We love it when a plan
comes together.

AT&T engaged with The Worx Group to promote U-verse - AT&T's new IP-based entertainment package – throughout Connecticut, starting in the city of Norwalk. With a powerful incumbent cable operator and an existing perception amongst the target of AT&T as a phone company, a unique approach was vital. Even if that meant going against the traditional model of mass media established by – and arguably, invented by – AT&T.

The competitor in the area had 95% marketshare and a 20-year head start. So the campaign strategy was built around a guerilla entry point to the audience, with the thought that a regular citizen – an "everyman" – would pique the interest of the audience and gain quick traction. Enter Bobby, aka Bobby Choice, who took his plight about the lack of TV choice to the masses in the form of homemade videos, websites, billboards, postcards, ads, emails and out-on-the-town antics.

• Bobby Choice YouTube Videos
  
• bobbychoice.com - Bobby's Personal Homepage
• Bobby's Theme Song
• Local Newspaper Advertising
• Train Billboards
• Bobby Nights
• Win a Year of U-verse Contest
  

One Month. One City.

• Over 25,000 views on YouTube.
• Press coverage
  
• 208% increase in market penetration.
• 7:1 ROI
• 4x Awareness
  

Blue Back Square in West Hartford, Connecticut is a different kind of retail destination. Not a mall. Not an open air shopping center. More like a structured downtown. Great retailers. Terrific restaurants. Superb weekly entertainment. So why aren't people flocking to shop there? Certainly, the economy doesn't help. But what else is going on?

We needed to find an impetus to drive people back to Blue Back. The more people in the stores, the more chance of purchases. Our insight was concise: for example, have you ever been to a restaurant when only 2 or 3 tables were occupied? You likely subconsciously thought the food wasn't very good. When a place is packed with people, or filled with excitement, consumers associate it with quality and buy more because of it. So, we needed to simply remind people why Blue Back was so special. What made it so unique.

In order to differentiate Blue Back Square, we emphasized its most unique quality – that its essence harkens back to when going downtown, shopping or dining, was an experience unto itself.

Creatively, we took what is a very contemporary venue and infused it with 40's and 50's era flourishes. For television, each frame of the vintage characters was painstakingly rotoscoped to make them black and white. The juxtaposition of vintage characters interacting in the modern-day space helped definine the "vibe" that consumers postively identify with.

Campaign media included television, radio, print and online (with a microsite to measure interest specifically generated by the campaign).

Additionally, strategic public relations efforts yielded news coverage of the television & advertising shoot as our team and production crews took over the streets around the Square.

Campaign microsite
CBS news broadcast

The Worx Group, through its partnership with Velocity Sports & Entertainment, handles a wide variety of sponsorship marketing initiatives for Holiday Inn. Work primarily focuses around Holiday Inn's NASCAR sponsorship. Recent work includes a national out-of-home campaign in major markets including Atlanta, Minneapolis and Chicago; a national in-hotel promotion called Stay Under Green For Life with creative in over 800 locations; and race team creative including team logos and autograph cards.

Because of The Worx Group's tremendous impact on the NASCAR sponsorship in 2007, they were asked to work on the ultimate project in 2008: designing the 2008 paint scheme for the official race car, as well as driver and pit crew firesuits. See our work going 190 mph every weekend!

Our advertising work has been featured in several national publications including NASCAR Scene magazine and USA Today.

Thousands of promotional pieces developed by The Worx Group have been distributed at races, track events, meet-and-greets, promotional events and speaking engagements.

The Waterbury Municipal Firefighters Federal Credit Union. Yah, it's a mouthful. They came to us initially to help them expand their reach as they had expanded their charter. But we knew that in order for that to happen, we had to do a few things first.

First, address the name. Truncate it to just Firefighter's Credit Union and create a new mark. Then, change the messaging to tell their audience, in the simplest way possible, that they are the audience. "You know you don't have to be a firefighter to join to the Firefighters Credit Union?" And then, develop a simple integrated marketing campaign. The old adage about never using animals or kids in commercials? Yah, we rejected the whole notion, and used both as the cornerstones of our campaign. The first part was called "MoneyOne Dog" and the second "Loans for Ponies."

• New Identity System
• :30 second TV on targeted cable
• Point-of-purchase
• Statement stuffers
• Campaign Microsite
  

• $3.5 million dollars in new deposits
• 218% above marketing goal
• 3 Golds at the 2008 CUES Golden Mirror Awards honoring the country's best credit union marketing

On the heels of the Bobby Choice campaign success, AT&T East engaged with The Worx Group to bring the AT&T Advanced TV “Cablebuster” offer to life with a geographical focus on Fairfield County, an area dominated by Cablevision.

The offer – switch to AT&T Advanced TV, bundle it with home phone and get high-speed internet free – was already being messaged in direct mail and advertising. But with Fairfield County being one of the toughest demographics in the country for AT&T to influence, The Worx Group crafted a highly-visual activation to seamlessly integrate the current offer into the local market. As the Vice President of Sales for AT&T East said, “We are coming to The Worx Group because you are an innovative agency who understands the nuances of the local marketplace.”

The solution for making the offer “come to life?” Metro North train station domination. Street teams took over Fairfield County train stations with bold and thoughtful activations: 24 events which included offer-branded newspapers and coffees for all commuters, life-size window clings and floor graphics of surfboards in high-traffic areas, a branded AT&T Surf Van, and a 20-person street team with real surfers – complete with wetsuits and surfboards messaging the offer. The surfers even rode the morning trains for greater message frequency and viral impact.

Over 36,000 commuters were messaged to during the train station events. 48,000 promotional pamphlets were distributed to train commuters and AT&T mobility store customers. Over 43,000 coffees and newspapers with promotional wraps were handed out. With a goal of calls and clicks, the campaign delivered above-benchmarked results. Monthly analytics of the campaign showed an average of nearly 3,000 visits to the campaign URL and over 200 call center inquiries.

The Winter Antiques Show is a benefit for East Side House Settlement, which is a not-for-profit that supports, among other programs, the Mott Haven School for children in the South Bronx. The show has been in existence for over a half century and is considered America’s most prestigious venue for the decorative arts, with 75 exclusive exhibitors and thousands of attendees – including celebrities and New York socialites.

The Worx Group was selected in 2007 to serve as the lead marketing agency for the show. The first priority was to review the Winter Antiques Show brand and find a way to standardize its look in all media. The existing phoenix icon and type treatment were modified and brand guidelines developed.

The Worx Group leads responsibilities for the brand online and offline, including event collateral, signage, national print advertising, direct marketing, web and email marketing.

The work was an American Graphic Design Award winner for Branding in the national competition sponsored by Graphic Design USA magazine and Adobe.