The campaign evoked moments that all parents remember; watching their children discover their favorite foods for the first time. This set in stark contrast with a glimpse into today, when their kids are taking their first delicious steps into nicotine addiction.
“Flavors Hook Kids” launched in TV, digital video, radio and OOH across all 14 markets in California, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Sacramento.
In our target audience, we saw a measurable jump in “strong agreement” that the tobacco industry targets youth as new customers. Shortly after the campaign wrapped up, several e-liquid companies ceased sales of their products, including those featured in our outdoor campaign.
It’s not just the sugar talking when we say that we’re so fired up about our new client: iconic candy brand and childhood favorite, SweeTARTS. Check out our Be Both launch work designed to speak to Gen Z’s embrace of duality and fluid identity.
The manifesto video above will live on the brand’s homepage and act as a kind of north star for all the Be Both work. New bite-size TV and digital spots begin playing this week on E!, Comedy Central, MTV and others. And the media spend will be fortified with a robust social presence as well as influencer activity.
Said DC ECD, John Kovacevich: “The Be Both idea is such a rich creative territory — the collision of colors and styles is a fresh new look for an old favorite. We’re excited by the first batch of work and the ways the campaign will come to life in the years ahead.”
HR is about helping real people. The H is for human, remember? So why does so much HR advertising feel so unreal? Those weird stock photos of happy, smiling employees all pointing at the same computer screen? That ain’t any office we’ve ever seen. We helped TriNet tell a more honest story, celebrating the everyday messiness of the humans who build your business. People are incredible, their benefits should be too.
Rakuten is back with the latest installment of the “Life to the Power of R” campaign, this time featuring a relatively well-known professional basketball player. Poised to continue the successful awareness-building achieved by the first round of work, these spots continue to bring to vivid life just how easy and rewarding using this no-brainer of a service is. Watch for the commercials all up and down your TV dial and across the digital universe.
The Japanese e-commerce giant dropped its first ever North American campaign during last night’s Grammy Awards. Directed by acclaimed Israeli duo Vania & Muggia (check out their vids for Coldplay and DJ Snake), the TV introduces Rakuten as a premium lifestyle brand for savvy online shoppers.
The work is just the first public piece of a months-long, ground-up brand overhaul that saw DC helping to determine how the brand expresses itself in every dimension, including strategy, style guidelines and even the product itself.
As the world-champion Warriors entered their final season at Oracle, DC dropped a campaign that acknowledged the 47 years of Dubs teams running the floor in Oakland and the loud and loyal fans that were there all along.
In outdoor, digital and broadcast, the “Game Recognize Game” work celebrated the franchise’s legacy through novel pairings of Warriors — old-school and new — playing in perfect sync across a continuum of time.
“The fans know that before the Splash Brothers, there was Run TMC. And Manute, Sleepy, Baron and Barry,” said Parker Channon, co-founder of DC. “Seeing a Warriors super team built across generations felt like a genuine gift to long-time fans and a natural fit for a team that routinely acknowledges the work and history that precedes their accomplishments today.”
DC’s design director, Jennifer Kellogg, had this to add: “Bringing the Game Recognize Game idea to life visually using nearly 50 years of photography was a fun challenge. We were intentional about treating the photography to make players from different decades feel like they’re in the same world, on the same court. And the Game Recognize Game type reflects off itself to convey this sense of appreciation and interaction between generations of players and fans.”
DriveTime was purpose-built to be the auto dealer for all those with bad credit. Because it not only offered credit-crunched customers much-needed cars, but also acted as the bank extending loans where other financial institutions wouldn’t. Its proprietary algorithm evaluated consumers in a more holistic way, put tens of thousands behind the wheel and grew the company to a billion-dollar market leader.
But it was that algorithm, along with a suite of other consumer-focused technological innovations, that propelled DriveTime to consider a new, wider audience. The innovative online services they provide, like knowing your down and monthly payments on a particular vehicle in just two minutes, are valuable to any consumer and really represent a smarter car-buying process.
That new direction is front and center in a new $50 million campaign launching today. Shot by the Perlorian Brothers with stunning visual effects by Freefolk, the spots ask the all-important question: if you’re not buying your car at DriveTime, how smart are you?
Today marks the launch of DC’s first campaign for Upwork, a global network of freelance talent. But, as the campaign has it, this is more than some indiscriminate mob of freelancers from here, there and everywhere. Rather, this is a unified movement of motivated people — freelancers and managers alike — here to roll up collective sleeves and make stuff happen. And like any good movement, they aren’t afraid to speak truth to power with a hearty “Hey! How can we help?”
“Upwork is a vibrant, expressive brand that’s contagiously optimistic about the potential of freelancers to solve big problems and drive the evolution of business,” said Michael Lemme, chief creative officer, Duncan Channon. “The ‘Hey World’ campaign has some fun, but is serious about the idea that talented freelancers can get stuff done for people who need stuff done, including some brands, artists, institutions and pop culture figures you know.”
