From Idea To Impact

Reflecting on our More Time Campaign 

Deep learning gives advertisers more time to focus on new challenges, more chances to think up new ideas, and more ways to grow their business. Cognitiv’s recent brand campaign highlights the incredible outcomes possible when you “reclaim your brain.” Many of the outcomes showcased, such as Invention, Collaboration, Reflection, Transformation, and Inclusion are also part of the fabric of our brand values. In this series, we look inward, with team leaders highlighting how these words and outcomes are brought to life within our own walls.

Launching Cognitiv’s first brand campaign this year was an incredible experience as we crystallized the value we bring to advertisers. I wanted to take a moment to share more about the creative spark, along with the journey that led us from ideas to impact. Join me as I get a bit More Reflectiv on how we brought this vision to life. 

Understanding Our Audience and Ourselves

When I joined the Cognitiv team in 2019, our company was in a much different place. We were still laying our foundation, finding our footing in the market, and we had yet to define our external brand positioning. In those early days, AI as a topic was piquing curiosity with advertisers far more often than it was being adopted. We were deeply focused on educating curious minds and on finding clients ready to leap into the depths of innovation while learning everything we could to refine our approach.

Since then, Cognitiv has grown tremendously, from our product suite to the number of clients we serve across different verticals and the number of people powering our efforts internally day-to-day. 

In 2023, as AI took off in the mainstream across industries we found ourselves in a unique position as one of the early leaders in the space with the first Deep Learning Advertising Platform. We were ready to step forward in a bigger, bolder way as a brand.

From Meditation to Major Campaign

Over the course of the past few years, the incredible learnings we have shared alongside our clients, along with the evolution of our technology and the steady expansion of our marketing efforts, have led us to a brand tipping point. We knew we wanted to create our first-ever brand awareness campaign heading into 2024. When it came to what we wanted to say and how we wanted to showcase that message, as is usually the case with all brand and marketing efforts, we looked first to our clients. We had recently done several audits with third parties, interviewing clients, prospects, and partners on the challenges they face, where they are finding the most success and, of course, their experience activating with Cognitiv. 

Our team had poured through the findings of those audits at length, and one day, while I was doing a guided meditation, an idea floated to the top of my mind. It was the impetus we needed for a campaign like this. I quickly jotted down the idea and had one of our designers mock up the visual concept. I shared it with our CEO & Co-Founder, Jeremy Fain, saying, “So, I have this idea…” From there, it was off to the races, and the next step was finding the right creative partner to go on this journey with. 

Strategy and Ideation to More Time 

Craving some true collaboration and creative partnership on this campaign, we interviewed several creative agencies. Cognitiv was looking for a partner who understood our initial vision, our desire to move away from more traditional B2B advertising, and ultimately people we could have fun along the way with. When you work with people you genuinely gel with, it shines through in the final product, and that was important to me. We immediately clicked with Manual Labor, an agency in Brooklyn that brought us the fresh insights, strategy, and creativity that we were looking for. Their motto is “Do great work with good people,” which is certainly something they follow through on! 

Our small but mighty teams worked together with curiosity and playfulness at the heart of the campaign development, iterating concepts and sharing creative sparks and laughs. We brainstormed three very different initial ideas—everything and anything was on the table. Soon after, the “More Time” campaign emerged as a clear front-runner because of the way it embodies the value that so many of our clients shared Cognitiv brings to their own lives. What we mean by that is it gives you the ability to remove some of the mundane, manual efforts previously required to do your job so you can leverage that time in different ways professionally AND personally. The concept has a more personal B2C feel, which was intentional as it focuses on our clients as people rather than as buyers of our deep learning technology. 

Images from early stages: Justine Frostad and Manual Labor

The Result of More Time: “Reclaim Your Brain”

Building out the “more time” campaign in terms of variety of creative messaging was a blast. We honed in on asking what challenges our clients and prospects are facing, how deep learning is solving for these challenges, enhancing their lives, both professionally and personally. The through-line from every client interviewed was the increased mental clarity and time back they get when working with Cognitiv. 

Leaning into that led us to advertising with deep learning gives you more: more collaboration, more transformation, more invention, more reflection, and so on. Dropping the ‘e’ on every word was, of course, a nod to Cognitiv. We wanted to showcase the feeling behind this sentiment visually, crafting a campaign that was aesthetically captivating and vibrant, featuring catchy, memorable, and playful messaging. Our goal was to create a compelling narrative that resonated on multiple levels. 

The original campaign concept that floated top of mind during that initial meditation was messaging like “Clear the Distractions, Claim Your Day,” and “Reclaim Your Day,” which our team morphed into the final campaign tagline “Reclaim Your Brain,” aligning seamlessly with the Cognitiv brand. Manual Labor worked on building AI-generated images, adding human touches to the final creative, symbolizing a true blend of AI and human expertise in media buying. As an AI company, it felt natural for us to turn to AI tools for the concepts and design of this campaign.

Launch Strategy and Market Presence

The goal was to increase brand awareness with the world’s toughest critics of advertising: advertisers. Digital Out Of Home (DOOH) came to mind when planning how we wanted to advertise. We strategically chose to start with New York City for our campaign launch, given its concentration of ad agencies we work with (and would like to work with!) and our HQ location. Where better to launch a campaign that pushes the boundaries than the Big Apple? 

Breaking away from typical B2B approaches, opting for elevators, streets, and subway placements. We partnered with Manual Labor and DOOH leader Billups to bring this campaign to life in the wild. With 60 million DOOH impressions across NYC – following the campaign launch, Cognitiv saw a 650% increase in organic LinkedIn searches for the company. We also had coverage in MediaPost, Cynopsis, and Adweek. 

We also brought the campaign to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Seeing attendees immerse themselves in our campaign in the Palais was a surreal experience for our team! 

Looking Ahead

The campaign’s success and journey to get there reinforced three key lessons:

1. We learned that B2C strategies can be highly effective in B2B contexts. At the end of the day, B2B buyers are real people who want to be entertained and understood – plus with all the media exposure we all have everyday the value of real connections is higher than ever.
2. Our creative process was a powerful reminder to follow our instincts. If you have an idea, share it. Engage your team and find creative partners you believe in to collaborate on bringing a shared vision to life. 
3. Be empowered to use AI in the creative process. When used the right way, you gain ‘more time’ to free your mind, get creative, and make more strategic decisions.

It has been incredibly rewarding to share creative content that is refreshingly playful and not overtly “salesy.” This campaign’s gold award win for The Drum Awards For Marketing in the AI category was a significant validation of our approach and its impact.

As we look to the future, our next campaign will continue to prioritize B2C creativity and connection. This experience reminded us that creativity and fun still have a place in advertising. When you are building a campaign around promoting something that you really believe in it’s a joy to get More Reflectiv and as we dive into the next we are feeling More Inquisitiv than ever before!