Work

Domino’s - Paving for Pizza

Experience design that literally paved the road for customers

Challenge:

Domino’s built its success over the past 50 years on delivery. It has also earned trust over the last decade by proving itself to be a brand that cares about, listens to and acts in service of its customers. Now it is looking to do the same for carryout.

Solution:

Potholes, cracks and bumps in the road are problems across the U.S., both for cars and the safety of carryout pizza. The Paving for Pizza initiative helps repair roads all over the country to make sure carryout customers get their pizza home in pristine condition.

Result:

Within two months of launch, the project received more than a billion media impressions while customers submitted 137,000 nominations from 15,257 different zip codes in all 50 states.

“CPB gets that it’s no longer enough to just tell an entertaining story in an advertising campaign. They understand to persuade consumers today you need bold, meaningful brand actions that directly address consumer tensions. The Paving for Pizza campaign is a great example of how they execute on this philosophy.” – Art D’Elia, SVP, Chief Brand and Innovation Officer, Domino’s

Hotels.com - Hate-Like

Offering the solution to a pervasive but unspoken social media behavior

Challenge:

Travel happens on social media – it's where people present their best selves and showcase all the brag-worthy places they go. There's no escaping it. Especially for the people who aren't on incredible trips themselves. So how do you convince people to stop envying their friend's trips and use Hotels.com to take a bragworthy vacation themselves?

Solution:

Hotels.com put a name to one of the most absurd yet relatable social media behaviors we're ALL guilty of. You know, when you “like“ someone’s perfectly filtered travel pic, even though it fills you with intense jealousy. We call it the 'Hate-Like'. Through TV, online video, social, events and partnerships, we set out to make it a thing. Then we proved Hotels.com as the solution to getting hate-likes yourself.

Result:

The campaign generated 2.85 billion impressions, a 55% social video view rate (205% above benchmark), a social media following increase of 36%, and a 6.3% uptick in unaided brand awareness. Now, in a world where “doing it for the gram” is at its peak, so is the #HateLike, with a 2,000% increase in its use since the launch.

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese - Blind Taste Test

A better way to do “new and improved”

Challenge:

When Kraft announced plans to remove artificial flavors, preservatives and dyes from its iconic Macaroni & Cheese, fans worried the recipe change would mean a change in taste.

“People were really excited. But they were also a little concerned. And they all said the same thing – don’t mess with my Mac & Cheese.” – Greg Guidotti, VP of Boxed Meals at Kraft Heinz

Solution:

We quietly sold the new and improved product for three months without saying a word. We then announced that we had successfully pulled off the world’s largest blind taste test.

Result:

During the Blind Taste Test, people bought more than 50 million boxes of the improved Mac & Cheese, and no one noticed a difference in taste. More than a billion earned media impressions were generated, with Stephen Colbert devoting his entire Late Show monologue to the campaign.

“We originally wanted to tell everyone right away. But now we have the proof. We made a better Kraft Mac & Cheese, and it still tastes like Kraft Mac & Cheese.” – Greg Guidotti

Jose Cuervo - Tomorrow Is Overrated

Building brand by defying category norms

Challenge:

“It was time for Cuervo to reassert itself as the category leader, especially when competitors’ messaging has increasingly seen a trend of ‘blandification.’ We wanted to challenge that trend and recapture tequila’s intensity, reminding people that tequila is anything but bland.” – Proximo Spirits

Solution:

We reaffirmed Cuervo’s status as a fearless pioneer with the brand platform “Tomorrow Is Overrated.” A bold call to arms to live in the moment and disregard what awaits tomorrow.

Result:

The launch spot garnered more than seven million views and a 378% spike in online brand conversation.

Truth - Body Bags

The most successful social marketing of all time

Challenge:

Plain and simple – curb teen smoking.

Solution:

Dumping body bags outside Philip Morris headquarters helped teens visualize the 1,200 deaths caused by tobacco use each day, while the “Truth” campaign as a whole empowered youth to reject the manipulative tactics of the tobacco industry.

Result:

This powerful campaign broke conventional anti-drug norms and was directly responsible for keeping 450,000 teens from smoking in just four years. In fact, 22% of the overall decline in youth smoking between 2000 and 2002 can be attributed solely to Truth.

“We could run that spot (Body Bags) today and it would still resonate with the audience and have power. That spot is part of our DNA.” – Eric Asche, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer, Truth Initiative

American Express - Small Business Saturday

A brand idea that launched a national holiday

Challenge:

Big-box stores have Black Friday. Online mega sites have Cyber Monday. American Express OPEN wanted small, independent business owners to have their own day too.

Solution:

We created one. On November 27, 2010, Small Business Saturday launched with a rallying cry of “Shop Small.”

Result:

Small Business Saturday cemented its place as a part of the holiday shopping season, with over 100 million Americans shopping small. The U.S. Senate then passed a resolution officially recognizing the day.

Volkswagen - Safe Happens

Breaking advertising conventions to drive sales

Challenge:

The Volkswagen Jetta came with an impressive list of German-engineered safety features. But auto safety ads typically focused on controlled collisions in controlled environments, or talked about avoiding accidents in the first place. A big snore for consumers.

Solution:

Our campaign demonstrated how the safety features we all take for granted can be just as startling as the danger they confront.

Result:

Dealers reported a significant uptick in traffic while sales increased 39% year over year.

Netflix - Watching Ahead

Finding the cultural tension to own a category

Challenge:

Prove that Netflix was a good thing in a time when they were getting dinged by the entertainment world for putting too much “watching power” into the hands of the people.

Solution:

We celebrated a new Netflix-born consumer behavior – binge watching – and turned it into the most positive and aspirational way to consume content.

