Live from New York, it’s… MAILBIRD!

Start spreadin' the news! Mailbird appeared on the Nasdaq tower billboard in the heart of Times Square. Discover the creative journey that led to Mailbird's splash on the NYC skyline.

On March 7th, the Mailbird name was all lit up in Midtown Manhattan.

Although appearing on the seven-story Nasdaq tower for only a brief moment, the billboard took far longer for Mailbird’s creative team to develop.

The challenge? Create a concept that was both simple and eye-catching in one of the busiest and most iconic neighborhoods in the world.

“Effective marketing sometimes goes against design thinking,” said Jalita De Waal, Mailbird’s Head of Design. “Things that get noticed don’t always look good. Minimalism is great, but it can easily be overshadowed. We needed to take all of this into consideration. After all, there’s a big difference between making a print poster and a 10,000-square-feet billboard. We had to balance copy, messaging, and visuals, making sure one element doesn’t overtake another.”

Despite its impressive size, there were strict rules on what must appear on the first two of four available lines for text. This left the team with only two lines with which to convey an interesting and impactful message.

“We had two additional design challenges to contend with,” explained Jalita. “First, it's a round building. Second, and more importantly, it has windows everywhere that will interrupt any design we conceive.”

With just a few days to figure it out, the design and content teams met over numerous brainstorming sessions.

The creative process started without any restrictions. The goal was simply to muster up all the design, copy, and messaging ideas they could, regardless of the medium. Then they determined which ideas could be adapted to fit within the specs and guidelines—and of course, within time and resource limitations.

There were dozens of creative concepts—and even more design iterations. Some were too simple to be noticed. Some were too elaborate and likely wouldn’t display properly on such a large canvas or would be cut off by the tower’s windows. And some, as they learned from their initial pitch, were too “edgy” for such a prestigious venue.

After narrowing down their designs and messaging concepts, they gathered reactions from other Mailbird team members until deciding on their final choice.

“The design team worked on many iterations with our brilliant content team,” said Jalita. “We were determined to make the best billboard we could on such an aggressive deadline, even if this wasn’t something we normally do. I love that about Mailbird. We have the freedom and trust of key stakeholders to explore new ideas. And as technologies change and opportunities arise, we will always adapt to meet new challenges.”