Intelligent data at every point of need.
Looker empowers people through the smarter use of data. The company was founded in 2011 by Lloyd Tabb and was sold to Google Cloud for $2.6B in December 2019.
Now the backbone of the smart analytics offering for Google Cloud, Looker takes the limitations of traditional BI tools and transforms how data can be used to optimize workflows, deliver data products and help people at every level make more informed decisions.
I joined the Looker Marketing team a few months after closing their Series D funding. The CMO had built strong operations and demand gen engines and needed to match this with great product messaging and an enterprise grade brand.
The task was to build the Product Marketing team, restart the Creative and Video Content teams, and create an iconic identity that could command presence while scaling efficiently. My role grew to also include running the Web Operations team, leading JOIN, Looker’s flagship annual user conference, and establishing a second Creative team to focus on retained Customer Marketing and upsell.
As the incredible growth of the company continued to accelerate, it became clear I was spread too thin, so we decided to break off product marketing and hired a great product marketer with deep technical expertise and 15 years data analytics experience. This allowed me to focus on defining and scaling the messaging and brand experience across all channels.
We built a great team. Below are a few examples of what the team produced and the marketing we created together.
By the data.
73% YoY growth
Beat target for 26 consecutive quarters
67% marketing attribution to pipe, closed won (2019)
$BNR at 118% (2019)
Gartner Magic Quadrant ‘Challenger’
Forrester ‘Strong Performer”
2x ADDY Creative awards
+25% above industry standard video view-through content
Customer Validation
The first phase of the brand strategy was to focus on customer achievements. Make heroes out of the data geeks that make better business possible in today’s world. Then shift focus to highlight the correlation between category leadership and the companies that choose Looker.
Online
After celebrating the geeks that power business intelligence and the number of category leading businesses that choose Looker, we created reach that translated this attention into use cases and real customer examples.
Website
Redesigned and rewritten in U.S. English, French, German and Japanese.
Content marketing
With a small but mighty team, storytelling, partnerships and product education in a variety of video mediums.
Social & Community
Reimagined a quick turn, visually engaging approach that stands out in social channels while staying relevant to data modernization. The visual system was extended to company initiatives for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Recruiting and Looker communities, such as the cycling group.
JOIN Conference
Record attendance with only 6% ‘no show’
Exceeded Reg goal by 122%
Exceeded Sponsorship goal by 122%
$5.2M in closed won post event (upsell and new business)
$2.1M additional pipeline generated
Reduced deal time by ~76 days
Strong positive attendee feedback: 4.4 out of 5
BEACON Conference & Virtual Summit
Looker’s prospect focused event that puts emphasis on answering questions about how to approach data challenges. While the brand identity for the event shared DNA with the core Looker brand, it was deliberately designed to feel independent and distinct. Thought leadership in a ‘multi-cloud’ environment, backed by an authority in the space.
COVID-19 caused us to pivot at short notice and make this a digital event hosted across three continents.
Identity
Completely redesigned to give Looker iconic presence relevant to the data modernization world and feel quite different from its competitors. The system retained some of Looker’s early personality while providing a highly scalable enterprise brand identity.
