Mash-Up: A Riverbed Brand Campaign (2008)

Bejingsterdam. Dusseldelphia. Paristanbul. Mumboston. Zuricago. (This is what it looks like when distance disappears.)

In 2007, we launched Riverbed’s first global advertising program on a modest $3M budget, introducing the first and only WAN optimization solution to the world. This technology collapsed geography, eliminating end-user frustration caused by traditional networking issues. So people in Beijing work with people in Amsterdam as if they were sharing the same local area network, while in fact they’re 7,800 miles apart. Riverbed enables every employee to be more productive no matter where they are.

The Mash-Up campaign brought this solution of eliminating distance to life, vividly and in low-cost fashion, relying on a clever line and bold illustration. The “mash-up” technique refers to making something new out of two previously unconnected entities, in this case two cities, which come together to make a new city, complete with a new name and a new skyline. It’s a powerful visual of how Riverbed brings the world closer together. And a compelling metaphor for how Riverbed makes working on the WAN feel like working on a LAN.

Each Riverbed mash-up campaign ad features an imaginary city composed of two real cities. For example, San Francisco + Singapore = San Franciscapore. This new city name is the headline of the ad. And the “mash up” of the the cityscapes relies on a handful of iconic landmarks from each city’s skyline combined into one.