I joined MakerBot for a big transition in their business. Having made a name for themselves as the first desktop 3D printer available at a consumer-friendly price-point in 2009 and championing the enthusiast maker movement, the company was ready to move into other markets with their low-cost additive manufacturing printers.
Product glam shots from the Plus series launch.
As a company wide effort, we released a series of new products and services which center around the user instead of the technology. With the new Replicator+ and Mini+, MakerBot Print software, and Tough PLA Filament, MakerBot reemerged as a company focused on what it does best: provide a low-cost, reliable, rapid prototyping machine perfectly suited for the innovators of tomorrow and the designers of today.
CAMPAIGN ART DIRECTION
With help from our friends at HUGE, we set to work at re-positioning our company strategy and the visual identity of this campaign. With HUGE acting as our brand psychoanalyst, we established a new approach to our marketing efforts, with art direction and messaging developed to follow suit.
Between our internal team and the creatives at HUGE, we landed on a direction to better reflect the process of 3D printing we wanted to celebrate: "Ideas in the Making" talks to the creative process of our customers and the places our solutions can take them. Each of these key art pieces correlate to a respective case study, which you can see below with the Canary video piece.
VIDEO & PROFESSIONAL MESSAGING
To best pivot into targeted vertical messaging, we identified separate pillars catered to the needs of our customers using our products in both professional and educational capacities.
For our professional customers, we created a series of video profiles featuring companies who use our products to hasten their prototyping process– everything from Hollywood prop-shops to aerospace engineering.
VIDEO & EDUCATION MESSAGING
IN THE WILD
We relaunched the website to incorporate our new visual direction.
Key art as it's to be used for print media.
After we created the initial art direction, Janice adapted this format for future key art after my time at MakerBot.
EXPLORATIONS
We generated lots of concepts leading up to this campaign, how to talk about the printers, how to communicate what 3D printing is, how to show off the hardware and create a visual language for the MakerBot brand.
BRANDING INITIATIVES
I worked with my team on several brand initiatives, including an overhaul to the brand book and audit across our global partners and divisions, business cards, and our sales and marketing collateral. A lot of these projects are many years in the making; I worked closely with Christopher Salyers to transform the brand to what it is today.
I directed Janice on the development of new collateral, including multilingual business cards for our overseas operations.
MY COLLABORATORS ON THE CREATIVE MARKETING TEAM
Creative Direction Carla Echevarria,Christopher Salyers
Photography Stephanie Banares
Video Ernst Bernard
Design Sonal Chakrasali, Janice Mercado
Copy Jessica Adams, Stan Spring
