Sales Kickoff events are a cornerstone of the cybersecurity industry, designed to energize the team for the year and highlight the opportunities—and challenges—that lie ahead. These internal events offer greater creative freedom, allowing for boundary-pushing of branding and bold visuals that wouldn’t be possible in external-facing settings. FireEye was known for delivering cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions, so the stakes were always high. Each year, the sales team faced the challenge of navigating a fiercely competitive market, staying ahead of evolving threats, and meeting ambitious sales goals.
Our job was to elevate Sales Kickoff as a rallying point—a chance to align, inspire, and equip the team to rise to the occasion and crush the competition. The event also served as a platform for introducing new products and branding – adding another layer of complexity.
Design, layout, and finalizing of assets often go right up to the wire with these types of events and the pressure is palpable for the design team to have everything dialed. Live events also mean timing is everything once it starts and the show has to go off without a hitch and according to schedule.
We elevated the branding by integrating cohesive messaging and a bold visual language across all assets, always with a particular focus on the kickoff video—a centerpiece that consistently energized the team and set the tone for the event. From interstitials to logos, brand elements, and soundtrack, every detail was meticulously crafted to captivate and inspire. Collaborating closely with our creative director, we ensured a unified look and feel across all deliverables, often refining content up until the last moment to deliver a polished and impactful experience.
In 2021 – I was handed the Creative Director reigns for this event and led the team in all aspects of visual language, design, and implementation for a very special virtual Sales Kickoff. This brought an entirely new set of challenges working with a web-based event platform. Our solution for this year in particular, laid in pre-planning, execution, and testing leading up to the event. This included a cohesive visual language and bold graphics that were templated across assets and ensuring they worked with the vendor’s event platform specifications.
The result was an unforgettable Sales Kickoff event that energized the team, solidified brand identity, and set a high standard for engagement. The kickoff videos and other assets became known as a standout moment, amplifying the excitement and driving alignment across the salesforce. Attendees left inspired, equipped with clear messaging, and motivated to tackle the year’s challenges.
