Virginia Ad Agencies

My state is Virginia and though I have looked at over ten agencies. There is only one that has recognizable work on a national level for me. The biggest agency in Virginia that handles some big money accounts is Martin Agency located in Richmond. It actually impressively ranks to make the top five agencies in the nation, according to Adv Age, #3.

Ever wonder who worked on Geico? yup, this is them, alright. They created the well known little Gecko and also worked on Walmart's campaign "Save money, Live Better." In additon to their crazy account list, they are the agency who created the freecreditreport.com commerials with the lead singer in a band singing the songs about what happened to him when he didnt check his credit. Who doesn't know these commercials?

To extend the same campaign:
My add-on idea for this freecreditreport.com campaign is to have street bands, local bands, or hire bands to actually post around cities in areas with major foot traffic to sing these songs in person. It would just as funny, if not even more memorable and entertaining in person. Since this campaign speaks to everyone with credit or identity to worry about, I feel like it can be effective way to reach out even further.
Also, in cities such as Las Vegas and NYC, the cabs run videos with full sound on small TV screens int he backseat. It usually shows local ads. I thought this would be a cool place to show their current commercials and/or show the bands in the particular city it's featured in singing the same songs. (i.e. in NYC, they'd feature a band posted and playing at Time Square or Soho singing one the freecreditreport.com jingles)
Another add-on place that would work well is the gas stations TV's at the pumps. (Shell gas station here in SF has them)


These are all their clients:

o 1-800 CONTACTS
o Alliance for Climate Protection
o Alltel
o American Cancer Society
o Barely There
o BFGoodrich
o Discover Card
o ESPN 360
o ESPN X Games
o Free Credit Report
o GEICO
o Genworth
o Hanes
o Hoover
o Johnson Automotive
o JFK Presidential Library and Museum
o Microsoft Store
o NASCAR
o NEWSEUM
o Newspaper Association of America
o PING golf equipment
o Sun Life Financial
o UPS
o USTA
o Walmart

Swirl Agency Report

Swirl

Swirl is located in the Financial District of San Francisco at 1620 Montgomery Street #140. I have actually been to this agency and it is humble in size and location, but gives you a great feeling when walking through the doors. They have a wall full of awards, which pretty much leaves you speechless.

Their key idea is:

Swirl is a pioneering integrated marketing agency with one simple mission: find the right solution for the marketing challenge – not just “any” solution.

They mainly work with digital, print, promos & events, direct marketing, and collateral & logos. Some of their major clients are (or have been):

Jamba Juice

Ebay Motors

SF Giants

PG & E

Skype

AAA Travel

Oakland Raiders

AARP

Coinstar

The Marine Mammal Center

They won a 2009 Limelight Award in the “Best B2C online display ad” category for it’s Skype Face-to-Face “Holiday” ad.

For being a small, boutique agency, this place has created some great and new things. If you feel like checking them out, I would highly recommend it!

www.swirl.net

So I chose Venables Bell & Partners' Nestea campaign.

This is the original:

And this is mine:

New Jersey Agency Report

­­­Hammerhead

Hammerhead in Hoboken, New Jersey is a small but upcoming advertising agency. Their mission is to accomplish goals by exceeding expectations, leave their footprint on the creative landscape, develop strategically sound and emotion-inducing creative, and to deliver measurable results.

They consider themselves as a hybrid agency, with a combination of different personalities forming their creative employees. Their main work is in print, television, radio, collateral, and interactive.

They have had clients such as:

Bank of America

Nextel

IBM

Michelob

Dia

Mazda

General Mills

UPS

Honeywell

Pioneer

Subaru

Chase

Stouffer’s

Philips

Sea Doo

Mastercard

Toys R Us

Domino’s Pizza

Isuzu.

After studying this agency and their website, it is evidently becoming bigger and better. If you feel like checking them out, I would definitely recommend it.

www.hammerheadadvertising.com

done and... done

done, done, done.

Oasis of the Seas (Billy)

Okay, these are new executions.....

1. It's a world clock with Oasis of the Seas feel on it. It's an ambient and it says that it is a city.
2. This is how the ambient looks like, it looks like a billboard too, but it is a real clock so i call it ambient, it actually really works as a clock, not just picture.
3. This is the road sign that you usually find on the highway, but this time i want to make it as a billboard, i find this interesting, it says that it's a city, i don't know what you think.