Zendesk Foundation

Link to work: https://www.zendesk.org/

Role: Lead Digital Producer

Project scope:

Develop a hub for the charitable arm of the company, “the Zendesk Foundation” to house all awards, media and initiatives. Create a sub-brand identity to support the individuality of the foundation from the core Zendesk brand. The overall goal was to unify existing social impact web pages into one place for a simple user journey.

The project was scoped for a $200k budget that I as the producer would manage along with the hiring of freelancers. to develop the illustrations, design collages, and host a photoshoot.

Due to the high impact and visibility of the project, the CMO was the final approver on all work and was closely involved in the process from conception to launch.

Timeline: January – September 2023

Problem(s):

• Misalignment between stakeholders and senior leadership: The director-level stakeholder was given direction to be the project owner and be the source of truth for all project information. However, there was amisalignment in the goals of the foundation and the overall business goals.
  • Solution: I created communications plans that looped in the CMO at a detailed level to ensure they were receiving the information to make informed decisions on the project. I also facilitated biweekly meetings between the creative director, core stakeholder and CMO to align on the details of the project such as how it fit into the larger business needs and the strategic evolution of the Foundation brand.
• Changing business goals: This project took place at a time when senior leadership was restructuring the overall goals of the business, including how the social impact branch functioned in a now remote environment. This caused the project scope to have to be rethought in flight.
• Evolving imagery styles within creative: Creative was moving into a new imagery style as part of the natural maturation of the brand. The work being produced was essentially being trial-run on the Foundation website.
  • Solution: I created a detailed review structure to ensure the project team was recieving real time feeback from creative leadership on the development of the imagery style.

Outcomes:

Zendesk Foundation launched with a new people-focused, collage-based imagery style. I continued to manage the regular maintenance of the hub with new articles, and initiatives.