When you’re sick, injured or facing a frightening diagnosis, you want more than just clinical excellence. You want a support system. You want a squad. And John Muir Health has your back. Here’s what our ECD, Anne Elisco-Lemme, had to say about our approach to the new work: “Cancer is probably one of the most terrifying diagnoses anyone could ever hear. So our challenge was to create a :30 spot that speaks to the enormity of the situation while remaining hopeful. We took a page out of how sports brands create epic, emotional and highly visual marketing to tell the story of how your entire medical team at John Muir Health is with you, no matter what life throws your way.”
One of the cooler new parts of the already pretty cool media plan DC created for Kona Brewing’s 2017 push is a special integrated program with CBS. In addition to our regular spots running during their highly rated Thursday (aka “Little Friday”) primetime lineup, CBS and DC also created special California spots shot on location in LA, Orange County, San Diego, Sacramento and San Francisco. The Hawaiian and Californian spots will run in tandem and also live on local CBS websites. Watch as our brothers spread their island wisdom across the Golden State.
Our Hawaiian brethren are back to help us hapless haoles sort out our skewed work/life balance. This time around, they take on the Mainland’s social media absorption among other questionable uses of time. The new vids will run on Facebook in conjunction with TV spots in select markets. The work’s already receiving some nice coverage on Creativity, The Drum and Adweek’s Agency Spy. The Dear Mainland campaign continues to be a great success for Kona Brewing with sales increases in excess of 30% and a coveted spot in the top ten of all craft beer.
While the competition focuses on transaction and technology, Grubhub really understands the near magical moment that occurs when the “food’s here.” To capture the genuine excitement and community a shared meal delivers, DC steered clear of LA and shot in Texas with real people who were really friends. No actors. No scripts. No sets. Because sometimes it takes a late night over tacos al pastor to discover that you’re long lost moisture bros. You can dig into our launch spot above or dive in to some positive press coverage here: Advertising Age, The Drum, Egotist, Crain’s, and Best Ads on TV.
At a time when wannabe competitors are trying to get on their natural chip tip, Kettle Brand is answering back with an irreverent new ad campaign. The “Stirring the Pot” work celebrates the brand’s counterculture legacy and all those that zig when others zag. In addition to wild postings, bus shelters, digital radio, Snapchat filters and social content, there’s an outdoor board with actual grab-able bags of chips that gets refilled each day at 4:20pm. “As far as the refill time of the Oregon’s second best edibles billboard, there’s no special significance to that. Just a random time between lunch and dinner,” said executive creative director, Anne Elisco-Lemme. “No story there.”
The latest evolution of the Be Heard campaign for John Muir Health arrives on your TV set and computer screen today. Look for us back in the examination room delving into the close relationships between JMH physicians and patients. A couple unique new characters demonstrate how John Muir docs listen, explain and really collaborate to find the solution that works best for each patient.
Their youthful target wasn’t even born when, working out of an old Seattle transmission shop, a couple of beer-lovers who thought they knew better brewed up their first batch of Redhook. Thus was born a craft beer movement that no one had yet thought to call a craft beer movement. Picking up on the brand’s rich origins story, D/C’s new campaign puts “The Grandaddy of Craft” (as the brand tagline has it), alongside a host of other “Seattle Originals” (as the campaign has it). There’s real-life Seattle superhero Phoenix Jones and Seattle’s own King of Rock ’n’ Roll, El Vez. And the Queen City’s Matthew Inman, creator of the wildly popular web comic, The Oatmeal. Redhook, the effort reminds those too young to remember, is not only part of Seattle history and beer history, it’s part of the proudly inventive local community. Launching today, the campaign is playing out across Seattle and an inventive mix of billboards, wild postings, stencils powerwashed onto sidewalks, radio and digital — from paid social to native content to geo-fenced mobile banners near the billboards.
“There Must Be Something in the Water” is the new tagline and name for D/C’s new campaign, launching today, for longtime client Tahoe South. With non-stop entertainment, comprehensive outdoor activities and a pristine natural setting — including its deep-blue centerpiece — the south side of Lake Tahoe has everything a visitor could need to get out of her comfort zone and into a personal transformation. Through a series of 15-second TV spots, digital video, digital radio, banners and social, this relaunch gives the brand a new look and feel, while maintaining the tongue-in-cheek Tahoe South voice.
With a new commercial, two new digital videos, an updated website (StillBlowingSmoke.org) and a new outdoor campaign, DC has just launched the second year of the State of California’s effort to educate citizens about the potential perils of vaping nicotine. In light of alarming new statistics that are highlighted in the TV spot, there’s a special focus on young people. And a perfectly ironic pop song.
After many successful years, along with a well-deserved induction into Adweek’s Mascot Hall of Fame, StubHub’s Ticket Oak has been sent to live on a big farm in the countryside where he’s very happy and not dead at all so stop with the questions already.
Today a new campaign emerges from that puppet’s long, weird shadow. Called “Let Your Fan Out,” the work champions StubHub as more than a place to get a ticket you want, but rather a place that knows when there’s a ticket you want before you even know you want it. As such, even the busiest of people will find more opportunities to let their previously neglected inner fans out.
A robust TV buy, starting with a spot on tonight’s telecast of Monday Night Football, is matched with a deep digital presence, including all manner of rich media, scores of page takeovers on sites like ESPN and streaming video pretty much everywhere video streams.
Plus, all the work features StubHub’s sharp new brand ID, also created by D/C. More on that below.
