RUSSELL ATHLETIC // INVENTORS OF THE SWEATSHIRT
CHALLENGE: Russell Athletic was once a leading provider of uniforms for collegiate and high school football teams across the nation. But as the market got more crowded, some of the larger brands in athletic apparel, Nike and Adidas, quickly chipped away at RA's uniform contracts. It was time for RA to take another position in the market before they found themselves obsolete among the big name brands.
SOLUTION: Instead of creating our own niche position, we decided to leverage one that was being made for us by athleisure sub-culture. Russell Athletic has been putting cotton on the back of athletes since 1930, when the founder, Benjamin Russell, literally invented the sweatshirt. This classic sweatshirt had become an icon of the athleisure community, so we went all in on a fashionable line of athleisure clothing for a new generation of athlete. The off the field athlete.
RUSSELL ATHLETIC: INVENTORS OF THE SWEATSHIRT
S'WELL BOTTLE // START. S'WELL
CHALLENGE: Created in 2010, by entrepreneur Sarah Kauss, S'well is a high-end water bottle company that shifted the category by showing water bottles could be more than an ugly utility product that belongs in a camping backpack. By putting their focus on design, they created a water bottle that functioned as a stylish fashion accessory. Along with their S'well bottles, they also created a lower price-point bottle called S'ip which was sold exclusively at Target. When this partnership ended, they needed help developing an overarching brand idea and architecture that could encompass both bottles, as well as future extensions to their product line.
SOLUTION: Taking inspiration from the motivational story of S'well's founder, we developed a brand idea that captured her entrepreneurial spirit and journey of making her dream a reality. Sarah wanted to combat the waste of plastic bottles and fill a gap in the industry that was clearly missing- a water bottle that looked as good as the purse it was kept in. Sarah didn't solve the world's plastic problem by creating her bottle, but she made a start. And that start swelled into a fashionable, artful water bottle company that helps provide clean drinking water around the globe.
S'WELL: START. S'WELL
WINGSTOP // HULU HIATUS
CHALLENGE: Throughout the year, Wingstop and 'weed' were mentioned over 22,000 times on social media. Clearly, our fans had discovered the legendary flavor of Wingstop wings and their ability to satisfy any crave. So on 4/20, when marijuana enthusiasts around the nation begin their holiday celebrations, the crave for flavor-packed wings is at an all-time high. We just needed to spark our fans desire for wings and be in the right place at the right time when the crave hit.
SOLUTION: To reach our fans participating in the festivities, we tapped into one of the largest rituals on this holiday...binge watching. As people began watching shows on streaming channels like Hulu, they would be served a compilation of Wingstop ads, each getting trippier and trippier. For some, they would simply think they're seeing a delightful ad for Wingstop, reminding them to order wings to satisfy their cravings. While for others, their internal monologue might start questioning reality. Either way, we put wings on the minds of people celebrating 4/20 across the nation and helped cement Wingstop as a tradition on this growing national holiday.
RESULTS: 46% increase in transactions YOY and doubled online order revenue YOY
WINGSTOP: 4/20
TOMB RAIDER // SHADOW OF THE CUTE RAIDER
CHALLENGE: In the new Tomb Raider trilogy, we see Lara Croft evolve as a character. Starting as an inexperienced archeology graduate, Lara croft is forged into a ruthless survivor that will stop at nothing to keep an evil cult from taking over the world. Fans bore witness to just how far Lara is willing to go with the release of the trailer for the third and final game in the trilogy, where Lara is shown as a killing machine, taking down her opponents with perfected stealth and zero mercy. We needed to make people aware of the release of the final game and get them excited to join Lara on her journey as she discovered her destiny of becoming the ultimate Tomb Raider.
SOLUTION: With the third game putting Lara Croft up against some of the most gruesome and brutal conditions she had ever experienced in the franchise's history, fans were about to see a dark side of Lara that they may not be prepared to experience. Combine this with the insanely vivid graphics of the new game, fans were going to need help recovering from the release of the trailer. So to counterbalance the intensity, we created, Shadow of the Cute Raider, a parody of the trailer evolving a cast made up entirely of dogs and cats. Released on National Dog Day, it gave fans something light to watch after seeing their favorite character destroy her enemies.
RESULTS: 62% increase in pre-orders in a single week and over 2.4 million youtube views of the parody trailer
TOMB RAIDER: SHADOW OF THE CUTE RAIDER
BARTLES & JAYMES // A FINE WAY TO RELAX
CHALLENGE: In the 80's, Frank Bartles and Ed Jaymes were two straightforward pitchmen that wanted to introduce their premium wine cooler to the world. And they did. Their wine coolers were all the rage and people loved the sweet wine and fruit flavors that helped them unwind and relax. But thirty years later, wine coolers have become a thing of the past and instead of relaxing with with a simple sip of Bartles & Jaymes - people have turned to more complicated methods like goat yoga or deprivation tanks. Simply put, people have made relaxing way harder than it should be.
