index.md

Brand

Table of Contents

1. Building a Strong Brand
2. Function, Vision, Mission & Values
3. The Team
4. Capabilities
5. Brand Guidelines
6. Brand and Creative Request Forms
7. Gifting Guidelines
8. Download the Sourcegraph Brand Kit (.zip)
9. Creative Brief template (.GDOC)
10. Master Slides Template (.GSLIDES)

Function, Vision, Mission, and Values

Built as a multidisciplinary in-house agency, the Sourcegraph Brand Team exists to drive awareness and affinity for our brand to our audience. We make this possible by serving as a strategic creative partner to cross-functional stakeholders, connecting brand vision to business strategy, and bringing our brand to life across every touchpoint at every level of our company. We also protect and evolve the Sourcegraph brand identity to ensure consistency, congruency, and recognizability amongst our larger audience.

In addition to improving awareness and perception of our own brand, we strive to amplify the voices of our users and partners, by conceptualizing and producing best-in-class creative that leans heavily on storytelling and narrative to drive engagement and sharing. Our primary goal is to build and strengthen the connection between our brand and our audience, by providing an amazing, consistent brand experience across all of our touchpoints.

We value:

• Efficiency - We are a small but mighty team that leverages vendors and contractors to scale support
  
• Agility - We move fast, adapt, and can change directions easily based on the market and business goals
  
• Creativity - We don't settle for "status quo" and look for opportunities to surprise and delight our audience
  
• Measurement - We strive for quantifiable results and outsized impact; everything we do has a “why” behind it
  

Projects are categorized on a 5-tier basis based on strategy, scope, and visibility. These tiers are broken down in more detail here.

• Tier 1 - Large-scale, high-priority external projects that require creative strategy development
• Tier 2 - Externally-facing but lower-priority; previously-approved concept but new deliverable; new concept internal projects
• Tier 3 - Templated/formulaic work, or testing revisions to an existing asset or campaign
• Tier 4 - Production design and brand management
• Tier 5 - Self-serve and process-guided needs teammates can do on their own

The Brand Team works closely with XFN teams at every level of the organization, and is a key stakeholder in overall company messaging, strategy, and engagement initiatives, as well as internally-facing messaging and branded programs or experiences.

Our team acts as liaison or point-of-contact with external entities when producing branded content, sponsorships, or partnerships in accordance with Sourcegraph’s Brand Guidelines.

Our company values can be found here. Our Brand Team Mission and Values can be found here.

The Team

• Tommy Pesavento - Brand Director
• Fabiana Castellanos - Project Manager, Brand
• Mustafa Ulker ~ a.k.a Moose - Senior Creative Lead, Brand
• Kristen Sundberg - Senior Manager, Social Media
• Sruti Dhulipala - Senior Manager, Global Brand Strategy
• Jessie Char - Senior Manager, Events & Experiences
• Steph Zabala - Principal Designer, Brand
• Brett Hayes – Senior Web Developer, Brand

To be hired:

• Brand Planner
• Senior Brand Designer
• Brand Designer
• Creative Producer
• Motion Designer/Animator
• Multimedia Specialist
• Copywriter, Brand
• Digital Experience Manager/TPM
• Web Designer (UX/UI)
• UX Researcher

Capabilities

We deliver agency-caliber creativity and results in support of Sourcegraph's business goals to drive awareness, engagement, and affinity for our brand.

The Brand Team is nested in the Marketing department of Sourcegraph, serving as cross-functional brand champion and creative partner for all internal teams and programs. With such a broad area of collaboration, we sometimes partner with external agencies, freelancers, contractors, consultants, and other vendors as necessary to multiply our efforts or for when deep, subject-matter expertise is needed. This is called our Preferred Vendor Network, or simply The Network.

Connect with us if you have questions about any of the following. If we aren't able to support directly, we can at least serve as an advisory partner and connect you with a trusted vendor to help you get what you need:

Branding

• Brand management, brand identity design, logos, lockups, colors, etc.
• Brand strategy, naming, positioning, packaging, narrative and market research
  • See Naming Process Guide for more information on naming features, products, programs and initiatives
• Ownership of the Sourcegraph Brand Guidelines and our brand asset library

Design

• Graphic design for print and digital media
• Illustrations, iconography, infographics
• Motion design and animation
• Presentation graphics, layout and design
• Print design and production, marketing collateral, swag
• Swag procurement, design, and fulfillment

Photo/Video Production

• Video production, shooting (location and studio), storyboarding, proj. management
• Sound design, audio production, mixing, sampling, mastering
• VR/AR, 360º films, CGI, motion graphics, and animation
• Photography, editing, retouching, and archiving

Website/Digital Experience

• Maintain and update website, incl. integrations, testing and SEO
• Website design, page design, campaign and landing pages, microsites
• Interactive design, incl. data visualization and infographics
• Email design and copywriting
• Digital creative strategy

Events

• Event planning, strategy and design
• Booth, stage or environmental design and production
• Experiential design and implementation, for URL and IRL events
• Swag design and fulfillment planning. See our Gifting Guidelines

Copy

• Maintain and update brand style guide, voice and tone
• Copywriting, editing and proofing for social media, ads, website, scripts, etc.
• For blog posts, white papers, e-books, and other long-form serial content, please visit Content Marketing

Additional resources

• Brand & Creative Team Mission and Values
• Why have a vision and mission statement?
• Benefits of Having an In-House Brand & Creative Team
• Common challenges faced by in-house Brand & Creative teams

Final thoughts

This handbook entry isn’t meant to have ALL the answers; rather, it’s meant to be a living document that can change and adapt over time, while providing some frameworks and operational processes that help ensure smooth collaboration and successful partnering internally. Some of the typical questions that arise before starting a new project include:

• Is it more efficient to handle the request in-house or bring an agency on board?
• Using the RAID framework, who has final approval of the requested work?
• If our team doesn't directly produce a campaign or asset, what is the best process for Brand review?
• How do we measure success/effectiveness of the requested project or asset?
• How do we ensure this project is laddering up to overarching business strategy?
• How involved do other teams/departments want to be in the creative process?