At StubHub, the only surprise is at the end of this new commercial — part of a Q4 campaign that includes TV, digital, print and the multitalented Ticket Oak’s radio debut. The effort highlights that scoring good tickets at StubHub couldn’t be easier — or less aggravating — because there are never extra fees. Unlike the other guys, what you see at the start is what you pay at checkout. It’s called All-In-Pricing. Throw in a Fan Rewards program with discounts and seat upgrades for frequent users, and see how, at StubHub, fairytales always come true.
As we all know, the world is made up of two kinds of people: those who play for #teamsummer and those on the roster of #teamwinter. In a new spot and outdoor launching today, longtime D/C client Tahoe South introduces the audience to the fun peeps and fantastic creatures of Team Summer in action at the world’s most beautiful lake.
With over 200 colors and never-before-seen effects, Formula X for Sephora is a breakthrough nail brand designed to speak to the playful, nail-art-loving, color fanatic in every girl. So when Sephora approached Duncan/Channon to launch the brand, the team proposed equally breakthrough marketing: the first social network devoted to nail fans.
With millions of mani photos and polish pins across Instagram and Pinterest, and no other brand harnessing this active audience of online nail mavens, D/C saw the opportunity to create a branded, social environment where nail fanatics could express themselves, get inspired and shop relevant products.
At FormulaX.com, nail fans can upload their most color-drenched visual inspiration – from pics of electric sunsets to funky nail art – and, based on those images, the site’s color matching provides customized shade and polish matches. Users can create profiles to store their favorite art, inspiration and uploads, and follow their favorite Formula X fans as they explore looks. Social scraping and an in-site uploader keep user content fresh in realtime. FormulaX.com also allows fans to filter content by type or popularity, surfacing popular content through a hearting system. The site is searchable by products, colors, tags and users, weaving color, social engagement, inspiration and product stories together in one visually rich experience.
And not to neglect the physical world, as part of the Formula X launch, select nail artists get a cool train case, designed and produced by D/C, and filled with the cool new product.
The full, rich, and, if we say so ourselves, beautiful Marc Jacobs Beauty site, designed by Duncan/Channon, is now officially up and running, replacing our lovely teaser site. The site is responsive and very social-oriented and reflects Marc Jacobs’s inspirational spirit and intense involvement with this line. Also launching today, coinciding with New York Fashion Week and Marc’s prominence there, is the global, D/C-created Marc Jacobs Beauty digital ad campaign, with, among other units, banner roadblocks and takeovers on nymag.com and style.com, as well as ongoing email. So if you’re in the market for cool cosmetics, be sure to stop by our cool new site.
People can be insensitive, it’s true. So on the occasion of this laudatory write-up of the Ticket Oak’s diabolically clever maker, Anatomorphex, in North Hollywood, it seemed only right for D/C, as the tree’s diabolical inventor, to post this as a reminder.
It’s the biggest campaign yet for StubHub and its lovable/creepy spokes-tree, conjured up last year by D/C. And it may be that the perils of fame are getting to the booming-voiced bark-wearer, as millions of his fans are sure to notice when a new spot drops on (appropriately enough) April 1.
Along with TV, directed once again by Mike Maguire of Biscuit Filmworks, the fully integrated campaign crosses all media and platforms, with print, out-of-home, homepage takeovers – on ESPN and Sports Illustrated – social media and more, all of it lovingly crafted by D/C.
The “more” involves train wraps and “city domination” media buys around key concert halls in New York, as well as “Venues that Rock,” a content partnership with Rolling Stone, featuring a branded hub page on rollingstone.com where users can read about iconic venues, compete to attend a private concert and find hot local tickets. The Rolling Stone program further includes a mix of editorial and advertorial and culminates with an invitation-only, StubHub-branded show by a notable up-and-coming artist.
The new campaign supports StubHub’s evolution from a site to buy great tickets to a site to discover great events – the platform for big nutty trees helping people have awesome weekends.
They’ve got the technology, inventory and financing to put you in your dream-mobile. That’s the message of Duncan/Channon’s three new DriveTime spots, the first of which launched nationally today. The campaign is the first by D/C for this new client, one of the largest used auto dealers in the world, and includes radio. The TV was shot at DriveTime’s Las Vegas dealership. @Radical was the production company and Rosey the director. Take ’em for a drive right here.
If you are a regular reader of this humble website then it’s entirely possible you’re mumbling to yourself: “Geez Louise, enough with the StubHub Ticket Oak already.” But, alas, the Ticket Oak’s rabid public cannot get enough. Ergo, this little holiday video. Please check it out, on the editor’s solemn pledge that this will be the final Oak-related silliness of annum 2012 (plus, it’s kinda funny).
Marqeta, the company that’s reinventing shopping for both consumers and businesses, today launched its new brand identity and website, created by the Duncan/Channon design and UX team.
The friendly, but efficient, new ID illustrates the power of “You+Marqeta,” as the company and its card add to a consumer’s purchasing capacity across a range of categories. The new site, among other functions, has to quickly educate consumers about the company’s novel approach, while communicating a series of offers and quantifying each user’s point total. And that’s just on the consumer side. The website also has to address the educating and enrolling of businesses. The biggest UX challenge was taking this large amount of complex information and making it appealingly simple, as easy as a trip down the supermarket aisle.
