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Customer stories

Here is some content designed to elevate customer voices and strategically support marketing and sales efforts. A few of these examples were created from other assets (survey feedback, a press release), and a couple of them are rebranded assets, e.g., due to acquisition. Many of the stories also include slides that can be shared in presentations, which are hosted in internal repositories, and/or summary blog posts to promote the full story.

Prometeo | IBM

Field testing of the Samsung devices has been performed in controlled burn conditions in Spain, and field tests are continuing around the world. To support the growth of the project, the Prometeo team have worked with IBM developers to take the original monolithic application and fulfill the benefits that come from cloud-native development. The app has been split into a handful of microservices to handle specific needs such as processing the data and building the dashboard.
There are multiple ad...
IBM Blog •

Coca-Cola European Partners Accelerates its Strategic Transformation - IBM Blog

Case study: “Coca-Cola European Partners accelerates its strategic transformation“

IBM will help Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) modernize its IT environment by using the Red Hat Enterprise Linux OS to provide an open standard, cost-effective platform. A cornerstone of this transition will be the Red Hat OpenShift solution, the industry’s most comprehensive Kubernetes platform, which will allow CCEP to build mission-critical applications once and run them on the IBM public cloud.

Creative customer storytelling

These stories are made-up scenarios to illustrate how an innovative solution might work. They were really fun to write!

Medium •

Mobile ID stops fraud with IBM Cloud

Alastair was waiting to see the bank manager because his wallet had been lost earlier that day and he needed to freeze his account, request a new ATM card and withdraw some cash to have on hand. Because his driver’s license was in the missing wallet, he’d stopped at his flat to get his passport.The manager said, “Of course, sir. We’ll just need to verify some information. May I see your passport, please?” She opened her iPad and launched the portID app from Mobile ID.portID can recognize and val...
Medium •

Hollywood-style visual effects powered by IBM Cloud

The reason why many people do not care for amusement park thrill rides may actually be the same reason why some people love them: they’re so real!When a popular theme park needed visual effects for a ride that debuted in the summer of 2016, it turned to Prana Studios, a full-service 3-D animation and visual effects studio with production offices in Los Angeles, CA and Mumbai, India.Prana Studios creates state-of-the-art visual imagery for full-length animated films, short-form media and special...
Medium •

Densou Trading Desk changes the advertising game and increases click rate fivefold

Thursday morning Dagmar is reading a captivating Ekstra Bladet article online when she is distracted by the advertisements midway down the page for sunscreen and ice cream. That reminds her, she needs to stop after work and pick up a few supplies for her weekend getaway at Bornholm Island for what is predicted to be a beautiful long sunny weekend. She’ll have to finish the article later.Densou Trading Desk is the leading real-time advertising bidding agency in Europe. Founded in 2014, the compan...
Medium •

WayBlazer takes the information overload out of vacation planning with IBM Cloud

Marcia’s family figured that since she was a “local,” she should be in charge of making the hotel arrangements for her grandparents’ joint 85th birthday celebration. They wanted to have the get-together over Thanksgiving weekend in Orlando, Florida, because Marcia, had been raving about how warm and sunny Florida is compared to the cold in Minnesota where her family still lives. However, every time she tried to research the many activities and preferences that would make this reunion enjoyable f...
Medium •

Carbip smartphone app lets people better share cars

Nic takes a train to work in Paris every day. One day he needs to get across town to meet a client for lunch at 1:00, but he can’t make the round trip on the train and return to the office in time for his next meeting.He could call a cab or he could download the Carbip mobile app. The app, powered by IBM Cloud Data Services, connects people to lend or borrow cars — without needing to concern themselves about insurance.The Carbip app is fueling a revolution in social driving throughout France — a...
Medium •

Poseidon Project uses IBM Cloud to teach effective crop irrigation

“Turn off that faucet,” “Water ban in effect,” “Don’t be a drip,” are the warnings, rules, and slogans used to conserve water while brushing teeth, grooming lawns, or maintaining plumbing. But all of this is just a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of water used to simply put food on the table. Crop-agricultural water usage accounts for 96 percent of the global water footprint.The Dutch Courage Foundation teamed with the IBM Benelux Center for Advanced Studies to create the Poseidon Proj...
Medium •

How in the world does AOL govern 3PB of media content?

