DIGO Brands George Clooney
I don’t care how mad a mad man you are, you are still going to get a thrill when you hear your brand strategy roll word-for-word out of the mouth of George Clooney!
Was it love? Or was it the miles?
This is a dream. This is the way it should happen every time. This is the way brands are built, records are broken and categories are led. This is the way Effie Awards are earned, controls are busted, and marketing budgets swell to ten times their original size. This is the way to build an industry dominating juggernaut.
15 years ago, a small and somewhat motley band of seekers traveled the country performing experiments on what we called “lightbulbs.”
Lightbulbs were simply people who got it about miles (though at the time we didn’t know what “it” was). Dunce-caps were people who didn’t get it - were never gonna get it — they were the people we ignored. The client, Leslie had convictions, but also a rare ambition large enough to open her mind and cause her to drive us to find a better answer. The planner, Nadine, young and an idealist, yet razor sharp and precociously self-assured, would stop at nothing to get below the surface to better answers. Myself, the creative director, who had in my short career traveled the road from “beating controls” in direct response print ad and direct mail tests to besting entire integrated campaigns on the numbers to leading some of the biggest launches ever — I wasn’t going backward here! So let’s just say we were committed. But even more than that, we were riveted, watching these groups of people like the frequent traveler George Clooney plays in the wonderful new film from Jason Reitman, Up In The Air.
What we learned changed all our our fortunes dramatically, made the client a fortune, and fifteen years later continues to be the gift that keeps on giving. That’s what a great brand- moving insight can be. That’s what we should all be striving for. Anyway, turns out American and their AAdvantage program partnered with Reitman to get the movie made, and they got our strategy into the script and Clooney’s mouth. As soon as we can get the video tape, you’ll find it here! ….. Read more from the New York Times