Ah, summer. A time of road trips and bonfires and warm nights playing Truth or Dare. Tahoe South’s new campaign conjures up the wild-child spirit of everyone’s favorite vacation season, kicking off with a Facebook version of Truth or Dare. After all, sharing revealing truths and embarrassing photos is what Facebook was made for, right? That and, increasingly, travel inspiration. So if wistfully clicking through friends’ vacation photos is a favorite pastime, you’re not alone. Duncan/Channon’s Facebook app, created with development partner Noble Studios, enables summer shenanigans galore and reminds users Tahoe South is the decidedly wild side of the lake – the perfect place to relive summer as it ought to be.
D/C’s media plan is digital to the max, though the gauntlet-throwing dare to have a wild summer will be seen on TV and OOH as well. Building on the winter campaign, the work features another series of trippy (get it?) illustrations from Kustaa Saski, brought to life by ace animators Stardust. Look closely and you might see Bigfoot himself cavorting through the spot with water skiers and mountain bikers, tapping into summer nostalgia and daring viewers to find their wild side again in Tahoe South.
DC is back for round two of its groundbreaking campaign for respected healthcare brand, John Muir Health. Smashing the mold of standard medical marketing, the “Be Heard” campaign lightheartedly taps into the female target’s need to really be listened to — especially when it comes to their family’s health and well-being. The work begins with two new commercials from motion picture director, Clay Weiner (look for his new Valley Girl remake), but extends into print, outdoor, digital and mobile.
But how better to communicate the cute and cuddly universe of Alien Family — the new social, mobile game from GREE — than with cut-paper animation and a jingly original song? And how better to express the pseudo-goth whimsy of Zombie Jombie — the new social, mobile card game from GREE, where zombies are the good guys — than with some stop-motion bashing and a bombastic cut from the game’s soundtrack?
For a view behind the scenes, take a look at creative director John (not Jon) Stewart’s thank-you video to his team. And, by the way, many thanks to him.
Great tickets don’t grow on trees. Or do they? Enter The Ticket Oak, the 30-foot centerpiece and star of the latest integrated campaign from StubHub. You want sweet seats to sold-out shows or a Price Alert deal for Saturday’s game? The gregarious Ticket Oak provides. And if you don’t happen to have a Ticket Oak? Then StubHub’s the next best thing (like you couldn’t see that coming).
Brought to life entirely practically — no CGI here — by the puppeteers at Anatomorphex and shot lovingly by acclaimed director, Mike Maguire, the Ticket Oak makes his television debut during this year’s March Madness. But expect to see him very soon in print, digital, mobile and social media everywhere. Watch this space for more details.
Is there any advertising more rote and shopworn than winter ski advertising? There’s the requisite photo of some dude who skies better than you ever will leaping from a cornice that’s probably not even in bounds to a slope with more fresh powder than you’ll ever see. Attach bad-ass headline. Ship.
In its new winter out-of-home campaign, Tahoe South says enough already and foregoes photography altogether in favor of a psychedelic illustration from Finland’s acclaimed Kustaa Saksi. Said illustration makes abundantly clear that when it comes to choosing sides at Lake Tahoe, the south side, with its 24-hour gambling and cocktail-fueled nightlife, is definitely the wild side.
There are actually two Lake Tahoes, north and south. With a half-dozen isolated resorts and few winter activities beyond skiing, it has been easy for consumers to grok an image of the north as the lake’s quiet side. On the other hand, with tons to do at every hour and for every budget, including great skiing at every skill level and conveniently located bars, restaurants, shopping and 24/7 gaming, it has been tough for consumers to envision a singular image of the south — or for marketers to project one cohesive brand.
No longer. The Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority, which is tasked with promoting the south side, hired D/C for a complete rebrand. Eight months later, client and agency unveiled the new brand and an entirely new name for the destination — Tahoe South. The strategy embraces the truth of the destination, that it’s the place for the up-all-day-and-night visitor, and the brand identity celebrates this spirit. The website is curated by local experts and serves as a digital concierge to the region, connecting visitors and would-be visitors to the best web content about Tahoe South, as well as relevant real-time feeds from YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter.
After selling a majestic 2.4 million copies (and counting) on the Wii, Sonic and Mario at the London 2012 Olympic Games is set to drop on the Nintendo 3DS. And D/C is dropping a new TV spot to commemorate the auspicious return of gaming royalty. Running throughout North America, Brazil and online in the EU, the spots, filled with inside jokes and sight gags, are sure to bring home more gold for two of the industry’s all-time winners.
The iconoclastic global brand has a new division in Russia that’s an ongoing D/C client (it’s a long story). On the heels of its “punk rock opera,” David Comes to Life, the band Fucked Up came to Moscow for the first time for a VICE-promoted, Adidas-sponsored concert. The poster boy is singer Damian Abraham. The color palette is echt Russian. The show sold out.
Are you ready for some football (commercials)? Tune in to ESPN and elsewhere on your cable dial tonight to see the first post-NFL-lockout spot from the world’s largest ticket marketplace — and cherished Duncan/Channon client — StubHub. Print and out-of-home to come soon.
