Cybercash

Cybercash That's rich. Searching for opportunity in the dotcom froth, e-transactions pioneer Cybercash wanted to introduce a suite of e-commerce enabling services with the promise “you’ll make more money.” Although clearly right for the moment, it was (and is) one of those “old as the metaphor, and twice as dusty”” B2B sales hooks you’re heard ... Read more

California State Senate

California State Senate A head-bending idea. With a famous name, partisan support, and a sense of inevitability, former California State Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones’ 2022 campaign for state senate appeared unstoppable. Unless, that is, a team of California’s top tier political strategists could slow his roll, creating the space for Jones’ leading challenger to build ... Read more

Hearst’s FDB

Hearst’s FDB: Rebrand, reposition, rule. It’s one thing to be the global leader in a complex category like healthcare IT and quite another to hang on to the joy. That’s why FDB, seeing downward-dipping sales trends, decided to rebrand the company in the minds of health decision-makers in the US, UK, Europe, the Middle East, ... Read more

FDB Vela

FDB Vela: TURNING WHAT IF, INTO WHAT IS.  The assignment from Hearst’s FDB sounded straight forward: launch a new digital network that would improve the way healthcare providers, insurers, and pharmacists meet patient Rx needs. The elephant in the operating room: the concept and category had been lock, stock, and monopoly-owned for a decade by ... Read more

XL Construction

XL Construction: Brand purpose without the pathos. Invited to develop an idea for an internal 25th anniversary brand video for this leading Silicon Valley construction company, we suggested shooting for more: a brand story that would not only energize the immediate audience, but serve as a powerful introduction to potential new clients. But that meant ... Read more

Blue Shield of California

Blue Shield of California The public advocacy campaign that won. The hill to climb could not have been steeper: convince the state to reverse course on a decision that would radically impact Blue Shield’s Medi-Cal participating members. The leverageable point: health care policy-makers hadn’t talked to those affected, or their doctors, before going public with ... Read more

NextEra Energy

NextEra Energy: That's the way the dominos tumble. Facing a change in public policy that would eviscerate large scale solar energy generation, green energy leader NextEra needed to inspire people to look below the sugar coating of what appeared to be a mom-and-apple pie ballot proposal. The electrifying inspiration: focus on the real impact of ... Read more

American Energy Products

American Energy Products: Imagine that. Every brand facing significant reputational damage has to contend with three rock hard problems: opening ears, earning reconsideration, and winning hearts when people have already made up their minds. No coincidence, our plan for a consortium of national energy products companies revolved around a similar number of steps: mining big ... Read more

Shift

Shift Pandemics suck. All things considered, you probably wouldn’t pick the dead center of a global health emergency to start an online used-car company in competition with Carvana, Cars.com, and the gaggle of major and minor auto sellers in this end of the market. Still, fortune is supposed to favor the brave, and that resulted ... Read more

California Energy Conservation

California Energy Conservation: 99% Perspiration. In a blistering heatwave, when the demand for energy threatens the supply, government has a binary choice: either accept rolling brown- or blackouts, or convince people to take unselfish action like dialing down the a/c. Which is why California energy authorities commissioned a public engagement campaign that would persuasively tell ... Read more