CASE STUDY 01 / BRAND STRATEGY + CREATIVE DIRECTION + PRODUCTION
Splunk Platform Rebrand
Introducing a new Splunk to the world, with President Obama as keynote.
Outcomes at a Glance
Named #1 Best New Enterprise Software Marketing of the Year, Constellation Research. Beat out SAP, Oracle, and Google Cloud.
+40% software revenue increase post-launch
$1.44B ARR, up 53% YoY.
Brand survived intact through Cisco’s $28B acquisition in 2023.
The First Impression
Splunk was preparing to launch a new brand identity and needed to introduce it to the market through a flagship event in San Francisco. I joined the project as lead designer, initially unaware that President Obama would ultimately be the keynote speaker. With the stakes suddenly much higher, the challenge became bigger than designing an event. We needed to establish how the new Splunk would show up in the world.
My Role
I led the creative expression of the launch across the event and the broader brand ecosystem, partnering with Global Events, Corporate Communications, vendors, and executive stakeholders.
My work spanned stage and environmental design, art direction, out-of-home creative, event invitation design, photography direction and talent casting, vendor and fabricator direction, and brand asset development.
The Creative Challenge
The launch had all the ingredients of a spectacle: a new identity, a major flagship event, and an extraordinarily high-profile keynote. My focus was to make sure the spectacle didn’t overshadow the brand. The new Splunk needed to be the hero.
Establishing the new visual language
The event was one of the first opportunities to see the new Splunk identity at full scale. I translated the brand into the physical environment, shaping the stage, spatial graphics, and supporting assets so the identity felt sophisticated and intentional rather than simply applied.
Splunk mascot, Buttercup.
Directing a scalable visual language
The launch needed more than a collection of event assets. It needed a new visual vocabulary that could carry the brand forward. I sourced and cast talent for five all-day shoots and partnered with photographer Eric Millette to develop a library of portraits and interactions. I art directed each session with an eye toward how the images would live beyond the launch, across web, presentations, environmental experiences, and future communications.
The goal wasn’t simply to create launch photography. It was to give Splunk a human visual language it could continue to use.
Extending the launch beyond the event
The brand needed to make an impression across the globe. I developed out-of-home creative that extended from I-80 in San Francisco to Ogilvie Station in Chicago, the identity held at every scale and surface.
What I was solving for
The goal wasn’t to create a collection of impressive event assets. It was to establish a brand people could recognize, understand, and remember, and to create a visual foundation that could continue beyond launch day. This was first major expression of the new Splunk brand in market, bringing together the identity, environment, photography, communications, and experience into one cohesive launch.
The rebrand was named Best New Enterprise Software Marketing of the Year by Constellation Research, beating out SAP, Oracle, and Google Cloud. The launch drove a 40% increase in software revenues and ARR of $1.44B, up 53% year over year.
Constellation Research noted it as one of the most sophisticated launches of the decade, citing flawless execution as the driver behind the results.
The launch event drew over 11,000 customers and partners across the broader .conf19 week, with the brand debuting to one of the largest audiences in Splunk’s history. The identity held through multiple acquisitions and remained the foundation of Splunk’s market presence through Cisco’s $28 billion acquisition in 2023.
“Doug [Merritt, Splunk CEO] told me it was the best event he’s ever been to. Be proud of that because you had a huge hand it making this the BEST event ever!”
Scope of Work
Strategy
Concepting
Engagement
Research
Branding
Mood boards
Identity Development
Color Research
Typography
Hierarchy
Collateral
Guidelines
Design
Art Direction
Direct Mail
Social Graphics
Environmental
Presentation
Stage + Set
Lighting
Photography
Mood boards
Model Casting
On-set Art Direction
Post-Production
Retouching
Activation
Event Experience
Presentations
On-site Engagement