This past May the Brooklyn-based, world-dominating hipster brand VICE finally expanded into Russia. It turned out the Russian franchisee was an American expat with, let’s just say, Duncan Channon connections. Here are a couple of the teaser videos DC developed, one for the arrival of the brand, one for the brand’s big Moscow launch party (below), sponsored by Puma, styled as a Puma Social Club event (for “after-hours athletes”) and featuring bar sports. Like darts.
What do people want from their doctors? It starts with a little r-e-s-p-e-c-t. That’s what consumers told John Muir Health and, not coincidentally, what John Muir Health has delivered patients for decades. That insight is the basis for a comprehensive new campaign created by Duncan/Channon, JMH’s agency of record since July, 2010. The work is designed to reassure consumers, especially the moms who drive family healthcare decisions, that at John Muir Health patients are viewed as partners. Launching today, the effort ranges from TV, cinema and out-of-home to print, banners, mobile, Facebook and Pandora ads, and more. John Muir Health is one of California’s — and the nation’s — most highly-rated healthcare systems.
A new 60-second spot for CitrixGoToMeeting, launching today and created by D/C, points out that connection and collaboration can truly make a difference in the world. And, frankly, you might want to grab a tissue before watching. The commercial is part of a comprehensive national campaign across traditional and digital channels designed to both elevate the brand and drive trial.
“The work — much of it created while collaborating using GoToMeeting — champions the idea that a product can be both incredibly simple and powerful at the same time,” said ECD Parker Channon. D/C began collaborating with Citrix in early 2011 and has been working on strategy and brand story, in addition to TV, radio, print and interactive.
Though the work just launched, the SF Egotist has already said they’re some of the prettiest print ads since Gutenberg. And the banners pick up the same rich, allusive design and gorgeous photography. And every element of this multi-million-dollar campaign incorporates a refreshed brand identity and rests on a completely renovated brand platform — all authored by Duncan/Channon, in collaboration with agency-of-record client Blurb.
For those not among the 1.5 million who have already created a volume of their own photography, memoirs, wedding pictures or the like, Blurb is the leader in helping people make beautiful printed books via the web. Their service includes pro-level, yet easy-to-use, design tools and a fail-safe production process delivering budget-defying quality.
In September, Blurb came to D/C, the leader in helping beautiful printed book companies become more famous, to explore positioning, target, competitive and other strategic issues — to create the company’s brand story. The print and online campaign, which reminds the audience they’ve probably accumulated several books’ worth of material already, draws directly on those efforts.
The media plan, courtesy of D/C’s Communications Planning department, includes Dwell, National Geographic Traveler, American Photo and Elle Decor, among others, for the print, and Popular Photography, NatGeo and creative professional sites like Behance and Coroflot, for the banners, which also tie in to the company’s social media efforts.
Kudos to Blurb and their D/C team, as they look forward to [choose your publishing-related cliche: the next chapter; the next bestseller; turning the page; closing the book; returning overdue books to the library of loquaciousness].
The first national campaign from the world’s largest ticket marketplace, StubHub, premieres this evening with a primetime spot on ESPN’s telecast of Opening Day. The integrated campaign from D/C features TV, print, outdoor and wild postings and touts StubHub as the place to get dream tickets for sports, concerts and more. And what do dream tickets afford the holder? Why nothing less than a dream experience, of course.
A concert TV spot, complete with flying, pyrotechnic-laden drum platform, was created in addition to the baseball spot and both will run on the major networks as well as Bravo, E!, ESPN and Comedy Central. Accompanying print ads can be found in Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, People and Esquire. And digital out-of-home and wild postings will be present in most major markets with a large presence in Times Square.
Created for Jackson Family Wines (of Kendall-Jackson fame), Farrier is a brand that D/C helped build from the ground up. The client came with a plot of land in Sonoma’s Alexander Valley and a challenge — create a wine brand that embodies the heritage of that singular place.
The overall concept taps into the sense of community that has historically played such an important role in rural life. Jackson Family Wines has always been guided by a strong appreciation for the land. And, as a family business, it is deeply rooted in the community. It seemed natural for Farrier to pay tribute to these things.
The design tells the story of a blacksmith shop that had been on the property in the 1800s. It was a place where the local farrier (or horseshoe fitter, for those of you not familiar with equine parlance) plied his trade and the townsfolk gathered to socialize. Reinforcing the handcrafted quality of the wine, the packaging mirrors the look of an old newspaper and the language adopts an endearingly olde-school colloquial tone. The red wine uses a more traditional wrap label, while the whites are adorned with a die-cut “F.”
The world’s largest ticket marketplace, StubHub, a division of eBay, has scored a new general agency in Duncan/Channon.
On the eve of its tenth anniversary, StubHub is looking to reinforce its leadership in the category and expand awareness beyond its core sports-fan audience (balletomanes, take note). D/C has developed a comprehensive new campaign for the fall. The first TV spot broke today on ESPN, but you can enjoy it here. (For you production-enthusiasts, no CGI was used. Just good, old-fashioned forced perspective. Thanks, Steven Diller.)
