Solution

Our insights indicated that consumers are willing to pay a little more for a premium cup of coffee, in part because they’re also buying an experience. To better communicate the soul of the brand and differentiate the Caribou experience from its more-corporate competitors, we relaunched the brand by evolving the founders’ original tagline, “Life is short. Stay awake for it.” This seize-the-day mentality permeated through every brand touchpoint. No longer was a Caribou cup simply a cup, but rather, it is a reminder that life’s worth staying awake for. Since the relaunch, shareholder value has increased, traffic has improved and comp sales increased for the first time in three years, while outperforming the QSR industry. A 500 percent jump in Facebook fans increased online engagement and the campaign has been spotlighted in everything from PerezHilton.com to Fast Company.

Solution

With spring approaching, we set our sights on National Bike Month in May. After all, if one brand could rightfully own the month, it’s Schwinn. We then created a campaign to celebrate 31 days of bicycling goodness. Bike It Forward let users spread the joy of May Bike Month by choosing a friend on Facebook to win a new Schwinn. To demonstrate the lineup, users could choose from all categories, including Urban, Hybrid, Road, Mountain, Cruiser and Kids. And to reward their kindness, if a friend won, they won a new bike, too. Banners, Facebook ads, a satellite media tour and social media mentions from the likes of Summer Sanders and Pee-wee Herman helped drive traffic to the experience. By the end of May, we had increased web traffic by 40% compared to May of the previous year, our Facebook fanbase grew by more than 3,000% and the campaign generated more than 500 million impressions. A joyous May Bike Month, indeed.

Solution

At the core of Schwinn’s DNA is joy, so instead of sending yet another sales message into the seasonal clutter, we created a new twist on an old holiday favorite. We assembled a team of Schwinn-riding carolers who played beloved holiday songs using custom-made, specially tuned Schwinn bike bells. We also built a site where people could exchange e-carols of the Bell Choir performing the songs. To extend the spirit of giving, Schwinn donated bikes and helmets to kids in need for each carol that was shared. The Schwinn Bell Choir has been recognized by the Webby Awards, AIGA and the FWA for its rich Web experience.

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Solution

The This Could Be The Year campaign demonstrates that Pro Plan is the brand that understands the competitive nature of breeders and delivers the pride of achievement they crave. The campaign celebrates and encourages the competitive spirit of breeders through sports-like journalistic photography and bold headlines. Now in its third year, This Could Be the Year has received extremely positive feedback. Much of the buzz centers on how the campaign’s breakthrough creative beautifully captures the essence of what makes the sport of showing dogs so popular with breeders and consumers alike.

Solution

Fishing and boating have always been ways to escape from everyday stress while connecting with friends, family and nature. Research indicated that we needed to make the sport of fishing relevant to today’s consumer who was not motivated by nostalgia or serenity, but rather by active experiences and socialization. That led us to our core insight: Where land ends, life begins. That insight has helped us make TakeMeFishing.org the nation’s primary vehicle for increasing interest and participation in boating and fishing. Along the way, site traffic has quadrupled in under four years. The fully integrated, award-winning Take Me Fishing™ campaign contributed to an increase in overall license sales in 2009, marking the highest increase in fishing license sales since the 1970s. An increase in participation has also helped generate millions of additional dollars for conservation efforts.

Solution

We conducted user studies that revealed the features most desired by consumers, such as where to fish and general how-to information. We then combined with the style and functionality of TakeMeFishing.org to the launch the brand into the mobile space. A first-of-its-kind in the category, it became the go-to resource for planning a day on the water. Initial data shows the mobile site is helping produce double-digit increases in overall site traffic. And shortly after launch, it was celebrated as a must-see mobile experience by Communication Arts and Creativity — and named the FWA’s Mobile Site of the Day.

Solution

A completely redesigned landolakes.com helps consumers interact with the established brand in new ways. Built to appeal to both less-experienced, tech-savvy moms and more-seasoned cooks and bakers, the site features a modernized color palette, engaging photography and better social connectivity. The Test Kitchen section highlights the brand’s expertise with tips, photos and how-to advice. Intuitive searching gets you to great recipes quickly. And recipe pages are designed with the user in mind, featuring enhanced functionality, while themed collections trigger more ideas. With more than 3,000 recipes and 5,000 pages, sharing the simple goodness of everyday food has never been more user friendly.

Solution

Colle+McVoy realized that Caribou’s broadest reaching media vehicle was its cups. Millions of cups each year serve as walking billboards or “owned” media. With the brand relaunch, we created a series of cups featuring handwritten “Bouisms” highlighting things worth staying awake for. Building on that momentum, we created MakeTheCup.com, which allowed consumers to tell us what they stay awake for, and possibly land on the next generation of Caribou cups. The consumer promotion spiked site traffic by 26 percent, and 150 of the best submissions made it to millions of new Caribou cups.

Solution

First, we uncovered a dilemma that was plaguing Cost Cutters. While consumers want to save wherever they can, the idea of incredibly affordable salon services didn’t always instill a lot of confidence. Enter the Cost Cutter Compliment Cam™. Based on a simple human truth that a good haircut begets good compliments, we set out to capture those authentic moments as they happened in real life. Customers who’d recently received a new cut and style were outfitted with hidden cameras and sent out to capture actual, unvarnished reactions of family, friends and coworkers. The takeway? You can, indeed, look and feel good without spending a bundle. And we had the enthusiastic compliments (and TV spots) to prove it. What started out as a TV campaign extended into rich online content and entertaining radio. Never underestimate a compliment again.

