Brand Strategy & Story Development

Global Communications Director at Hippo,
Amsterdam & Boston

2016-2017

Hippo was a 17-year-old Dutch web content management startup, one of the Netherlands’ original unicorns, facing the typical software company dilemma — a fantastic product with zero brand (or brand awareness) behind it. 

I was brought in as Global Communications Director to set into place:

  • a brand

  • a brand strategy

  • a PR strategy, team, and execution

  • a content marketing strategy and execution with the goal of growth in organic traffic & reducing price per lead.

The ask

 

  1. an extensive brand identity & differentiation research project, resulting in a brand book & guidelines for both written and visual communication

  2. a communications strategy for the year ahead, complete with communications calendar

  3. hiring and training 2 regional PR team members, creating and implementing PR strategy

  4. re-writing and re-branding all existing content and collateral, including company website, to bring in line with new brand identity and tone of voice

The solution

 

  1. +60% lift in media brand mentions, media coverage in all major Dutch newspapers and TechCrunch

  2. +200% uplift in organic web traffic

  3. Successful launch of new website and brand identity

The results

 
The new Hippo website: all copy mine, design by giving creative freedom to our in-house designer.

The new Hippo website: all copy mine, design by giving creative freedom to our in-house designer.