Leah McCann Smith | Writer & Editor

CONCEPT | COPY | STORYTELLING

Red Hat brand campaign

Shifting perception from the “Linux guys” to a cloud challenger
Part of the core creative team that developed a new global creative platform, “Keep your options open,” and accompanying advertising concept for Red Hat. As the first brand-level refresh in 3+ years, expectations were high; this project required a deep commitment to concept and research that could push us beyond conventional ideas and into bold creative.

RedHat.com/options. A high-production-value homepage and landing page experience allowing users to select their exact tech challenges to receive a customized page specific to their needs—each with a singular, focused “Keep your options open” story.

On-site and social-sharing experience. We needed something eye-catching and engaging to unveil Red Hat’s new brand campaign to the masses. Our interactive selfie experience allowed people to see themselves in the same exact set featured in the campaign’s hero video launch—and over 1,000 photos were taken at the event. After snapping a pic, people could then add it to a community-built mosaic, ultimately revealing a final bold message from Red Hat.

EXPERIENTIAL | OUT OF HOME

Red Hat Summit 2023

A theme so nice they used it twice
For the second consecutive year, I helped shepherd great copy, messaging and theme application as lead copywriter for Summit—and with the return of the event to its full glory, I got to see “Explore what’s next” in its full glory. Finally. 😛

EVENTS | SOCIAL MEDIA | BRANDED MEDIA

Ansible Automation

Not just an automation product; an automation experience
If you know Ansible, you know it’s a brand that prides itself on clarity, community, honesty, and most importantly, personality. I wrote fresh, jargon-free copy for Ansible-specific events, on-site signage, social media, and branded media podcast ads—helping us connect with key audiences, bring in more attendees, and inspire sharing. Photos by Jason Arthurs.

Branded media podcast ads

Not your everyday podcast ad. After years of running without ads, Red Hat podcasts opened up space on all 150+ of its episodes to promote offerings. So we knew if we were going to introduce ads, they needed to be worth our audience’s valuable time. To create these, I designed interview guides that would lead to engaging conversations with Red Hat SMEs. Once recorded, I sifted through all the audio to script these short stories explaining a new joint offering between Red Hat and IBM all about generative AI.

“Power in Partnership”
“Skills Gap”
“Best of Both [IBM and Red Hat]”

THEME DEVELOPMENT | SOCIAL | EMAIL | WEB

Red Hat Summit 2022

What’s in a Summit?
Led the development of all event copy and penned the new event tagline (“Explore what’s next”) as part of the request for an evergreen theme that wouldn’t get stale after just a year. Alongside an incredible group of designers, writers, art directors, animators and more, our team concepted and pitched interesting, original creative ideas that would get more people to Red Hat Summit. Together, we brought the ideas to life on social, email, web and, of course, on site.

VIDEO | SCRIPTWRITING

Barco

Funny name, not-so-serious concept
AV company Barco is the only public corporation that does professional AV and professional AV alone. For its launch of the ClickShare Conference in 2020, we wanted to take a very technical product and have a little fun with it. Tripp & Tyler are YouTube comedians and influencers, known for an AV industry favorite, A Conference Call in Real Life. We tapped Tripp & Tyler to produce and execute on our spinoff concept of the original parody—but this time, for ClickShare Conference. With a little fun, a lot of improv and a few extra hot takes, the video became one of the top 10 most popular videos on the Barco YouTube channel.

COPYWRITING | WEB WRITING

LAVNCH

A brand new, never-been-done event platform for AV
Digital publication rAVe [PUBS] was mostly known for its live trade show coverage, until … you know (thanks, Covid). I helped the agency concept, build and refine messaging for a new virtual-event platform, giving AV/IT teams an online space to grow in a time of remote events. We hosted events for clients from the likes of Amazon and the DPAA. And the LAVNCH platform is still going strong.

CONTENT | COPY | COMICS

Bylines, Blogs & Banter

Grandpa & Grammar
A 10% free time passion project from the quirky and imaginative group of copyeditors at Droga5. Vol. II, written to remind writers to tread carefully with hyperbole, was my brain child. Illustrations by the wonderful Dan Kane.

Tech & sponsored content

  • Room 58, an AV-over-IP classroom success story (case study; landing page)
  • I Watched Zoom’s Security Updates Webinar. Here Are the Takeaways. (read)
  • MAXHUB Is a New Take on LED (read)
  • CX, Crystal Balls and a Hot Debate on AV-over-IP (read)
  • New PSA Initiative, ‘We Are the Countervirus,’ Will Soon Make a Splash on DOOH Screens Across the World (read)
  • rAVe Went to #NYDSW. Here’s What We Saw. (read)
  • More live event coverage here.

Content for the 919

Coffee Content, for CUPS’ blog Room for Milk

If you've made it this far, bravo! Might as well go check out my copyediting page, too!