Cloud Service Provider Zadara Sends Star Studded Cameos to 100 Prospective Managed Service Providers

How does Zadara, a recognised leader in global edge cloud services, reach the Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and hosting providers they seek to enable and empower? By zigging where other more conservative startups would zag, as evidenced by a unique marketing endeavor aptly handled by creative advertising agency Battery. 

Tasked with bringing awareness to Zadara’s new Federated Edge cloud services program, Battery crafted an innovative B2B and DtoC hybrid campaign aimed at reaching a hyper-targeted list of hosting provider MSPs – 100 to be exact – which Zadara believed would be most interested to learn of the offering. These potential MSP partners needed to provide cloud services to take advantage of the first-ever public edge cloud network composed of hundreds of global MSPs and designed to support modern workloads.

Utilising Cameo’s business offering in a unique way, Battery figured out the Cameo celebrity each of the 100 MSPs admired most, and in turn, asked for that celeb to candidly spread the word about Zadara’s Federated Edge program in a very personalised video in hopes that they will become a member. Tapping into various fandoms, Zadara and Battery commissioned Cameos from notable names across the worlds of professional sports, music, film and television, including Veep, Seinfeld, The Office, Entourage, The Little Mermaid, and The Walking Dead.   

As to how Battery got these personalised commercials made, they succeeded in this endeavour through intricate research, and yes, quite a bit of social media deep-diving to figure out exactly who and what would appeal to the prospective Zadara partner. Battery then worked with Cameo’s team to connect with and co-produce an engaging scripted prompt for Cameo talent, which highlighted how Zadara’s Federated Edge Program gives MSPs the global footprint, flexibility, and competitive margins they need to compete and win business.

By enlisting their heroes to inform MSPs about the Federated Edge program in a legendary way, Zadara is thinking differently – and more creatively – than other players in the edge cloud space. Speaking to the overall concept, Mike Parseghian, Head of Brand at Battery, commented: “If you’re part of the team at an MSP, odds are you’re spending most of your day thinking about other people’s needs. Our approach was to flip the narrative and let the prospective MSP partner know that this time, the spotlight is on them. That’s because, as Zadara’s current partners have said, their customers love them because they think of ways to improve their service that don’t occur to the competition.”

Zadara CMO Tim DaRosa commented, “2021 presented us with the ideal time to bring humour and creativity into the marketing initiatives for Zadara. We’ve all felt a bit disconnected at some point over the past year. Our goal was to embrace a more personalised and engaging way to catch the eye of our target audiences. Forming a partnership with Battery and building a marketing campaign using Cameo was a slam dunk and a natural extension of our corporate culture and business model. Our promise to customers is a personalised, tailored, high-touch relationship and this is exactly what we delivered with the Cameo program.”