In a new campaign for the Lake Tahoe Visitor’s Authority, D/C helps Lake Tahoe South Shore step out of the shadow of its North Shore neighbor. The $1.5 million campaign playing on local TV and computer screens this summer celebrates the absolute riot of 24/7 entertainment options available to Bay Area travelers willing to take Highway 50 instead of 80. (It also celebrates the undeniable majesty of upside-down, beat-boxing chins dressed in tiny hip-hop attire.)
Seven months in the making, Duncan/Channon’s new work for Esurance, one of the country’s leading car insurers, debuted today all over the damn place.
TV spots, part of a new live-action campaign called “Techie Feely,” began airing nationally on the NBA Finals and 40 cable networks, including FX, ESPN, Bravo, Discovery, TNT and A&E, accompanied by a comprehensive interactive and social media initiative. A nationwide out-of-home effort, starring the TV characters, kicks off in late June, along with national cinema advertising. In addition, as part of the launch, Esurance is introducing a new corporate identity, created by D/C.
Annual marketing spend is $100 million-plus.
In a departure from the animated heroics of past advertising, which starred the pinkhaired “special agent” Erin Esurance, this TV campaign introduces the people behind the company, a quirky cast of staffers who seem to have divided their office into a “Techie” camp – comprised of programmers – and a “Feely” camp – made up of sales and claims reps who help customers over the phone. The jockeying for recognition among the groups drives the comedy, while offering a perfect framework for a message about the company’s innovative products and commitment to service – no matter how customers receive it. The tagline, which flips from commercial to commercial, depending whether Techies or Feelies are featured, is: “Technology when you want it, people when you don’t.”
Five commercials have been finished, and production on additional executions is scheduled for early fall. The spots were directed by Fred Goss, who has a stellar resume as director, writer and producer on commercials and ensemble comedies, including his own TV series last year on ABC, “Sons and Daughters.” The production group was Company Films of L.A.
The revamped identity system and new type-only Esurance logo is designed to deliver a singular message: that the company that pretty much invented online car insurance continues to innovate on behalf of busy consumers, relentlessly striving to make the process of buying or using its products more intuitive, more convenient, more transparent and – yes, Feelies – more friendly. It’s about smartness in the service of simplicity.
Duncan/Channon was awarded agency-of-record for Esurance this past September.
Sorry, the headline is irresistible when you’ve just been picked by the sports, entertainment and real estate giant, AEG, to market its new Ritz-Carlton residence tower.
Priced from $800k to $10 million each, the new Ritz-Carlton condominiums are the residential centerpiece to AEG’s L.A. LIVE complex in downtown Los Angeles. L.A. LIVE is home to the Staples Center, Nokia Theater and Grammy Museum, among a dozen other venues, restaurants and bars, and the Ritz apartments represent the ultimate pied-a-terre for the well-heeled sports or music fanatic – where you can just go “downstairs” to see the NBA All-Star Game, for instance, or Paul McCartney.
The campaign is spending $2 million-plus for local, regional and national print, as well as online, and launches in late June.
Previously positioned as the wine for those who lived life on the edge, Gnarly Head wanted to elevate what was purely a lifestyle brand. However, they still wanted to connect with their core consumers who lived life boldly and, well, had the scars to prove it.
D/C created a print and radio campaign highlighting the new tagline: Old vines make bold wines. In the print executions, we subtly hinted at the adventurous lifestyle that our consumers enjoy, as articulated in the headline: Bold. Sophisticated. With a hint of Gnarly. By doing this, we deftly connected the lifestyle story to the wines’ unique style — in this case, a bold Zinfandel made from the grapes of old vines.
Once the stomping ground of staggering starlets, the Palms was undergoing a complete remodel and looking to relaunch as a new kind of Las Vegas luxury and sophistication. Still naughty, but in a more adult, less showy way, befitting a resort discreetly located off the Strip.
Hard Rock runs a massive video system to coordinate the displays throughout its cafes, hotels, casinos and live venues worldwide. Duncan/Channon collaborated with artist Erik Natzke to create a series of trippy, dynamically-generated animations to display when music other than music videos is playing (live bands, a DJ, etc.). Animations are paired randomly with whatever music happens to be playing at the time and each resolves into a specific visual revelation. Here’s a six-minute sample (you’ll have to supply your own mushrooms).
Music: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Mysteries” / Cut Chemist, “(My 1st) Big Break” / Manchester Orchestra, “The Only One”
Rarely do agencies get the opportunity to, literally, build a brand from the ground up – but for Sereno, The Center for Snoring Solutions, that’s exactly what Duncan/Channon did.
Over the last eight months, D/C implemented a comprehensive treatment plan for Sereno that included: naming, identity, outdoor, direct mail, television advertising (see the spot above), print, design, interactive, media planning and buying, strategy, and even interior design.
Needless to say, brand building like this is hard work, and it’s safe to assume the agency is in need of a good night’s sleep — almost as much as the patients that Sereno was designed to help.
If you’re in San Francisco and want to see Duncan/Channon’s prescription for a great brand, stop by Sereno in the Crocker Galleria — their doors opened on January 1st.
For us, this one hits the bullseye: great creative serving a great client and a great cause.
Dystopian fantasy that, in a country with 16 million hungry children, is not actually so fantastic. WhyHunger is a longtime pro bono client that the agency helped rebrand from World Hunger Year. This was the 30-year-old philanthropy’s first spot.