Result:

In a matter of months, “spoiler alerts” and “Netflix adultery” became part of the everyday idiom, while Netflix saw the best quarterly performance in three years.

Burger King - Wake Up with the King

Putting a brand back on the cultural map

Challenge:

Burger King needed to carve out a share of breakfast, which its competitors overwhelmingly owned.

Solution:

We dusted off an old, nearly forgotten icon – the “Burger King” himself – and gave him new life as a silent, enigmatic character with a slightly creepy artificial head.

Result:

The quirky King quickly became an object of fascination in the media and culture. Breakfast sales jumped 17% and awareness grew to 75% within four weeks of King advertising.

Fruit of the Loom - Professionals Collection

Reinvigorating a brand with product innovation

Challenge:

Fruit of the Loom is an iconic 160-year-old brand known for making affordable and sensible basics. But what’s cool about sensible sweatshirts and sweatpants? We needed to prove Fruit of the Loom was much more than basic in a relevant, fashionable and authentic way.

Solution:

We decided to turn the reputation of sweat suits upside down by creating a collection of sweat “suits” that portray the look of success.

Result:

The entire Professionals Collection sold out in two days. In four days, Google search interest for “Fruit of the Loom sweats” was double that of the past two years combined.

Coca-Cola - Taste Infringement

Don’t just say it. Prove it.

Challenge:

Everyone knows that diet colas don’t taste like the real thing. So how do you convince a skeptical world that Coke Zero actually tastes like Coke?

Solution:

In this hyper-litigious society, there can be only one answer: you file a lawsuit for taste infringement.

Result:

The campaign helped drive sales volumes up 34% in North America.

Burger King - WHOPPER Sacrifice

Hijacking social media behavior

Challenge:

Coupons can cheapen a brand. Essentially, you’re paying someone to consume your product. So how do you distribute free WHOPPER sandwiches to a young, passionate fanbase in a way that makes them value the WHOPPER more, rather than less?

Solution:

We all have too many Facebook friends. Too many childhood buddies and random co-workers, and we never want to delete any of them. WHOPPER Sacrifice gave people an excuse to clean up their Facebook friend list. All you had to do was answer this question: What do you love more, your friends or the WHOPPER?

Result:

Within three weeks, 233,906 friends were sacrificed and Facebook requested that we take down the application after becoming uncomfortable with the sheer number of participants.

letgo - Commercializer

Creating advertising that customers are compelled to share

Challenge:

letgo, an app for selling used goods, is on a mission to stimulate America’s secondhand economy. First we had to transform the typically dull and lifeless classified listing to compete with marketing from big-budget brands.

Solution:

We created the letgo Commercializer, an in-app tool that allows users to seamlessly create million-dollar commercials for the secondhand stuff they’re selling, without the million-dollar price tag.

Result:

In three months, with $0 spend in media, 1.5 million unique commercials for over 1.5 million different products were created and shared by letgo sellers. In just six months, the app reached 45MM downloads, making letgo one of the fastest-growing technology startups globally.

Domino’s - Emoji Ordering

Engaging with customers wherever they happen to be

Challenge:

Domino’s set off on a multi-year journey to become an ecommerce powerhouse. We set out to build engaging digital platforms that would communicate the brand story and raise awareness for online ordering.

Solution:

People love using emojis. That is why we created Emoji Ordering via tweet and text. It’s part of a suite of technology called Domino’s AnyWare, which gives customers the ability to place a pizza order in more ways and on more devices than ever before.

Result:

Thousands began signing up to order with an emoji the moment it launched, with each order placed being advertising for Domino’s. Emoji Ordering and the entire AnyWare platform have propelled Domino’s into the top 10 companies in terms of online transactions, alongside Amazon and Apple.

“Some ideas connect together components of cultural relevance, technology advancement and great consumer experience in a new and exciting way. The best ones do that in a way that is both elegant and simple…and the result is simply genius. Emoji Ordering falls into that category.” — Dennis Maloney, VP/Chief Digital Officer, Domino’s

Hotels.com - Obvious Choice

Identifying a remarkable point of difference

Challenge:

Hotels.com needed a remarkable point of difference to break through a category where online booking platforms are interchangeable and confusing to travelers.

Solution:

With genuine guest reviews, an award-winning mobile app and the best rewards program in the biz, Hotels.com should be the obvious choice for anyone looking to book a hotel online. To help make sure they would be, we created a campaign and a man. Meet Captain Obvious.

Result:

The campaign delivered the highest growth in new customer acquisition at over 10% year over year, with an over 50% increase since launch.

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese - Straight Talking Kids

Giving adults permission to love a childish brand

Challenge:

Kraft has done an incredible job making Macaroni & Cheese a favorite amongst kids. But adults love the golden, cheesy goodness too. The only problem was how do you get grown-ups to admit that they love their kids’ favorite food?

Solution:

The “You know you love it” tagline was personified in a series of TV spots that gave grown-ups a tongue-in-cheek look at themselves: the surreptitious scarfing, the veiled desire, the eating without admitting.

Result:

The initial campaign created a 300% increase in buzz around the brand and was the foundation of an eight-year partnership.

Grey Poupon - Pardon Me

Reimagining a historic brand for a new generation

Challenge:

Since 1777, Grey Poupon has defined what it means to have good taste. But we’re now living in a world that has forgotten what it means to be civilized.

Solution:

For the brand’s return to advertising after a 15-year hiatus, we launched the most discerning Facebook page in the world. And 32 years after the original spot aired, we brought back the iconic “Pardon Me” campaign, picking up right where the original 1981 commercial left off.

Result:

More than 123,000 visitors engaged with the Society of Good Taste Facebook page, while the Emmy-nominated “Pardon Me” spot was the most tweeted about spot during the 2013 Oscars.