Do you remember when AOL just meant America Online or AOL.com? Do you recall how it was one of the first portals to the internet — and in fact the only part of the internet some of us were aware of — 20 or so years ago? I do and I can still hear the sound of my dial-up modem now…and after a pause to get connected…“You’ve got mail!” This was one of the original internet memes, before internet memes were actually a thing.Times sure have changed.Today AOL is a global digital media and technology co...
Medium •

Ads you actually want to watch

Tick tick tick, you think as you virtually tap your foot, impatiently waiting for the ad preceding the video you want to watch online to conclude. But before you know it, the ad has you hypnotized and you’re sorry when it ends. How did it capture your attention?It’s because of companies like Yashi, which identify and bid strategically on online video advertising opportunities. Vice president of systems engineering Andy McConaghie explains, “We work with advertisers and agencies to connect them w...

Solution briefs/partner content

These pieces are similar to case studies but involve a strategic partner. I also wrote slides and accompanying blog posts to share and promote the stories.

Executive blog posts/thought leadership

These pieces are ghost-written for executives. Ituran and avaris/IT are customer thought-leadership pieces told in first person, in lieu of case studies. I have worked alongside Gatepoint Research/SimplyDIRECT since 2015 to write custom (ABM) demand-generation surveys.

Tegra Medical •

Is a Career at Tegra Medical Right for You? » Tegra Medical

Is a Career at Tegra Medical Right for You?

A career in medical device manufacturing offers stability, growth opportunities, and the satisfaction of making a real difference in people’s lives. There are some significant career advantages to consider about the industry, including:

For more details about these topics and more, check out 10 Reasons to Work in Medical Device Manufacturing.

Tegra Medical provides a dynamic, rewarding work environment. We are more than just a workplace—we are a com...
SimplyDIRECT •

Craft the Right Pitch, Research-Based Selling | SimplyDIRECT

Research-based selling is an approach that SimplyDIRECT pioneered more than two decades ago. We begin by executing proprietary demand-generation marketing surveys to gather sales intelligence. Then we conduct a strategy session to help your sales team understand how to use the account based marketing data to gain the competitive advantage they need to outmaneuver competitors.
Starting with the right candidates
Your target contact may be a director or a VP. Their company has X number of employees...
Business Insider •

How technology helps a research-intensive medical school secure grants and attract top scientists

For more than 60 years, the diverse faculty and staff of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine have set the standard for excellence in medical and graduate education and patient-centered clinical care. Scientists have made major contributions to biomedical research that have enhanced human health in areas such as developmental brain research, neuroscience, cardiac disease, and more. During 2021, Einstein received more than $185 million in...
SimplyDIRECT •

ABM Campaign Support Research-Based Surveys | SimplyDIRECT

When you take an account-based marketing (ABM) approach, you’re looking at each individual target account as its own highly specialized marketing opportunity.
This might seem like a daunting task and it is for many organizations, which is why they count on us at SimplyDIRECT to support their ABM campaign with one of our research-based surveys.
We’ve broken down our process into five key steps.
Step 1. Choose your target audience
This is the critical first step that will lay the foundation for yo...
SimplyDIRECT •

How to Enable More Effective Prospecting - SimplyDIRECT

Imagine you’re a business development rep. You need to make about 70 calls today to get the three leads you need to feel okay about where you are with your quota this month. You better get busy prospecting. You have a list of names in your CRM system. It’s time to start smiling and dialing – it’s a numbers game, after all, right? Well, not so fast. What if there was a way to work smarter, rather than harder?
Make cold calls less…cold
What if you didn’t have to try so hard to explain to an admin...
SimplyDIRECT •

