Agency at a glance
Full service, independent agency based in San Francisco
Process built around Courageous Collaboration™ to enhance creative quality and deliver effective campaigns faster
Well-versed helping businesses evolve from performance-only marketing to brand-driven business growth
Excel at identifying and activating human truths that broaden brand appeal and product consideration
Holistic approach that plots the course of campaign ideas through full-funnel storytelling ecosystems
Culture integrates best practices from boutique agency, global holding company, and in-house creative studio tenures
In-house video and studio production teams deliver nimble, cost-efficient execution
CLIENTS & EXPERIENCE
Rec0gnized and Respected
Case studies
SHOULDA’ BEEN THERE
The Improv has a 60-year heritage of delivering the best that comedy has in store. Over the past several years that experience has come under assault via streaming and social media channels. These platforms offer people comedy content volume without them having to leave the comfort of their couches.
Charged with reigniting enthusiasm for live laughter and inspiring visitation, we focused on a simple insight that plays into the FOMO that runs rampant in our always on, always posting culture.
A funny thing experienced second hand is never as funny.
From this the “Shoulda’ Been There” campaign was born. The integrated campaign (TV, radio, outdoor, digital, and social) ran nationwide and delivered awareness and traffic increases for Improv beyond their expectations. Tapping that awareness and consideration boost, our creative ecosystem drove goal-redefining traffic and increased local ticket sales by more than 10x.
NOT EVERYONE HAS A TICKET OAK
StubHub initially built it’s business with a well-oiled performance-marketing machine that delivered online access to tickets. The transactional nature of this approach resulted in the brand being lumped in with the shady scalper scene—despite high-quality ticket inventory, authenticity guarantees, an easy-to-use online portal, and nearly endless access to events of all kinds. To continue growing the business knew it needed to broaden its appeal and increase usage beyond a primarily sports audience.
Tasked with this mission, we leaned in on the insight that while everyone may want a “guy” that can help them get tickets, they’d really like to feel like that “guy” isn’t a shady con artist (as portrayed in every sitcom ever). To upend that pop culture cue and reset the event attendance behavior, we crafted a personality for the StubHub brand that beleaguered fans could love.
Ticket Oak.
This gregarious 30-ft. talking tree changed the game by promising an approachable, savvy, and enjoyable ticket buying experience that could be trusted to deliver whenever the need arose.
Our multi-year integrated storytelling effort included broadcast TV, print, outdoor, digital takeovers, interactive print ads and walls, events and stunts, appearances (yes, Ticket Oak physically showed up at places), and a tonally integrated performance marketing program that activated expressed interest.
The campaign expanded the StubHub audience base well beyond sports, drove years of double-digit growth, and upended consumer ticket buying behavior. All this resulted in StubHub taking a 60%+ share of the secondary ticket market. An entrant into the Advertising Week Hall of Fame, Ticket Oak became culturally notable—even years later. Fans have dressed as him for Halloween and he recently made an appearance on Jeopardy! in the form of an answer.
100 YEARS UNDER THE HOOD
Valvoline is a storied brand of motor oil with roots that stretch back more than 100 years. This once beloved brand found itself bogged down in a CPG claim-driven messaging war with competitors.
Initially we were tasked with developing a campaign that could compete head-to-head with the likes of Pennzoil, Quaker State, Castrol, and Mobil 1. However, it quickly became apparent the ongoing battle for factual dominance was missing the point. Our challenge was much more existential.
You see, motor oil’s retail segment itself was shrinking as fewer people DIY’ed the work on their cars. So, the only way to grow at retail was to double down on an audience that still cared about spending time under the hood. This now became a battle for the soul of “Real Car Guys” and what it meant to them to get their hands dirty.
Recognizing this, we shifted our approach to elevate the conversation beyond mudslinging about viscosity levels and oil burn-off rates. The resulting campaign celebrated these “man’s men” in all their glory—highlighting the joy, relaxation, and satisfaction they got not only from getting the job done right, but taking the time to tinker along the way.
The integrated campaign story expanded across broadcast, print, radio, digital, sponsorship, unique added value (PINKs on the Speed Network being one such program), and in-store promos. Retail sales increased 6% YOY (while the category shrank 4%) and Valvoline seized share quickly moving from the #4 position to the #2 position in the category.
More work examples
