If “fun” isn’t a word you associate with financial services, congratulations, you’re normal. The category is plagued by dry text, stock photos, cryptic bar graphs, and cheesy Flash animation. Our client Jackson was determined to shatter this unfortunate trend. They asked us to explain their investment plan Elite Access in a way that people would legitimately enjoy and understand, which just so happens to be what we’re good at.
To start, we teamed up with the one and only Ben Stein. Any of you millennials know who that is? Anyone? Maybe you just need to get the sand out of your eyes. The professor from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off also happens to be a respected economist and an adorable old man, which made him the perfect face for the Elite Access brand. Through an elegant combination of live action video and animation, we breathed life into an arguably dull story. May we present, Ben Stein’s Storytime.
The storytime setting and whimsical illustration style offer a sense of warmth and accessibility. So instead of leaving the video with brainhurt, you actually understand how Elite Access works. All it took was a little simplicity and humor to make a complex topic entertaining. And we had a boatload of fun filming in LA with Ben and the Criminals. (Hey, that sounds like a band.) Did we just use the word “fun” to describe a financial services video? Looks like the category’s moving on up.
Our summer campaign for the Exploratorium is live, and it feels so good.
Using exhibits at the museum, we produced a series of short films that were shared on the Exploratorium’s social media pages (see the rest of the videos on their YouTube page).
And then we took over the entire city of San Francisco.
Mortar’s biggest ad of the year.
Our Thursday night campaign targeted young locals (and, we’re pleased to report, Thursday night attendance numbers have soared since the campaign’s launch.) The current summer campaign aims at the hordes of tourists trudging aimlessly toward Fisherman’s Wharf, because that’s all they’ve ever known. We’re here to let them know there’s more to San Francisco than whining sea lions and sourdough bread. Head down the road to Pier 15, and your brain just might get bigger.
Because the Exploratorium’s exhibits play with perception and encourage interaction, we created a campaign with plenty of “head-tilt” factor. The black and white photos, which came from the Exploratorium’s archive, all depict actual exhibits from the museum.
For Pandora radio, we wanted to make people stop and tilt their headphone-wearing heads. So we created anthem-like spots that glorify everything the Exploratorium…isn’t.
We’re sure there’s a place for non-curious people, too, but we couldn’t tell you where it is.
The above billboard was supposed to go up at the Pier 39 parking lot, but the Port of San Francisco requested that we move it to Union Square. (So now we’ll catch the tourists before they board their cable cars.)
And of course, the new work is expected to draw more locals to the museum, too. At 100,000 square feet, you literally discover something new every time you go. Curious? Well, we know a place.
We love surprises. And a pop-up store for a cloud computing platform qualifies as a surprise in our book. Amazon Web Services has set up shop at 925 Market Street, offering educational workshops, laidback coding lounges, and an “Ask an Architect” counter where you can do exactly what it sounds like. Apparently the bouncer is choosy, so we snuck some pics for those of you who aren’t suave enough to make it past the door.
Turning a virtual product into something you can see, hear, and touch? That’s a smart move. And it never hurts to provide mountains of junk food and beer to win those coders’ hearts.
Source, develop, and arrange meetings with national marketing and brand executives for an ambitious, fast-moving, SF-based brand and advertising agency.
About You
Your background is most likely in media sales or an industry that markets to professional marketers. You have probably been in contact and worked closely with leading advertisers and marketers in the Bay Area and beyond. Your success has been founded on developing and maintaining trusted relationships.
You thrive on the thrill of the hunt, and are very comfortable in full-court-press outreach mode.
You have no qualms picking up the phone and calling leads, both warm and cold.
As this will be a salary plus commission role, you’re confident in your ability to use your well-honed Jedi mind tricks to unlock the value of your rolodex and nurture new prospects.
Do you feel at your best in presentations, and excel in solving business challenges in new and unexpected ways? Are you familiar with Keynote, or at least a quick-study?
Are you fluent in any or all of the following?
– Sales
– Business development
– Salesforce management
– Cold calling
– LinkedIn lead-building
– Proposal writing
– Marketing and business strategy
If so. . .
We’ve got a seat on the Millennium Falcon waiting for you.
Please send along your resume, a link to your LinkedIn profile, and your best haiku about bears to jobs@mortaragency.com (put JEDI in the subject line).
Over the past few months, we’ve journeyed with the Exploratorium from the strategy phase to creative execution, and man-oh-man what a sweet ride it’s been. The people who work there are so flippin’ smart, we get butterflies when they speak. For those not privy, the Exploratorium is a museum unlike any other museum. Part science, part art, and centered around interactive exhibits, it’s a full-blown cognitive and sensory experience – no matter what age you are.
The museum recently relocated to Pier 15. Stunning architecture and avant-garde outdoor exhibits draw you before you even step inside.
As you might predict, the Exploratorium is a haven for families with kids. But on Thursday nights, the museum is open exclusively to adults 18 and over for $10-15, a discount off the regular $25. Basically, you pay less, you’re allowed to drink alcohol while touching everything in sight, and you don’t need to take down a mob of five-year-olds just to see the concave mirror exhibit. It’s clearly a win-win-win.
We knew the Exploratorium wanted to promote their Thursday night events. We also knew that their exhibits play with perception, presenting the world in ways you’ve never seen it before. So we created ads that do just the same. It was almost too easy. (Just kidding. Nothing we do is easy. Except Spoonrocket. That ish off the hook.)
The posters are currently up at Muni stops, BART stations, as well as thousands of local store and restaurant windows. Also running are the following radio spots on Pandora. We hear Yoda is a huge fan.
Exploratorium, “Perception Flipped #1”
Exploratorium, “Perception Flipped #2”
For the optimal viewing experience, continuously rotate your computer screen 180 degrees.
The next time your Thursday night plan involves Blokus and a 72-ounce Gatorade, haul your rear to Pier 15 instead and experience the transcendent wonder that is the Exploratorium. You really have to see it to understand it. And even then, mystery a still is it.