Previewed as a rough cut on this site, Duncan/Channon’s WhyHunger PSA is now wrapped and shipping. It has been distributed to 92 stations in the top 10 US markets, and client and agency have high hopes that station managers will be enthusiastic about this eerily beautiful spot about the shameful problem of hunger in the world’s wealthiest country.
In the meantime, it is past time to extend deep appreciation to the generous legion outside D/C who contributed to making this complicated pro bono production possible. First, of course, thanks to Boxer Films and director David Roth, who knew full well what they were getting in to, and did so anyway, and then gracefully delivered vision, hard work, can-do tenacity and a skillfull 75-person crew to a multi-location shoot with a large cast — and then artfully edited the film into: 15, :30 and :60 versions. Thanks to emoto music for a custom, uniquely haunting score. And, of course, to Vendetta Post and The Syndicate for bringing their post-production expertise. Big ups to San Francisco’s own M Squared for loaning their time, expertise and facility for final mix. Finally, a loud shout-out to producer, Marc Hochman, who herded the cats so effectively and, from start to finish, just made the thing happen — all for the satisfaction of doing great creative for a great cause. The great client is thrilled. (Find out more about this innovative group at whyhunger.org.)
The Western Railway Museum, located near Fairfield, CA, is dedicated to preserving the heritage of, specifically, electric trains — the big ones, not the mini-replicas from Lionel — which, as some lucky local kids know, you can actually ride at the museum’s scenic property.
To spread the news about this Bay Area jewel, the folks at AC Transit, responsible for East Bay bus service, offered the museum 300 free bus ads. That’s when Executive Director Phil Kohlmetz turned to D/C for creative. And when AC Transit saw the work, they upped the donation to 900 ads, in order to run all three versions on every bus. And now, Kohlmetz reports, other local media vendors are clamoring to get in on the giving. All aboard.
Microsoft has officially launched a Seadragon app for the iPhone. Which means you can now browse high-resolution photo collections on your iPhone — including the Hard Rock memorabilia collection (as seen on the Hard Rock memorabilia website, conceived and designed by D/C and built by Vertigo).
So if you’re out and about and overcome by a sudden and insatiable need to see Morrison’s ripped leather pants, you totally can. Here’s how:
1) Install the Seadragon app on your iPhone. 2) Open the app. 3) Hit the plus button in the bottom right. 4) Select RSS Feed. 5) Enter this URL: http://memo.hardrock.com/seadragon.xml 6) Hit Done.
Badabing.
Alas, with this initial release, there is no way to view the memorabilia stories, videos or metadata on your iPhone, just the stuff itself. But, of course, you can still see all that and more at memorabilia.hardrock.com.
There’s no other winery like it. And now there’s no other winery site like it.
Murphy-Goode was started 23 years ago almost on a lark by three wine-drinking, poker-playing, practical-joking buddies, and, even as it’s now ensconced among the Jackson Family Wines, it continues to operate on the principle that winemaking should be at least as fun as wine.
That’s the same principle behind Duncan/Channon’s development, as part of a complete brand overhaul, of murphygoodewinery.com. (And maybe the same principle behind Duncan/Channon — no doubt, agency and client are a good pairing.)
So along with recipes, there are instructions for Texas Hold ’Em. Along with shots of bottles, there are shots of winemaker Dave Ready, Jr. in his favorite viking helmet, not to mention in his pre-winemaking rock band. Of course, there are official tasting notes for critics and real serious types to download. But there are also minute-long streaming-video snippets where Dave makes those notes come to amusing life.
With its funky family snapshots and self-consciously low-tech interactivity, the bigger story this website tells is of a highly collegial, highly genial — and highly un-corporate — winery that doesn’t just make a fine lineup of wines, but makes fun.
Cheney, that is. Our esteemed VP was the subject of a recent ad, postcard, DM package and email for CREDO Mobile, created by D/C. CREDO’s mission for the last 22 years has been to support progressive causes, in part through donating a percentage of revenues to progressive nonprofits (ACLU, Doctors without Borders, Greenpeace, etc.). And what they wanted to point out to progressive folks still using other mobile phone companies is that this may not actually be the neutral choice consumers think it is, that some of those other providers are in fact sending political donations to crazy right-wingers — including the aforementioned Dick. Of course, there was no other way to approach this topic but with humor, and today CREDO received the following missive from one of their long distance customers:
To whom it may concern:
As a long term Working Assets (now CREDO) customer, I just have to send you a note to tell you how much I love, love, LOVE your new ad campaign. I received the “Did your phone help elect Bush/Cheney” postcard mailer and not only laughed for 10 minutes, but took the thing to a party this afternoon and shared it with a large group of friends. I’ve worked in marketing for 15 years and never worked for a company that had the you-know-what to send such an honest, irreverently funny, and effective marketing piece. Your marketing department should be commended as should the people that supported using this campaign. BRAVO, BRAVO, BRAVO!!!
