The task was to develop a fully-integrated re-branding campaign for Kleenex Anti-Viral tissues, based on a simple directive: Make moms believe. Kleenex Anti-Viral actually kills the viruses that cause colds and flu in the tissue. The challenge was communicating that fact quickly and effectively.  The key-insight presented by our planners was to re-establish the brand based on Carl Jung’s Hero Archetype to connect with moms, plus kids, school nurses and childcare professionals. This classic story of “good vs. evil” manifested itself with the creation of an animated Cold & Flu Bug — a mischievous little fellow who disrupts our daily lives, regardless of what we do.

With no money for traditional TV production, we still were charged with creating an ad campaign that went viral – literally. We created a shock and awe campaign by repurposing existing YouTube videos and modifying them with the introduction of our cold & flu bug.  People could then join the fight by “enlisting” at BattleTheBug.com, a microsite we built which featured downloadable posters for classrooms, youth-friendly games, webisodes, tips on staying healthy, even a cold and flu tracker which highlighted the appearance of the cold and flu bug across the entire country. We supplied original content via a toolbox of equities to partner agencies, including New Media Strategies, Mindshare, Ketchum and GMR. It was the mother of all battles!

If you haven’t seen the work, the webisodes are available on the Laughlin Constable YouTube channel. Plus, our bug made it past the ad campaign and into mom’s hearts across the country.  It was a highly-effective campaign and dare I say, it was nothing to sneeze at.

But what impressed me most about my two days at sea were all the things that happened below the surface of the ship.  In many ways, I was reminded of this business, in that most people only see what’s on the outside. They marvel at the ideas taking off, sometimes in dramatic fashion, and they stand back and watch as these ideas hit their targets somewhere off in the horizon. But in order for these operations to work flawlessly and with exact precision, everyone has to have the same objective and everyone has to be all that they can be.

After a terrible first night’s sleep on the ship, which required earplugs and a thick pillow to defuse the noise from jets taking off and landing just above my head, I had breakfast with a group of sailors who impressed me to no end.  These were the men and women who epitomized the notion that it “takes a village.”  (With 6,000 sailors on the ship, it is quite literally a floating village.) When asked about their responsibilities they got very excited and wanted to share. They said things like, “I maintain the high-pressure steam activated catapult system, which ensures the planes take off safely.” “The missions could not be completed without my assistance in coordinating the multi-functional satellite augmentation system.” “The planes hit their targets because I’m responsible for the guidance systems on the missiles.” Wow. No navy of one here.

These folks really loved what they did and understood that while they may not be the ones in the cockpit with nicknames like “Goose” or “Ice Man” or “Maverick,” they’re every bit as important. I think that’s the key to our success in the communication business, too. When our clients are happy it’s usually because of the amazing skills of those who work out of the spotlight, below the decks; people who love what they do and recognize the importance of their individual responsibilities. These are the people who claim authorship — and should claim authorship — to a successful web campaign, Facebook contest, TV spot, public relations event, and more.  i.e.: A successful mission.

Pondering this, it reminds me of the old 1969 story about a NASA janitor who, when asked what he did at Cape Canaveral, simply said, “I’m going to the moon.”

We’re proud to announce that Laughlin Constable recently won four Gold Awards in the International Graphis Awards for advertising. Regarded by many in the industry as one of the most prestigious competitions, LC bested many shops from all over the world to be featured in this gorgeous hard-cover book. Our best showing to date was three golds last year, which we surpassed this year, winning four golds.

The winning work was produced for: Kimberly-Clark (Cottonelle), St. Paul’s Fish Market, The Hank Aaron Trail and the Eisner American Museum of Advertising & Design.

Big credit goes out to Chad Nauta, Kirk Ruhnke, David Hanneken and Gina Ferise.

Our very own Dan LaVigne is also featured in the book for a campaign he did last year while working at Freight Train.  Great work, Dan!

Check out the winners:

LC walked away with 13 merits and four metals during the presentation which honored the best 99 pieces of communication produced last year.  The Milwaukee 99 showcases the most outstanding work by various ad agencies, design firms, digital houses and in-house departments from around Southeastern Wisconsin.  In all there were over 500 entries and the 99 finalists were chosen this past July by a panel of five creative directors who came into town from such cities as Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Chicago.

The metal winners were:

GOLD:
Kimberly-Clark’s Kleenex Anti-Viral Tissue “Sleepy Baby Webisode” in the Interactive Viral category

SILVER:
Red Cross T-Shirt “Band-Aid” in the Guerrilla/Ambient category

BRONZE:
Kimberly-Clark’s Kleenex Anti-Viral Tissue “Sleepy Baby“, “Rodeo“, & “Ice Skater“ Webisodes in the Interactive Viral Campaign category
Kimberly-Clark’s Kleenex Anti-Viral Tissue in the Integrated Campaign

Congratulations to all our clients and the many staffers who worked on these projects.  Now let’s get going on more great work for next year!

“We love everything about your home, but we’re just not sure about the stairs,” they’ll say. So what’s the real problem with this staircase? Very simple — it’s different.

In the business world, “different” can be a good thing. Unfortunately, there are those companies who claim they want to be on the cutting edge and they want to do things in new ways, but when the moment of truth arrives they embrace change as if it were a wet dog. For them, proverbial is safe. It’s a cozy blanket. There’s a certain feel to the fabric and it has a familiar smell. If only they knew that to the rest of the world that security blankie is staaanky!

So every year the cycle continues, and organizations fork-out billions of dollars for stale, boring ideas. But fresh thinking can make a difference and deserves a second thought. Creativity knows no boundaries. It doesn’t matter if you’re in marketing, architecture, accounting, teaching, engineering… big ideas have been known to step out of the shadows and reveal themselves as a Toyota Prius or a Nike commercial, as HBO programming, an Apple Computer or an independent film.

Ironically, the advertising business is one of the biggest abusers. We’re afraid to show our clients the spiral staircase, despite the fact that it will do the job just as well and, most important, it’ll get noticed. We’re supposed to be all about fresh thinking, yet many of us sell clients on safe, boring concepts. Perhaps you’re they person who told your client that “Viva Viagra” will become the next “Where’s The Beef” lexicon? Or maybe you’re the genius who brought us the Go Daddy girl not once, but twice! Hey, thanks for the TWO blind dates with Glenn Close. Talk about a fatal attraction — I’m surprised the Go Daddy girl didn’t open the second Super Bowl spot with the words, “You won’t answer my calls, you change your number. I mean, I’m not gonna be ignored, Dan!”

Henry Ford once said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a better horse.” Other icons of the business world – the Jack Welches, the Steve Jobs’, the Richard Bransons — they’d probably share a similar quote. My guess is that when they look down from on high and view the world they helped shape, they’d also tell us that the corporate ladder they struggled to climb over their respective careers was indeed a spiral staircase.