We’re proud to announce that our courageous campaign work with Eastern Bank won three MarCom Awards today, alongside their other agency partner, Skyword. Congratulations to our client, Eastern Bank, on this honorable distinction. Gold Award for Social Engagement Platinum Award for Social Campaign Platinum Award for Social Ad Campaign The awards honor Eastern Bank's commitment to supporting the LGBTQ community and their Good Votes campaign. When a Massachusetts ballot question during midterm elections threatened the rights of our transgender community, we knew we had to take action. The Good Votes campaign was about fighting for and giving a voice to the marginalized. It was about protecting the human rights of our transgender friends, family, and neighbors in Massachusetts. And it was about getting the New England community to join Eastern Bank for good. We're proud to say, it did exactly that. The campaign garnered 11,300+ reactions, comments and shares on social leading to a 72% lift in engagement rate. The results showed in market as we well with 68% of MA voters voting to uphold transgender rights and MA voters casting a record high of 3MM votes with a 60% voter turnout. Appreciation from Eastern Bank’s audience was evident in social comments too – "In a time when literally every "sage" in the industry would tell a brand not to "choose sides," thank you for knowing the difference between issues of human rights and dignity and merely debatable options. Your brand's staunch visible backing of LGBTIA concerns is noted and appreciated time and time again" –Social user You can learn more about the campaign here: https://joinusforgood.com/category/good-in-action/good-votes/ Or you can check it out on the MarCom winners list at here. Again, congratulations to Eastern Bank. We are incredibly proud to be your partner.
Following a successful four-year stint at Columbia Sportswear, where he led all brand design efforts within marketing, Dan Richards has landed a new role as Group Creative Director at AMP Agency. At Columbia, Richards directed a robust team of designers, project managers, photographers, videographers and production designers, re-designed Columbia’s retail experience, and oversaw many additional seasonal global marketing initiatives. Richards will lead the AMP Seattle office’s creative and production studios, contribute to the agency’s thought leadership, while developing an updated creative approach to new business, and widening the firm’s experiential marketing opportunities. Richards, who is no stranger to fashion, outdoor and sports lifestyle brands, has already made an immediate impact at AMP Agency - his first assignment was to lead the creative, production and amplification teams throughout the RFP process for an assignment dedicated to Eddie Bauer’s 100th Anniversary, which will be celebrated in 2020. Richards and AMP Agency earned the title of Eddie Bauer’s 100th Anniversary AOR for the 18-month long experiential campaign that will debut in Q4 of 2019. "We believe brands that design better customer experiences lead the world in business performance,” said Gary Colen, CEO AMP Agency. “Dan’s experience matches perfectly with AMP Seattle’s expertise in creating immersive customer journeys that deliver exceptional brand experiences. His talents are core to heart of AMP Agency and he’s already shown that with team’s recent win of Eddie Bauer’s upcoming 100th Anniversary campaign.” “I’m thrilled to be a part of the AMP Agency family, which is an incredibly talented team comprised of thinkers, makers and amplifiers, and I’m excited at the chance to build even stronger connections, through experiential marketing, for our clients and their consumers,” said Richards. “It’s already been an amazing experience; within my first month I had the opportunity to work on RFPs and projects for brands including Eddie Bauer, Walmart, PUMA and The UPS Store, which is a wonderful way to establish our client base.” Throughout his career, Richards has earned a reputation for being a passionate, creative leader who excels at being a swell guy and, in his spare time, an avid birdwatcher. He is equally capable of designing a project from start to finish or directing a team to realize his vision. He leads with enthusiasm and thoughtfulness, creating strategies and outcomes that are bold and unexpected. Richards is also an expert diplomat. Able to broker solutions that satisfy business needs without compromising the intangibles that make design powerful. Former clients of Richards includes: Nike, ESPN, Dr. Martens, Adidas, Starbucks, Target, Columbia Sportswear, Sorel, Keen Footwear, GoLite, Reebok, Microsoft, Camelback, Yakima.
