Sam Lawrence, Matt Shore, Leslie Fine, Anastasia Babanskaia, April Donato, Kurtis Glade, Kathleen Hayes/Luminosity Group (videos)
Engagement role: Brand voice and positioning, content strategy, interviewing stakeholders, copywriting, editing, concept development
Results: Crowdcast successfully raised over $6 million in funding and was acquired just two years later by Spigit, a maker of collaborative innovation management software for enterprises.
Note: Since this is a super cool and geeky category—business intelligence—I’ve included the fantastic promo video that the Luminosity Group created, because it nicely sets up and provides context for the rest of the work. My role then was to help write the copy and edit the demo video, plus write the entire website and data sheet.
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As a senior creative in Oracle’s Brand and Creative group, I worked on a wide range of Oracle marketing initiatives. These ranged from blogging and demand generation, to integrated marketing campaigns, product brand positioning, architecture, and launches including:
- Oracle Exadata Database Machine
- SPARC SuperCluster T-4
- Oracle Public Cloud
- Oracle Enterprise Manager
Company: Oracle Brand and Creative (internal agency)
Engagement role: Demand generation, event marketing, branding, product launches, concept development, copywriting, blogging, scriptwriting for demo/promo videos, event photography
ORACLE CLOUD COMPUTING LAUNCH | PROMO VIDEO
I created the brand positioning theme for Oracle cloud computing, “Consolidate. Accelerate. Innovate.” as well as wrote the copy for the video.
ORACLE ENTERPRISE MANAGER | DEMO VIDEO
This is a high level overview demo of Oracle’s database management solutions. I wrote the copy and worked with closely with the art director/producer to develop this video.
ORACLE JAVA PR ROADTRIP INITIATIVE | PROMO CAMPAIGN
When Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems, they created a marketing initiative to promote their support for JAVA. This initiative resulted in the creation of a technology bus roadshow that traveled across the nation. I created the theme “Code to Coast,” blogged and wrote copy for the materials.
ORACLE OPENWORLD | EVENT MARKETING
Oracle’s annual IT conference is massive. Imagine 60,000+ attendees congregating for one week in downtown San Francisco—and then, partying on Treasure Island for a night of world-class entertainment. Oracle’s internal agency promotes it all. Here’s some of my work:
BLOG EXAMPLES | (Includes Oracle Cloud coverage)
Slide 3 | 
“ROCKOPOLIS” CONCERT EVENT NIGHT
Theme Development + Promos + Event Coverage
For Oracle’s customer appreciation night on Treasure Island, I came up with the concept “Rockopolis,” since the event highlight was a rock concert featuring Fergie and the Black Eyed Peas, Terri Nunn from Berlin, and Steve Miller. I also blogged, took photos, and wrote copy for promotional materials. 
Charles Schwab Ads
While I was contract writer at Charles Schwab, I wrote concepts and copy for everything from corporate event themes and executive brochures to website pages, ads, direct mail and email.
Company: Charles Schwab | Creative Services (internal agency)
Engagement role: Conceptual development, copywriting
The National Financial Literacy Challenge – Inaugural Campaign
The Charles Schwab Foundation and the U.S. Treasury department sponsored the first ever National Financial Literacy Challenge, a competition that tested the financial savvy of students as well as provided them with the opportunity to win scholarships. I developed a complete integrated marketing campaign for the program.
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As a lead creative on the Wells Fargo account at Ogilvy One, I developed concepts and wrote copy for numerous digital campaigns which included banners, emails and landing pages. I also created and wrote high-level strategic messaging platforms and help define the brand voice for Wells Fargo corporate marketing. Here’s one concept for Wells Fargo mobile banking, which was a rotating banner ad.
Agency: Ogilvy One | San Francisco
Engagement role: Concept development, copywriting