SOLUTION: We relaunched Bartles & Jaymes to a new generation to show America how easy it is to take it easy. With new packaging, real fruit flavors, and real wine, we got modern consumers to realize that Bartles and Jaymes was the easiest relaxation device on earth. Carrying forward our honest marketing from the past, Frank and Ed learned how to use Instagram in order to get their message out to the world that they were back and ready to get everyone to a premium state of relaxation.
BARTLES & JAYMES: A FINE WAY TO RELAX
DEL TACO // BEYOND MEAT TACO LAUNCH
CHALLENGE: Del Taco was partnering with Beyond Meat to introduce the world to the first meatless taco on the market. They needed to convince their regular customer-base that Beyond Meat’s innovative process truly made their plant-based substitute taste just as good as Del Taco’s original meat tacos. This would allow them to win over both vegetarians and their meat-loving customers looking for a healthier option in a growing culture of Meatless-Mondays.
SOLUTION: To prove just how much their Beyond Meat tacos tasted like meat, Del Taco reached out to the toughest critics they could find...Meat-Heads. From muscled-bound jocks to butchers, we captured real testimonials of how delicious these new meat-alternative tacos tasted, resulting in some ‘wow-level’ reactions.
DEL TACO: MEAT-HEAD TESTIMONIALS
QUICKBOOKS // THE EASY WAY TO A HAPPIER BUSINESS
CHALLENGE: The business software category is crowded. But even with all this competition, QuickBooks' biggest competitor is the notepad and box of receipts that 90% of small business owners use to manage their finances. This is leading to a lot of wasted time and unhappiness. What’s stopping them from using QuickBooks? The fear that it will be complicated to set up and run.
SOLUTION: To show the simplicity of QuickBooks and prove its ability to transform a business, we recruited grumpy small business owners from pop culture and had them tell their stories of how using QuickBooks helped them go from bad-tempered to happy, once they were saving time with smarter and easy-to-use business tools.
RESULTS: 30% lift in consideration and increased sign-ups for the QuickBooks Live service by 30%
QUICKBOOKS: HAPPY BUSINESS
QUICKBOOKS // JOURNEY TO SUCCESS
CHALLENGE: QuickBooks had evolved to become the only suite of tools that helps small businesses run their entire business easily. But due to misinformed perceptions, QuickBooks was still viewed as complex and solely focused in their roots of bookkeeping services. We needed to get customers to look at QuickBooks in a whole new way and realize that they have a diverse set of offerings, including payments, payroll, banking, and live bookkeeping services.
SOLUTION: QuickBooks believes that small business owners are heroes. And just like a true hero’s journey, their path to success is filled with ups and downs. As a champion of those who dare to dream, QuickBooks is always there, in the corner of the SBO. With payments, payroll, banking and live bookkeeping in one place, we showed customers that QuickBooks has the tools to help them navigate their path to success — whatever success means to them.
QUICKBOOKS: JOURNEY TO SUCCESS
PRINCIPAL // FOR ALL IT'S WORTH
CHALLENGE: Principal found themselves in a crowded financial category with giants like Fidelity and shiny Fintech startups that were battling for attention through a features, fees, and functions arms race — competing to see who could launch the next best retirement calculator. Principal needed to rise above this noise and find white space in their brand purpose.
SOLUTION: We realized that no category promises security so much, yet makes people feel so insecure. For too long the financial category focused on external markers of success. And when we focus the wealth conversation only on finite — often unattainable — goals, it leads to insecurity. However, "worth" is the meaningful articulation of wealth, because worth isn't defined by how much money you have or how you compare to others, and it acknowledges that what matters isn't the same to everyone. A company that understands this opens the doors for more people to make progress and can help them feel secure.
PRINCIPAL: FOR ALL IT'S WORTH
VISA // NEVERENDING FAN
CHALLENGE: As young consumers start to prefer digital payment methods over cash or card, Visa has moved more to the background with every purchase, making the brand less relevant. Visa needed to show consumers the important role the brand plays in their lives when it comes to the things they are most passionate about.
SOLUTION: One area consumers are passionate about is the NFL — a sport Visa has sponsored for years. But rather than being just another logo on the sidelines, Visa needed to show how the brand plays a relevant role in fans’ lives. They did this by tapping into a truth — most NFL fans are losers. Literally. Each year, only 1 team out of 32 end up as winners. So our campaign showed how during the inevitable ups and downs fans experience, Visa is there every step of the way, helping them express belief in their team through the purchases they make.
VISA: NEVERENDING FAN
VISA // 500 LAYER LASAGNA
CHALLENGE: When it comes to making online purchases, the top barrier stopping people from hitting the 'buy now' button is security concerns. With financial fraud on the rise, people are holding back from making purchases that could help them do more of the things they love. Luckily, Visa's A.I. is so advanced, they check over 500 different risk factors on every transaction to keep shoppers safe.
SOLUTION: To help alleviate some of these shoppers' concerns, Visa partnered with celebrity-chef Matty Matheson to help explain just how powerful Visa's security features actually are by doing what he does best - cooking a delicious meal. But not just any meal, a 500-layer lasagna — each layer representing one of the risk factors Visa checks on every transaction to give shoppers peace of mind.