How surveying your target audience enables 1:1 marketing | SimplyDIRECT

“While most marketing leaders continue to strive for one-to-one personalization, achieving this type of tailored messaging falls short, causing most personalization efforts to fail.” So says Gartner, Inc. in a press release earlier this year, following up its marketing personalization survey. The goal of one-to-one personalization in marketing is to create hyper personalized content that resonates with your prospects. Gartner continues to explain that the cost of getting personalization wrong is...
SimplyDIRECT •

Persona Creation: More Targeted Prospecting | SimplyDIRECT

Have you ever received a solicitation for a product or service offering that you have less than zero interest in or isn’t even demographically relevant? I’m talking about things like a free membership to gym that is 20 miles away, or lawn care services when you live in a condo complex. It’s annoying, right? You want to do business with companies who take the time to get to know you. Spray and pray marketing, where a company promotes its business to everybody anywhere, is ineffective in the long...
SimplyDIRECT •

Lead nurturing with content at any stage of the buyers journey - SimplyDIRECT

According to Entrepreneur, most prospects won’t buy from your website at first glance, especially if they’re only just becoming aware of you. You need to get on a prospect’s radar and build the relationship first. As a general goal, easing your buyers’ research burden by making their time as productive as possible can go a long way to position your company’s solutions as important and appealing. Throughout the buyers’ journey, which takes people from prospect to sales lead to customer, there are...
SimplyDIRECT •

Survey research types to Engage your targets | SimplyDIRECT

Wouldn’t it be great if you could get inside the heads of your target audience – to understand their current situation, their motivators, what keeps them up at night? What are their interests? How likely are they to make a buying decision? Are they even the person that makes the buying decision? This is what we help you do with our various types of survey research. We’ve been generating qualified leads for our clients with our opt-in surveys for more than two decades. Our research surveys help y...
SimplyDIRECT •

Make market segmentation more meaningful with psychographics | SimplyDIRECT

Common approaches to market segmentation include classifying the target audience by industry, geography, company size, or persona. These market segmentation methods don’t set you apart from your competitors, though, because while it might take a little digging or research, almost anyone can figure out how to align their target marketing efforts with demographic, geographic, or behavioral segmentation. Having specific knowledge of your prospect’s “why” can give you a distinct competitive advantag...
SimplyDIRECT •

B2B marketing: targeting the intersection of your offering and your audience’s needs - SimplyDIRECT

According to Marketing-Schools.org, “it’s important for B2B marketers to understand their clients’ needs before implementing any marketing or advertising tactic. In consumer marketing, an effective advertisement can be blasted out over wide channels, and a percentage of consumers will be driven to buy the product. However, since B2B marketing is so much more specialized, marketers run the risk of alienating their specific prospective candidates if they do not pay close attention to their needs b...
SimplyDIRECT •

Database marketing: The foundation of success | SimplyDIRECT

Database marketing — you have probably heard the term, but what exactly does it mean?
As opposed to the approach of blasting out the same message to everyone, database marketing is the discipline of collecting data about your target audience and crafting a message that resonates specifically with them.
There’s an abundance of data available today, both in a company’s CRM system as well as in transactional systems and external sources. Why not harness this data to make your next lead gen campaign...

Infographics

I created these infographics from UserEvidence surveys. I wrote the cyber resilience/cyber vault survey and aside from the infographic, developed a blog post, and delivered "hot leads" to sales.

Web copy/articles

Many more Tegra Medical case studies and blog posts are in the works. The Serenity Vista articles were an interesting diversion from technology writing.

Tegra Medical •

Markets » Tegra Medical

We are proud to support OEMs, healthcare professionals, and patients by manufacturing lifesaving and life-improving medical devices across diverse healthcare markets. From oncology and ophthalmic care to advanced orthopedics, minimally invasive surgery, and drug delivery, our expertise enables innovative solutions that enhance patient care, advance surgical precision, and improve patient quality of life. Explore the specialized markets we serve and discover how we bring medical devices to life....

