Amazon Web Services is one of the largest providers of cloud computing in the world. Many of the world’s most popular websites and online services depend on AWS to host their sites. When AWS needed an ad campaign that would resonate with IT decision-makers, it turned to nclud.
Strategy
Getting Heads into the Clouds
The campaign called for creating banner ads and Metro ads for AWS – both mediums with notoriously low engagement rates. nclud needed to develop an ad that could catch the attention easily and encourage click-through and sign-up from even the most distracted users. The team developed an integrated campaign using Amazon’s amazing case studies as the focal point to grab attention and entice the targeted audience to learn more.
nclud then thought deeply about the average beltway IT decision-maker — interviewing dozens and surveying, even more, to back up any hypotheses they had. nclud chose a travel theme inspired by vintage travel posters and developed the tagline “Wish you were here” to provide contrast to the daily grind of often mundane government IT work.
Initial sketches by multiple team members let them explore ideas quickly and cost-effectively before deciding on a campaign theme. From the start, “Wish you were here” resonated with the team.
Initial concepts from minimalism to retrofuturism. The team was careful to use user testing data over personal preference when selecting directions to present to AWS.
Design
A Seamless Multiple-Medium Experience
The team knew they needed to design an experience that would translate across multiple mediums. nclud explored styles and themes such as retrofuturism and modernism, but ultimately felt they would not grab the attention of the target audiences. After many rounds of internal revisions, they chose simple, bold, high contrast colors nclud thought would translate well in both online and print ads, fit in with the theme of their tagline, and message as well as successfully attract attention of the desired audience.
The Wish You Were Here campaign was adapted to fit the AWS Washington DC Summit. The continuity worked, with 53% of summit site viewers showing intention to register.
Before delivering directions to AWS, we user-tested several concepts and websites to help inform their decision. Testing concepts in our in-house datalab allowed for instantaneous feedback.
The Washington DC metro campaign lasted two weeks up until the AWS convention, reaching over 40,000 commuters daily.
Results
Metric Meteorology: Finding Meaning in the Clouds
Wish You Were Here ads were seen by more than half a million people in just 3 days. Not only did the site achieve mass exposure, but it was also effective: 53% of total traffic to the site exited to the registration page. Their decision to create multiple registration CTAs throughout the site captured users no matter how far down they explored the site. The campaign generated thousands of signups and made the AWS Public Sector Summit one of the most successful events of the AWS Summit Circuit.
About nclud
nclud is a provocative creative agency focused on imagining and building highly interactive digital user experiences that push the limits of design and development.
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