A core tenant of our business at AMP Agency is that we strive to generate strategy that is creative, and creative that is strategic. But any marketing agency would agree that it can be challenging for the Strategy team to continually build briefs that present a unique POV and inspire the Creative team; on the other hand, it can sometimes be a puzzle for Creative to generate ideas that are both breakthrough in the marketplace and guaranteed to resonate with our audiences. This winter our Strategy and Creative teams were given the opportunity to push those bounds and work on a project, leveraging audience insights, that has made us into even more creative and thoughtful storytellers. Not only that, it’s revitalized the way our teams collaborate together. ______________ THE BACKGROUND We were selected to participate in the 2019 iteration of YouTube's South by Southwest (SXSW) Creative Agency Challenge. We were excited to learn the theme was "Signals and Storytelling." This theme pushed us to look beyond audience demographics and think meaningfully about consumers’ interests and intent signals based on how they’re using Google & YouTube--and more importantly how these insights could more strategically inform our creative storytelling. During the Challenge kick-off at YouTube NYC, we discussed how it’s no longer acceptable to fill the Target Audience section of a creative brief with simple, demographic information. The comical example that Google gave, and that stuck with us, is that by writing a demographic-led brief like, Aged 65+, British, high net worth, dog lover, we would unknowingly be creating content that tailored to both Prince Charles and Ozzy Osbourne! In addition, this year’s Challenge looked to harness the participating agencies’ efforts towards a greater good. YouTube partnered with the Ad Council, and we were asked to create two pieces of skippable YouTube video content for a select cause-based organization. AMP was assigned to work with She Can STEM. Our goal and our challenge was to use insights-based, creative storytelling to empower parents to encourage an interest in STEM. More specifically, we wanted to understand and reach the audiences of Bargain Hunter parents and Technophile parents, who we found, through working with Google, showed strong affinity for the cause. Below, our Senior Strategist, Jen Herbert, and Creative Director, James Hough, reflect on their insights, the process, and experience. ______________ FROM CONSUMER INSIGHTS TO CREATIVE STRATEGY Jen: When analysing interest and intent signals, what came as the biggest surprise was that bargain hunter parents like watching quirky videos featuring silly experimentation around the house, such as Making Slime and the Cheese Ball Bath Challenge. To resonate, I thus wanted to recognize their lives are full of creative, scrappy, playful discovery, and how through this they established a foundation that could translate to a career in STEM. For Technophile Parents, I saw that they are often shopping for gaming systems, but also interested in sports, TV shows, movies and news articles. So, to cater our messaging to Technophile Parents, I wanted to acknowledge their lives as multi-dimensional and well-rounded. ______________ THE CREATIVE PROCESS James: The Creative Team viewed this opportunity as a chance to see how we stacked up against other up-and-coming and established advertising agencies and marketing agencies. We felt empowered to ensure our storytelling was on point. Basic empowerment and “you’re a badass” messaging wouldn’t cut it when we need to tell parents they have a job to do – keeping their daughters interested in STEM through the 11 to 14 year-old drop off point. More simply, “She can STEM.” Based on the strategic insights in our creative brief, we presented four concepts and eight scripts to the Ad Council after sharing initial thoughts with Google. After the Ad Council chose a direction we storyboarded, found a director (Max Esposito), found locations, cast and shot– all within about a week. I think that the financial and time constraints coupled with the freedom to go out and create without check-in’s made for something special. While each of our spots are aimed at a different audience, they shared the same goal. In each of the stories we see relatable and tangible ways a parent can encourage their daughter at the right time to keep going. Instead of pushing future-focused images of a marine biology or coding career, we centered the seemingly minor moments of everyday life that could have a big impact on a girl’s interest, like a trip to the aquarium with mom or the gift of a tablet from dad. Check them out. We really hope you like them: https://youtu.be/-bxOcFJNEjs https://youtu.be/hWZrvXpace8 And check out the story on Adweek, Think with Google, MarComm News, and others: https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/youtube-wants-to-teach-marketers-how-to-create-more-targeted-advertising-at-sxsw/ https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/advertising-channels/video/youtube-audience-behavioral-insights/ https://marcommnews.com/youtube-and-ad-council-tap-amp-agency-and-others-for-sxsw-challenge/ https://lbbonline.com/news/ad-council-spots-show-how-girls-can-be-inspired-to-work-in-stem/
