2018-January-25

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Giving our Brand a Personality

Dennis Lim, Executive Creative Director, Cisco Brand Team.

Take a step back from the Cisco brand you experience every day, and you’ll notice a consistency to the look and feel of it—to the personality. We’re talking our website, our advertising, our events, right down to our logos and icons. That’s not by chance. It’s the result of a lot of hard work by Cisco’s Brand Team and by Executive Creative Director Dennis Lim. From his home in Menlo Park, California—with occasional interruptions by his dog, Lexi—Dennis shared insights into how the team works behind the scenes to make sure the Cisco brand sings with one voice.

What does the Brand Team do?

We come up with ideas for Cisco—for communications such as ad presentations. We set up the brand guidelines for all the different disciplines—for WPR (Workplace Resources), collateral, events and launches. We design logos, all the icons across the brand and the user interface for software. We also oversee the agencies that do most of our major work, like cisco.com and the advertising. We’re the eyes and ears of Cisco in terms of the vision and voice of the company. Karen Walker, our Chief Marketing Officer, tasked us with raising the quality and consistency of the communication work that comes out of Cisco so it all looks and feels like it’s coming from the same personality. As executive creative director, I lead these efforts.

What do you find interesting about the work you do?

It’s engaging on a variety of levels. On the design or idea level, it’s always challenging to come up with really cool, smart ideas that stimulate people when they see them—like a good video, graphic solution, presentation or event opening. It’s a very gratifying part of what I do. There is always something to do and it exercises every creative part of my brain. I also get to work with many different kinds of people—which has its good and not so good aspects. It can be very challenging working with people whose knowledge about the creative side of the business is minimal. But on the other hand, it’s fun to get them up to speed and see them get excited about it.

Tell us more about your background

For many years I worked in creative positions, helping to cement the creative vision for brands like Saturn, Acura and Infiniti. In 2015, I worked at Apple creating and producing videos for product launches. It’s interesting now to work at a company where the creative business is just another department and doesn’t have the same kind of power. Cisco’s business is not built around the creative side of marketing communications; it’s built around putting up Cisco products and selling them. So we on the creative side are a very small fish in a large sea, as opposed to the inverse—which is what I was used to.

Where did you grow up and what did you want to be when you grew up?

I was born in Rochester, Minnesota. My Dad was a resident surgeon at the Mayo Clinic there. Later, we moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, in Canada, and then back to the United States when I was nine, this time Santa Barbara, California. As I went through high school there, I had my eye on two career paths—veterinary medicine and photography. I won a scholarship through a photo contest to the now-defunct Brooks Institute of Photography in Ventura, but my father discouraged me from taking that path. Instead, I studied design and graphic communication at California Polytechnic University in nearby San Luis Obispo. But my love of photography continues to this day, and I still shoot professionally.

What was your first job and what did you learn from it that you still use today?

I was a janitor at a print shop, which became my segue into graphic design and printing. I learned the importance of keeping your head down and working, but always asking questions of things you’re curious about. And of course to stay curious, always.

How did you find your job at Cisco?

While I was with the ad agency BBDO I met Michele Janes, who today is Cisco’s VP of Global Corporate Marketing and Branding. We’ve worked together frequently through the years, and she kept bugging me to consider working on her team at Cisco. I joined Cisco in February 2016.

How do you work together as a team?

We come together very organically, and we work together on projects as needed. We have people both locally and spread around the world and meet over Spark and Webex. The camaraderie happens naturally through the projects we work on together. Respect grows very quickly when people see what others can do that they find amazing or interesting. We’re a strong team—a lot of very smart people.

Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage in the recent Network Intuitive launch.

What are the team’s key accomplishments?

We’ve had a huge impact on the Cisco website and on advertising. A lot of “The Network. Intuitive” comes from us, like the recent ad featuring Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage walking through London. We also did a lot of work on icon development. But our biggest accomplishment is probably the vision and voice of the company. We’ve solidified the look and personality of Cisco more fully than ever before.

Who inspires you?

Milton Glaser. Edward Weston. Paul Rand. Radiohead. Ansel Adams. Ridley Scott. Christopher Nolan and my three kids: Joie, Sean and Alex.

What advice would you give to someone looking to join Cisco?

Our culture is all about supporting each other and working together, so don’t come if you’re a hot head and like to work alone.

Are you ready to explore job opportunities at Cisco?

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