Case Study: Boosting Brand Awareness

Challenge

Building trust is tricky when no one knows you. Even if you’ve been around a while, there’s no guarantee people know who you are. If you're big at home but struggle to get recognition abroad, the challenge is even more complex. That was the situation RingCentral found itself in back in 2021.

As a business communications platform well established in the US, RingCentral had ambitions to grow its market share internationally. But in key regions like the UK, Australia, France and Germany, brand recognition lagged behind that of more locally-established competitors. To open the door for new business, RingCentral needed to build visibility, credibility and relevance in those markets.

Strategy

That’s when I took on leadership of RingCentral’s International Brand team, with a clear target: grow brand consideration by 10% year over year across our four priority markets.

The first step was insight. Brand baseline research revealed where we stood in terms of awareness and consideration, along with what mattered most to customers in each region. Using this data, I adapted brand messaging to resonate with local priorities, while ensuring consistency with global positioning.

From there, I developed a multi-channel strategy that brought RingCentral’s story to life across important touchpoints, tailored to where our audiences were most likely to engage. The core elements of this plan were as follows.

Working with a UK-based creative agency, I adapted brand materials to make the most of the existing branding kit, bringing our brand to life through audio, video and immersive content. I kept testing — trialling different content formats across social to learn what resonated best with each audience, and optimising to improve engagement.

I also worked closely with media planners and PR agencies in each country, ensuring each campaign laddered up to our overarching goal: build trust, awareness and consideration.

Execution

Execution required tight coordination across internal teams and external partners. Creative development, localisation, media planning and campaign measurement all had to work in sync. I made sure they did, by holding regular check-ins, aligning stakeholders across regions and advocating for the budget, time and resources needed.

I activated the brand across channels with a consistent drumbeat — not just creating moments, but momentum. Whether someone saw us in a trade publication, a YouTube pre-roll or scrolling through LinkedIn, they’d see a brand with relevance and reliability.

The social media activity was an opportunity to experiment and iterate with different types of content and times of posting. As part of this, I Tested, tracked and optimised messaging, content design and CTAs on social media to improve engagement.

Results

The impact was clear. After 12 months, brand consideration rose significantly in all four markets:

Beyond the numbers, we achieved something harder to quantify: a shift in perception. RingCentral began to be seen not as an unfamiliar American brand, but as a relevant, reliable option for international customers. We made inroads that gave sales teams new openings and helped RingCentral punch above its weight in new markets.

Feedback

This wasn’t just a campaign — it was a team achievement. And it didn’t go unnoticed.

Here’s what my CMO had to say:

This is the kind of value I bring: not with gimmicks or shortcuts, but with clear thinking, strong partnerships, and a deep understanding of how content, creative and brand-building come together to create real-world impact.