Hey! We’re AMP agency, and we like to do things a little differently. For example, this past year our holidays started in October. Not because we haven’t mastered the art of calendar reading, but because we felt our clients deserved a better brand of holiday gift. Something a cut above your average season’s greetings. It took a lot of thought, a little elbow grease, and a mild amount of destruction, but in the end, we’re extremely proud of the result. It all began with fruitful brainstorming and a swirl of over sixty ideas. Eventually, we landed on one that felt right – destroying holiday fruitcakes, everyone’s least favorite gift. At its core, our idea centered on using fruitcakes as a catch-all symbol for holiday thoughtlessness. By filming ourselves destroying them, we hoped to humorously convey our very serious commitment to providing decidedly thoughtful work and gifts to our client base. Along with the video, clients received a custom-designed fruitcake tin stuffed with a delicious assortment of holiday treats. For context, the accompanying card included a holiday poem explaining the nature of our gift. For the tin, microsite and card, we crafted our modern-take on classic holiday fonts, while incorporating our AMP’s orange and black brand colors. Flexibility is King When it Comes to Creating Initially, we wanted to populate a custom-designed microsite with a series of six to ten second videos, each conveying a different form of destruction, and each involving different members of our office - an AMP fruitcake brigade, if you will. However, as we storyboarded and got set to film, we decided to ditch the employee-focus and hone in on the actual destruction with one cinematic video. When it came to concepting methods for doing away with fruitcakes, we really got into it – maybe too into it. We tossed around what could be seen in the video: slapping a cake into a meat grinder, flattening a cake with a badass SUV, and breaking one open with a bat. From slingshots to samurai swords, we sorted through it all until we landed on the perfect set of destruction methods. Web Developers For The Win With our storyboards drawn, props ordered, and our video department locked-and-loaded, we took to the streets of Boston and filmed all of our fruitcake destruction. In total, it took about two and a half days to film. We not only shot what we had storyboarded, but a multitude of new ideas, angles, and transition shots as they presented themselves. One pivot in particular really brought this concept to fruition. Even after we shifted from an employee-focused approach to one honing in exclusively on the destruction methodologies, we still needed someone to actually put these things into motion. We asked a member of our web development team, Gabe, to take the role, and he agreed with great enthusiasm. We wrote the scripts so that he would barely be seen and the burden of acting would be minimized. But after the first day of filming, we realized we had a pretty great actor in our midst, and the video as a whole would be elevated by making him the focus. This was no longer an aesthetically pleasing montage of destruction, but the tale of one man’s maniacal quest to deliver AMP’s clients the best holiday gift possible. How It All Came Together We sought to not only wish our clients a Happy Holiday, but also flex our creative muscles. A custom microsite and a video provided the perfect mediums to showcase many facets of our creative capabilities in quick and engaging formats. Combined with our custom-designed holiday cards and tins, we sent our clients into the holiday season with something to have a laugh at and some tasty treats to enjoy. Getting to destroy fruitcakes along the way was just the icing on the cake. Please enjoy the fruits of our labor at www.nicetryfruitcake.com and check out our previous holiday cards.
What do you do if you’re the original men’s grooming brand and want to encourage men everywhere to be – and look – a little better? You step in front of the mirror and give yourself a makeover. That’s what AMP Agency and Just For Men accomplished together with this week’s launch of the Be The Better Man brand platform and campaign. For more than 30 years, Just For Men has been letting guys know it’s not only OK to care about their appearance, but to do something about it. And over the decades, Just For Men has been innovating and refining hair care solutions that make it easy for men to achieve the natural look that lets them feel their best. And as their portfolio has expanded to include beard care and hair regrowth (and more to come), it was time to reinforce the brand’s leadership role in the men’s grooming conversation it started in 1987. Be The Better Man stems from the idea that it takes a good man to know he can always be a little better. The notion applies to both their daily grooming routine and the way they go about their lives. We are calling on guys everywhere to take the small steps needed to look their best—and do the little things that make the lives of those around them, well, better. The campaign launched on CBS NFL Game Day this past Sunday. With the broadcast buy comes a fully integrated brand push. It started with a re-imagined website, email and social channels and will continue with an omni-channel paid media campaign within outdoor and digital. We’ll be on TV screens and in locker rooms at the hottest gyms in our key markets. Digital will focus on partnering with the web’s leading experts on grooming (GQ), dating (Match), business travel (Conde Nast Traveller), and parenting (Fatherly) through custom content and ambassador/influencer programs to reinforce the message of being better in all aspects of life. We’ll ultimately push product via direct-to-consumer tactics within programmatic and social channels through efficient reach and continuous frequency in the Better Man messaging against our male audience. Check out the following coverage to learn more about the campaign: Ad Age MarketWatch Marketing Dive Marketing Communications News
