Tech brand Cisco has selected full-service creative agency hi5.agency as its global social media agency of record, following a review.
“We are incredibly excited to partner with Cisco and collaborate on their storytelling and engagement,” hi5.agency vice president and head of process Hilary Joyner said in a statement. “Cisco is not only a brand with a strong technological vision and global networking prowess, but one that is on the forefront of solving some of the world’s most challenging problems, something we look forward to helping spread via conversation and world-class creative.”
“We were fortunate enough to connect with Cisco on a few levels. At the core we are an innovative creative agency focused on diversity and inclusiveness, something we saw reflected in Cisco’s culture,” hi5.agency president and CCO Matt Sample said. “And to hear how much they value strategy in storytelling it felt like a match made in the cloud.”
The assignment encompasses both U.S. and international markets. According to a press release, Cisco selected hi5.agency for its “social first” approach and its creative philosophy that “any brand can be an entertainment brand.”
“I realize there is a big shift across agencies where we want to find partners that specialize in select services but having come from the agency world myself, I’ve seen first-hand that this sort of engagement style leads to agencies being treated as vendors rather than extensions of the team,” Cisco global new experiences and social marketing team lead Kevin Petersen explained. “You really see how that impacts that work not only within channels, but across a company’s presence as a whole. Strategy and execution become disconnected and you simply don’t do great work when you split it up that way.”
He added that Cisco was looking for “a strategic partner who would dive into the trenches with us, push us out of our comfort zones, and do award winning work in an industry that is sometimes hard to navigate” in the review and that hi5.agency’s “ability to elevate our brand platform even further, drive us into the new era of social, and demonstrate flexibility in their style made the decision make all the sense in the world.”
Best known for its social media campaigns for Netflix, hi5.agency’s roster also includes Amazon, Spotify, Hulu, Converse and YouTube.