Addiction is not a Moral Issue - Serenity Vista

You fed your addiction and now you’re feeling the shame, remorse, and guilt.It might be just the fact that you drank or used again last night. You’ve been trying to quit but the temptation was too much for you to withstand. Or maybe you did something that you really regret: You "drank and dialed," spent money you couldn't afford to, or need to apologize to people for whatever you did. The fact that you don’t even remember how you got home or you had to look out the window to see how your car is...
Serenity Vista blog •

On The Wagon vs. Sobriety - Serenity Vista

You have a love-hate relationship withalcohol and other drugs. You love planning your next big party and the taste of your favorite cocktail. You love how you feel on top of the world when you’re high.However, you hate running out of booze or drugs. You can’t stand how you feel the next day, and not just physically. Emotionally you’ve hit a new low and spiritually, you’re empty. You’ll feel better as soon as you can drink or drug again, but you hate the vicious cycle. You decide it’s time to bre...

Prison of Addiction - Serenity Vista

You mayhearthe saying that the only outcome for those suffering from addiction is jail, institution, or death. That can notpossibly apply to you, can it? Chances are good that if you’re reading this post, that it does. Social drinkers or pot smokers are not engaging ininternet searches on terms like “addiction” or “rehab.”Please don’t click away: We’re not judging. Been there. Done that. We can answer your questions because we understand addiction.Perhaps you’ve only just begun wondering if you’...

Hiding Drinking - Serenity Vista

Many people struggling with addiction think that if they’re hiding drinking , they’re hiding their addiction.Are you someone who hides alcohol? Do you have a bottle stashed behind the laundry soap or the cereal on the top shelf? Or perhaps you keep a flask behind the tools in the garage or shed. Maybe there are some nips in the bottom drawer of your desk at work or in your purse. We've heard of many ingenious methods of hiding your drinking - and maybe we even tried some of them ourselves.You me...

How to Tell Your Loved Ones About Going To Rehab - Serenity Vista

Usually, family and loved are grateful you are making the decision for healing in your life. It is likely no surprise to them that you need rehab, nevertheless, there are sometimes reasons why they might be against you going to rehab. You may need some assistance in the process of how tell your loved ones about going to rehab.It is essential that you get professional help to learn to live sober. If you have been drinking for any length of time, it is likely that  your drinking habits are deeply...
Serenity Vista blog •

Addiction During Holidays - Serenity Vista

If you or a loved one are in active addiction during holidays this year, it will more like this third verse of the old song:’Tis the season to be jolly. Maybe for some, but not so much for those struggling with addiction.It’s time for merriment with family and friends but you’re not feeling it. You’re not feeling much of anything these days – unless you’ve had a few holiday cocktails, and then you feel okay. Otherwise, you feel drained, spent, and dull inside. Your life has become miserable: the...
Serenity Vista blog •

Mixing Drugs and Alcohol with Halloween - Serenity Vista

Halloween is not just a holiday for candy – it’s a time for costumes, mischief, and debauchery. It’s the one time of year when you have the chance to try on a different persona and the excuse to cause a little ruckus because almost anything goes in the carnival atmosphere. The night is rife with overindulgence and this frequently includes drugs and alcohol. Whether you’re playing drinking games or going “Trick or Drinking,” the opportunities to get intoxicated are ample. But it’s all in fun, rig...
Serenity Vista blog •

Life After Addiction - Serenity Vista

When you’re in the habit of having a glass of liquid courage before your new client meeting or Mother’s Little Helper before the school bus drops the kids off, it’s not easy to let it go. Or perhaps when you and your spouse reunite at the end of the day, sharing a bottle of wine or just a little nightcap drink or three to help you sleep is an important ritual. Or maybe you and your friends have a longstanding tradition of going to the same bar every Friday night – how can you give that up? You c...

Personal writing

Here are just a few of my most popular blog posts, as well as one of my books. I had a syndicated column in six local (to me) newspapers for several years. The book is based on a collection of those columns. "The perfect reflection of God" appears in a Chicken Soup for the Soul Book.