The once top-secret Hard Rock memorabilia site, the first on the planet to use Microsoft’s Deep Zoom technology and the star of the keynote address at Microsoft’s MIX conference in March, is still making waves, with scores of prominent and positive citations throughout the blogosphere, a complimentary story in USA Today, a laudatory item on Wired.com, and, of course, much mo’. In addition, the site, conceived and designed by Duncan/Channon, is being presented at Microsoft’s Tech·Ed Conference this coming week in Orlando. Further, it was announced on Friday that the memorabilia site will be featured on public kiosks in London’s Hyde Park in honor of Hard Rock’s Ambassadors of Rock tour, which kicks off there with the Police, Eric Clapton, and many others on June 28–29. Accordingly, the site is being updated specifically to encompass a full complement of memorabilia from various of the Ambassadors of Rock artists — one of whom, Clapton, was actually Hard Rock’s original memorabilia donor.
There are only 150 of them, and they’re among the most influential technologists in the world. That’s because they have been selected by Microsoft to serve as outside advisors on new and prospective products. Called Microsoft Regional Directors (though their roles have nothing to do with geographical regions), they’re given regular technology previews and confidential briefings but, in order to preserve their impartiality, not a cent of Redmond’s money. The problem that D/C was invited to solve was that they had no compelling place to congregate and exchange information on the web. With back-end development by Microsoft partner Vertigo, D/C architected and designed a site that aggregated the Directors’ blogs and commentary in one convenient location. To finally answer the oft-asked question — “What region are you guys directors of?” — D/C named it The Region. The site has been an instant success, winning kudos from techies in and out of MS.
“You should have been there when we presented this one,” says creative director Mike Lemme. The proposed new mark, taking off from the company’s name, is a type treatment of that name upside-down and/or backwards.
It’s not just a stunt. The meaning of the company’s name, of course, is the first thing that motivates this mark. But the audacity of the logo speaks loudly and clearly to the audacity of the company, which is known for solving the knottiest software development problems. There’s also the affinity of the company’s primary technical audience (not to mention its secondary audience, Vertigo’s internal staff) for visual conundrums, for a clever little challenge that demands the application of their own cleverness.
The branding work didn’t, of course, stop at the logo. It also encompassed a comprehensive brand book, graphic standards, a re-design of the website, a portfolio of graphic templates, and more.
The fun, puzzling nature of the mark and the obsessive precision of the system has energized the client’s organization and impressed customers and friends alike. It has earned D/C a gold statue in the San Francisco ADDYs and an entry into the national ADDYs. And, perhaps best of all, Vertigo has just closed books on their best year ever.
Founded in the mid-seventies by the late singer-songwriter Harry Chapin (“Cats in the Cradle,” “Taxi,” etc.) and DJ Bill Ayres, WhyHunger (formerly World Hunger Year) is dedicated to getting at the root causes of hunger and the poverty that inevitably accompanies it. They do this by finding and funding grassroots groups that are having a measure of success and then sharing those successful techniques with other grassroots groups, and so on.
D/C got involved with WhyHunger two years ago when the agency conceived and designed a benefit CD for the group that featured songs by Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith and the Hold Steady, among many others, and was sponsored by Hard Rock. The collection was called Serve, and its success led to D/C developing Serve2, with a new set of songs from new and veteran artists, including Springsteen and the Hold Steady again. This time, with the help of the digital distribution company The Orchard, the set was picked up by iTunes and featured on localized iTunes sites around the world, leading to a whole new level of publicity and funds for fighting hunger. In October, D/C also completed a brand overhaul for the 30-year-old organization. The powerfully simple logo picks up the word “why,” but adds a period after it — because this group is not about just asking questions, it’s about real-world solutions. And currently in progress is a new WhyHunger website, with information architecture, visual design and copy by D/C.
The client reports that, in part due to the new branding and accompanying advertising from D/C, their fall fundraiser shattered all previous records. And, after all, that’s what it’s all about.
Marqeta is a startup sought to reinvent the way we pay, making deals with merchants to offer steep discounts for members who fill their card (and that merchant’s account) in advance — in effect, pre-paying. Every purchase is “plussed” up, so that’s where DC started with development of this complete identity system, card design, website and collateral. And because the target is youngish moms, it helps to present it all with a little style.
Diamond Nuts was stuck. Stuck in a commodity category. Stuck with low brand awareness. And stuck with a 30% premium price tag. Our mission was not only to fix the awareness problem, but to justify that premium price.
From TV to digital to print to a partnership with the Cooking Channel and Chef Kelsey Nixon, Diamond of California is serving up a complete creative feast in its first campaign, launching today, from D/C. With the tagline “Made for Homemade™,” the audience focus is the home cook and baker, while the product focus is Diamond’s premium cooking and baking nuts. Across all platforms, the work emphasizes the fun of a great holiday meal, the versatility of nuts as an ingredient and the creativity that brings them all together. Nom nom.
Print advertising in food and lifestyle magazines drove readers to the site for more recipes.
In a series of fifteen-second videos, inspired by social media’s viral step-by-step recipe clips, Kelsey prepared original dishes to inspire our women to use Diamond.
By bringing together a well-liked, modern home cook with an intensely focused media plan, we were able to bring Diamond Nuts an 87 million impressions and cause brand results to pop dramatically: 49% increase in unaided awareness, 59% increase in ad awareness, 89% increase in message association and 23% increase in purchase intent.
“DC’s positioning for the 102-year-old Diamond brand attracted younger consumers and celebrated baking in fresh new ways. They delivered great value to our shareholders.”
