Brand Strategy: AWS Training and Certification
As a brand strategist and Sr. Copywriter at Rational Interaction, I worked with our clients at Amazon to reposition the AWS Training and Certification brand to drive greater awareness among audiences seeking to build and validate AWS Cloud skills. I developed the full brand narrative (positioning statements, mission, value prop, differentiators, etc.), audience segmentation, and creative voice and visual guidelines while also managing a naming project, messaging framework, and creative concepts for a global campaign unveiled at re:Invent.
The Challenge
Despite being the source of AWS expertise, AWS Training and Certification faced low awareness of their value—and mere existence—among internal and external audiences. Additional challenges included a lack of brand alignment and adoption, a perception that AWS Training and Certification was too expensive compared to competitor training programs, and unclear learning paths.
the Strategy
The new brand story, visual identity, and voice had to resonate with two key audiences of learners (B2I) and organizations (B2B) across an ecosystem that included partner training programs and sub-brands while also differentiating AWS Training and Certification from their cloud training competitors.
The Solution
I developed positioning language during collaborative workshops with AWS Training and Certification stakeholders. All internal messaging elements—from the mission statement to the value proposition and differentiators—are the result of in-depth discussions with and feedback from the core team. I presented the brand story as well as our naming efforts for a new digital training platform to executive leadership.
The Results
The brand book provides the AWS Training and Certification team—as well as external partners—with a singular understanding of their brand that will guide them as they write, speak, and act on behalf of the brand everywhere they connect with customers.
The new brand direction was put to work immediately (before it was final, in true Amazon fashion) in global outreach marketing campaigns, at AWS re:Invent 2018, and in a detailed messaging framework designed for AWS learners, businesses, internal stakeholders, and training partners across all AWS Training and Certification products and programs.
Roles:
Brand Strategist
Senior Copywriter