In 2020, Lero the Irish Software Research Centre, celebrated 15 years since the centre’s inception. Lero is one of the best-known and most highly regarded software research centres in the world. Piquant was engaged to develop and manage a year-long social and digital campaign to celebrate this milestone, through a series of video and graphic assets celebrating the entrepreneurs, researchers and innovators who have worked in Lero over the last 15 years.
What we did:
- Campaign Management
- Content Creation
- Social Media Management
- Brand Development
- Video and Photography Production
BRAND DEVELOPMENT — We developed a sub-brand identity for the 2020 campaign that would sit under the Lero brand while celebrating the achievements of the centre over the last 15 years. The sub-brand consisted of a logo element, a series of icons, an image framing device and a campaign tagline: 15 years of excellence.
CAMPAIGN STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT — The first stage of the campaign was to develop a social and digital marketing strategy, detailing the key aims, messages and targets of the campaign, as well as outlining the target audience and key marketing platforms. We also developed campaign initiatives across social and digital, where we planned various forms of content and marketing activities for the year. We planned to feature a different Lero affiliated researcher each month.
CAMPAIGN SCHEDULE — The year-long campaign process involved producing monthly campaign schedules, each one featuring a different researcher, and mapping out the post content, format, and copy for every platform.
COPYWRITING — We worked with each individual, and the Lero team, to produce detailed written profiles on them and their research. Each profile began with an interview, where we gathered the information and research we needed to put together the profile piece. The profiles are hosted on the Lero website on a dedicated campaign landing page.
CONTENT CREATION — We applied the Lero 15 concept and sub-brand identity to social and digital content, producing a suite of assets for each researcher, as well as graphic and animated content for placement on social media and the website.
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT — Piquant managed all placement and monitoring of campaign content on social media, placing content across Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and distributing the campaign videos across social. As well as placing and monitoring the content, we produced monthly analytics reports detailing all results across social platforms.
PHOTOGRAPHY — We produced documentary photographs of each of the Lero researchers featured in the campaign, including both environmental and studio portraits. We created mood boards to explore the photography style and approach, and compiled detailed shot lists for each portrait setting.
VIDEO PRODUCTION — The key content for this campaign was the series of profile videos that highlighted researchers who have engaged with Lero over the last 15 years. We developed a video concept and style to plan, shoot and edit a series of videos celebrating each individual and the part Lero has played in their success.
3D MOTION GRAPHICS — As part of the video production, we developed an approach to visualise the software concepts discussed in each video, in order to enhance the viewer’s understanding and appreciation of the research. We used 3D motion graphics to explore the research concepts through graphic icons and simple shapes, crafting the lighting, textures, environments and characteristics of the animations.