Solution

Mammoth’s unique personality coupled with its physical attributes inspired us to create a brand position, look and voice that captured the attitude that is uniquely Mammoth: The top of California. Mammoth and C+M liked it so much, it became the tagline. We developed a 2010-2011 winter campaign that infused a more youthful, action-sports look with a free-spirited, adrenaline-fueled attitude. Every consumer point of contact was revamped, including MammothMountain.com, billboards in Northern and Southern California, print and online ads, emails, and direct mail.

Solution

To achieve this goal, we created People for Bikes, a national movement to improve the future of biking. We started by developing a brand icon and design system that is joyous yet authoritative, nationalistic, personal and credible. The primary focus of our Web experience is to get cyclists, both casual and enthusiast, to raise their hands in support of a better future for bikes. The same look and feel that inspired our icon came to life on peopleforbikes.org. In addition to learning about bike-friendly initiatives taking place across the country, visitors are encouraged to sign our pledge and get others to do the same. Names collected will be used to lobby representatives in Washington, D.C., to create better and safer bike paths, lanes and trails. More than 225,000 riders have signed the People for Bikes pledge, making Bikes Belong the largest bicycle advocacy group in the United States.

Our work for People For Bikes was selected in AIGA's "365 | Design Effectiveness" exhibition at the AIGA National Design Center in NYC and featured in the September 17th, 2011 weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal.  See the article>>

Solution

Solution

We set our sights on the travelers who are more optimistic (cautiously optimistic, but optimistic nonetheless) and ready to experience life. They are curious to discover what makes a destination exceptional. Thus, the More to Explore campaign was born. Just as Minnesota is a state worth exploring, we set out to create a commercial worth exploring. Throughout the spot, visual surprises are sprinkled in to delight and, most of all, support the idea that there really is More To Explore in Minnesota. The biggest surprise of all was saved for the end of the spot when Joe Mauer, Minnesota’s favorite son (and MVP), made his singing debut. The result is a seamless, exuberant tribute to all that Minnesota has to offer. The television spot has become Explore Minnesota’s most buzzworthy initiative ever.

Solution

In order to reinvigorate Erbert & Gerbert’s, we went back their very humble, albeit quirky, beginning. At the core of the brand are imaginative bedtime stories a father told his 7-year-old and 9-year-old children, Erbert and Gerbert Herbert. Just as the children make fun discoveries throughout their adventures, we wanted people to have as much fun discovering the E&G brand. Our big idea was embodied in our campaign’s theme line: Subs Worth Discovering. We made sure every touchpoint was worth discovering — from a redesign of the store experience to a simple, easy-to-use, print-on-demand system, which allowed franchisees to customize campaigns at the local level and the company to track use and results. Finally, we created an innovative, integrated advertising campaign that generated positive sales and earned global media coverage for the chain. Not only did the work earned a shelf full of awards, including a Gold EFFIE, but it was also featured on CNN, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the CBS Early Show and VH1. But our proudest moment was being named Vendor of the Year by the franchisee network.

Solution

By creating search queries in Collective Intellect and Radian6, we analyzed how people shared their Super Bowl experiences across the social Web via tweets, Facebook updates, blog posts and more. Once our analysis was complete, we designed an infographic to visually display the top ten themes and served it up using the Google Maps API. To bring awareness to Super Chatter™, we relied entirely on the media that covered the Super Bowl to spread itself. One tweet and Facebook post sent thousands of visitors to collemcvoy.com/superchatter, where they spent an average of 23 minutes browsing through the infographics. While the idea of Super Chatter was spreading through social media, our brand sentiment was the most favorable it has ever been, and visits to the Work section at collemcvoy.com increased 40 percent.

Solution

Since it didn’t exist, we created it ourselves. Squawq™ leverages the Twitter API and features an intuitive user interface where brands can analyze tweet volume, popular keywords, hashtags, most-vocal authors and frequently shared links. By logging into Squawq via Twitter, users can access the application using their existing Twitter credentials. Within months of launch, Squawq generated thousands of users, actively monitored 100 tweets per second, and stored more than 75 million tweets to the database. Not to mention it provided a much-needed ear to the ground for our clients.

Solution

At the time of the promotion, Caribou Coffee did not have an official page on Facebook. For a brand that’s about fun and customer engagement, this project served as the perfect foray into the space. After developing an official page, we created the Facebook application Wild It Up!, which allowed consumers to “wild up” a photo of themselves by selecting from a diverse library of images, such as gold teeth, wild animals, tattoos and, of course, Wild beverages. Users could then use a printout of their new Wild It Up! picture at any Caribou Coffee to redeem it for a free Wild Cooler. The pictures were displayed in stores, reinforcing Caribou’s customer-centric spirit. And an untold number of coupons were distributed that created millions of impressions. Product sampling took a new form of ROI as Caribou’s Facebook audience grew from 0 to 150,000 in just one month’s time.

Solution

Ever wondered what you might have looked like in a past life? YearbookYourself.com let users upload their photos and see themselves in classic 'dos and vintage outfits from previous decades. With each look, users also learned about today’s hottest fashions and deals from each mall. From Pee-wee Herman and Lance Armstrong to the Jimmy Fallon show and thousands of blogs, the site was quickly embraced by pop culture. More than 15 million images were shared on Facebook, and the site generated a 49 percent click-through rate to mall sites. The Yearbook Yourself iPhone^® app took the experience mobile and was featured on the iTunes^® Staff Favorites and the Top-Paid Apps list.

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