Video conferencing has come a long way in the last 25 years and to reflect this new world, Webex by Cisco has introduced new branding and a global campaign to support their new vision.
The rebrand and campaign come after a year where the world lived to work online and the future is all about the hybrid model of work.
“During the pandemic, the world shifted to remote work all of a sudden and we learned a lot,” said Aruna Ravichandran, VP/Chief Marketing Officer for Webex Collaboration Marketing at Cisco. “The world now looks towards the future of hybrid work, where some people will work from home, some people are going to work from the office, and some people are going to work from somewhere in between. Our new strategy is that we have brought all of the products together – media conferencing, calling, messaging – into a single unified client app called Webex. We are offering this as Webex suite to all of our clients, which is why we decided that the final thing for us to do was to rebrand.”
The new Webex suite is designed to support workers in a hybrid world and is designed to include the brand’s new commitment to purpose and inclusivity.
“Twenty-five years ago, video conferencing was only for a select few, and it was not inclusive at all,” Ravichandran said. “Webex has actually changed that and the market we saw 25 years ago. You can now fast forward to 25 years later, and we find that Webex has evolved and grown from just a media conferencing solution, to include several different collaboration products. We have calling which is used in IP telephoning, we have messaging just like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, and we also have integrated polling which is a great engagement tool during conversations. Last but not least, the world of events is now going hybrid. All of these are coming together for the very first time in the product we are launching.”
The rebrand includes new logos and colors and was inspired by the brand’s purpose. The “W” in the logo is a rotating helix, a metaphor for teams working collaboratively.
“The W is a helix which blends together like two hands merging,” said Ravichandran. “It is a perfect metaphor to symbolize team flow and that when each team member contributes, something magical gets created. It represents the hard work that happens when people come together as equals.”
To kick off the new vision of the company, Webex has launched a global campaign across the US, and localized work in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Australia. The global effort focuses on the Hybrid Work transformations that Webex is providing for clients. The first customer featured is McLaren Racing.
“We will show how McClaren is transforming operating in the market, and how they are transitioning to hybrid work, which is a very hard transition,” said Ravichandran.
The effort will run in television, CTV, online video, digital, print, and paid social. Additionally, the campaign will run during broadcast and digital during high profile sports programming environments including the NBA playoffs, the French Open, F1, and Major League Baseball. The brand also has partnerships with Forbes and HBR to communicate the work.
“We are targeting the IP decision makers, IP practitioners, but most of all, we are targeting all end users,” said Ravicahndran. “The fundamental premise is to win the hearts and minds of end users, in addition to our traditional IP audiences.”
