When we approach brand strategy, we do it with the goal of giving the brand the tools they need to share their story consistently and cohesively. One of the most important elements of these engagements is a top-down messaging hierarchy, including a tagline, value proposition, and supporting benefits. This framework ensures that every piece of content will send the right message and reinforce the brand’s core promise.

Because Dialpad’s platform essentially makes salespeople smarter, we landed on the tagline “Make Smarter Calls,” a nice double entendre evoking both better decision-making and the benefit of having AI improve your calls. From there, we crafted a strong value proposition to highlight the brand’s core selling points. To understand how to speak to different audiences, we also created personas that outline the challenges faced by individual groups, as well as voice, tone, and personality guidelines to help Dialpad speak to those groups in a natural way.

Over the course of the engagement, we collaborated with the Dialpad team through a combination of in-person sessions (when presenting initial messaging directions), as well as workshops (to collaborate, iterate a concept, or talk through what was coming next). This allowed us to problem-solve in real time and ensure we stayed on the same page.

Our key challenge was maintaining momentum on messaging and content strategy while simultaneously addressing existing content needs as they emerged. In other words, because no business can just shut down to rework brand and content strategy, we had to be OK with creating results-driven content for today that would need to be tweaked or revamped to align with the new messaging down the road.

Luckily, once we had the messaging foundation locked, we could brainstorm fresh content to make the brand more engaging and relatable. Humor is always a good way to do this, and video is particularly effective for comedic storytelling. So, knowing Keith was a willing partner, we pitched two video ideas to raise awareness and highlight the brand’s benefits in an entertaining and engaging way.

Concept 1: Say Goodbye to Call Notes with UberConference

Dialpad’s VoiceAI feature essentially gives salespeople a “wingperson” on their calls, transcribing the conversation in real time and suggesting responses based on the company’s business logic. This allows sales folks to stay more engaged with the conversation by not having to take notes. To illustrate that convenience, we wanted to spotlight the most common problems with conference calls—specifically, the frustration of having a super fast talker on the line when you’re trying to take notes.

Concept 2: Failed AI Auditions

We’re lucky to work with Keith Messick because he’s both sharp and hilarious, so our work together always pushes us past our typical boundaries, often ending in brainstorms where we laugh until we cry. This is how we came up with our second concept. After an entertaining conversation about the idea of “shitty robots,” we wondered what it would be like to “audition” different robots for the VoiceAI platform. From deadbeats to dramatists, we decided to take viewers behind the scenes of those auditions to see the colorful robots who tried to make the cut.

We shot both videos in LA with our creative partners at Tapestry Films Creative, including Executive Producer Tim Frazier and Director Jonny Zeller. Our talent included expert actors/improvisers (Jack De Sena, Christopher Smith, and Kurt Maloney) who were ready to lend their creativity to the spots.

Although we had scripts, both concepts allowed the actors to improvise on set, letting us capture a variety of ridiculous, ludicrous, and entertaining ad libs. (RIP to the hilarious but NSFW takes that ended up on the cutting-room floor.) However, while our talent was great, we did have to call on Column Five Senior Producer Jonathan Brewer-Sweet to fill one robot’s shoes—literally. (At 6’4”, he was the only person tall enough to fit into the robot suit.)

Ultimately, the engagement was the perfect partnership. Through collaboration and creativity, we were able to create a brand foundation that can evolve with the team—and produce content to showcase the brand’s personality and product in an entertaining package.