Intel Branded Content Campaign

Partnered with Intel to bring together this custom advertising experience that shares a collection of stories about how technology is shaping our future. This was Vox Media's first piece of Branded Content, and defined a format for all future Branded Content Campaigns.

 

Project Goals:

  • Develop the visual language and framework for the articles and homepage of custom branded content experience Vox Creative was creating for Intel.

  • Partner with Engineering as they developed a publishing system powered by Google Docs, offering a way for Branded Content campaigns to be easy to produced and editorially independent.

  • Leverage this project to develop a framework for future Branded Content campaigns to follow

Additional Challenges:  

  • First project of this type that Vox had developed. No past guidelines or data to follow

 

Mobile Article

Role: UX/Visual Design Lead

  • Worked with Key Stakeholders, including Product Managers and Client Company to define expectations, timelines, and determine how success for the product would be measured.

  • Defined visual language

  • Created a process for rapid iteration and a framework for future campaigns to follow

 

Team:  

  • 2 Designers

  • 1 Front-End Developer

Cross-Functional Players:  

  • Vox Creative (video & editorial)

  • Ad Product Engineering

  • Ad Operations

 

Process:

  • Kick-off meeting with the project stakeholders (Vox Creative and Intel Design Team) where we framed the goals and discussed the visual and brand limitations for the design

 

Left: Intel Brand Colors; Right: Cobranded color and gradient palette

 

  • Established cobranded logo and image treatment while exploring combinations within display ads

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Final Logo and Image Treatment

  • Design and build phases were combined. Throughout the design process, I partnered with the Engineering and Vox Creative teams to ensure that the work we were doing aligned.

Early layout sketches for article pages

Early layout sketches for the hub page

  • Additional visual elements from Intel were incorporated into the page layout

 

Early layout sketches for article and hub pages. Initially, I framed the page in a way that would be fully custom for Intel.

 

  • Page Elements and Areas of Focus:

    • The Verge Navigation bar

    • Hero video

    • Accompanying article

    • High-impact Intel Brand Awareness elements

    • Quick navigation from one article to the next

    • Social sharing

Round 4 mocks for article and hub pages. Refining overall framework and exploring options to quickly move from one piece of content to the next.

  • Partnered with the Revenue Support Team for a thorough round of QA, testing for design and UX inconsistencies as well as for bugs across browsers and devices.

  • Rolling Product Launch! 🚀 The campaign included 10 unique features each with editorial and video content, and the launch of each feature was distributed across 10 weeks.

  • Campaign included 50+ standard banners, with a final design that closely aligned with Intel’s brand

Created template for rapid iteration.

  • With UX framework defined, created layout guidelines for future campaigns to follow

Unexpected Challenge

Initially the pages weren’t performing as well as expected. As part of the campaign, I had created standard display ads, but they weren’t driving the promised traffic. I quickly put together high-impact display ads that could drive additional traffic, and I worked with the AdOps team to create a Native Advertising solution for the campaign.

Above are images of the high-impact display ad (left) and native ad (right) placements developed after launch to drive additional traffic to the Intel Campaign, and ultimately meet the promised benchmarks.

This worked. The campaign was a success, and the Native Advertising we created for it paved the way for how native advertising for branded content pieces would display across the Vox Media portfolio of sites.

Above are some of the initial sketches as I worked with the AdOps team to create a consistent placement from site to site, and the homepage placements that became a standard part of Branded Content Campaign packages.

Results:

  • Intel campaign hit the promised benchmarks

  • Developed standards for Native Advertising on Vox Media

  • http://www.theverge.com/sponsored/intel-future-is-now

🏆 2014 Digiday Content Marketing Awards, Finalist

🗺 Defined framework for 50+ future campaigns

Above are a few of the Branded Content Campaigns that followed the framework developed for Intel. Pictured are Negra Modelo, Infinity, and Absolut.

 

Company: Vox Media

Client: Intel

Role: UX/Visual Design Lead

Internal Design Team:

  • Photography - Vox Creative Staff

  • Editorial - Vox Creative Staff

  • Technical Lead - Brian Anderson

Date: 2014