When watching TV, reading a magazine or surfing the web, what is it that makes a brand's ad stop a consumer? Like art, it is subjective. While Impressionism may resonate with some, others gravitate towards Abstract and Pop Art. Similarly, the humor in an ad may be what is memorable to one, while others remember the music or unique camera angles. However, just because you remember the ad, doesn't mean that you can recall what brand it was for. When evaluating creative, on a subconscious level, consumers are probably asking themselves the following questions: Does this ad make me laugh? Does the ad evoke an emotional response in me? Do I remember the product? Am I already a fan of the brand? Will I talk about this ad with friends and family? This subject has come up on two different occasions during the past week. Sitting at a bar with friends on Friday night, one member of the group started talking about our favorite ads on the air right now. We all came from different industries ' marketing, consulting, technology. Only a few responses were the same ' Apple, Budweiser, Nike. One friend said Geico. Since there are currently three or four campaigns on the air, I was curious as to which one. His response, all of them. Whether the Cavemen, Gecko or the Rod Serling-esque announcer, he remembered that they were all Geico. And, more importantly, they all made him laugh. Does having that many different campaigns dilute their brand or cause consumer confusion? From my informal focus group of a few, apparently not. While at a TV shoot for one of my clients, we were talking about what a brand needs to do to stand apart from all the clutter in today's marketplace. The oversaturation of marketing messages is much greater today than even a decade ago. What are the campaigns we remember and why. We agreed that the use of music in Apple's iPod ads differentiates them. The PC vs. Mac campaign's simplicity against a white backdrop is now something other brands try to emulate. The Old Spice 'The Man Your Man Can Smell Like'? campaign brings the message to life in a 360 degree way. One thing was certain. As long as the ad reflects a brand's personality, goals and objectives, whether or not it is liked by the public is a matter of personal opinion. Ask the question the next time you are with a group of friends. Their answers might surprise you.
by Julie Cohen, Intern, Creative Services As soon as I graduated from high school, my father, a self-employed Executive Recruiter, informed me that from then on I would be 'making good use of my summers.'? His idea of 'good use'? did not involve taking a job as a camp counselor, lifeguard, or waitress. It meant interning. Four years, a college degree, and eight (yes, you read that right, EIGHT) internships later, I landed the Creative Intern position here at AMP Agency. Prior to AMP, I networked my way through New York and Boston, taking on different internships every summer of college, sometimes two simultaneously. Sure, there were the occasional coffee runs and filing, but in retrospect, I never had a bad internship. However, I feel like all my previous experiences were just one big test run for AMP. I walked into the office on my first day and immediately realized that I had never been inside an agency as welcoming and communicative as AMP. Rather than sitting isolated behind cubicles, people pop their heads over the short walls separating desks to exchange a joke or feedback on a client project. When one of the Creatives took me around the office to introduce me to my new colleagues, I could not have felt more comfortable. Everyone was genuinely interested in my background and enthusiastic about his or her client work at AMP. In the past, after being given a project at an internship, I've looked over at what my superiors were working on and thought, 'That looks so cool, I wish I could do that!'? At AMP, no such thing will ever cross my mind. Why? Because I am too busy pouring my design skills into everything the Creative team throws my way, which has lately been an out-of-home marketing program targeting teens. By no means does my work as an intern allude only to menial tasks like resizing or re-linking images in InDesign. I am instead given part of a project that the other members of the Creative team are also involved in. Today, while one of the full-time designers is resolving a print piece, I, between spurts of prose for this blog entry, am creating a vector image for the same print campaign. Sometimes I almost forget that I am an intern. My colleagues speak to me on the same friendly, respectful level as they regard each other. They trust that I will complete multiple projects with specific deadlines, responsibilities I used to associate only with a real-world, full-time design job. I didn't know it until I got here, but AMP Agency is exactly what I have been looking for: a great client base and talented group of people from which I can learn and improve. Every morning I wake up and can't wait to get to work. There is no place like AMP.
y Lisa Fortini, Designer, Creative Services If you ask a designer which typeface (or font, to non-designers) is their favorite, they will inevitably launch into a 20 minute diatribe. This long speech will most likely include some rant about how AWFUL Papyrus and Comic Sans are, and possibly mention how amazing they thought the "Helvetica" documentary was. I know it seems silly to most people, but choosing the best typeface is something that designers are very passionate about. We get so passionate that we even post things online about our geeky love of typography. Watch this video personifying a typeface battle. Designers work very hard to craft a design that is in line with the emotions and messages that the brand wants to communicate to the consumer. The right typeface will make or break a logo, a web page, an ad... potentially an entire campaign. So, please excuse us if we get fussy when we see a poorly formatted Word document in all Comic Sans or a suggestion to use Papyrus as a logo typeface. We're just very passionate about what we do because we want to make the best possible product for our clients
