uberPOOL — BBH NY

Work done during Griffin Farley’s Beautiful Minds: a strategy bootcamp hosted by BBH NY

The Brief

0.39% of daily NYC trips are with uberPOOL. Grow uberPOOL usage to 2% of total NYC travel in the next 12 months.

Quantified

Out of all 8.6 million daily forms of transit in NYC, we need 172,000 to be with uberPOOL.

The Challenge

Uber has built a brand by becoming the “chauffeur” of ride-sharing. The uberPOOL offering completely contradicts this perception of exclusivity and self-importance.

uberPOOL = more time, more inconvenience, and more small talk.

Out of all the barriers to take an uberPOOL, the unavoidable fact of sharing it with a stranger is the biggest hindrance.

Consumer - The Lonely Loyalists

The Lonely Loyalists are single male and female young professionals living in New York for < a year. Their ambitions in the workplace are second to none. Yet as the work day comes to an end, and they make their way home, a desire of belonging fills them. Ironically it’s overwhelming to find ones place in such a dense forest of culture; a paralysis of offerings and opportunity. When the Lonely Loyalist takes the subway, he and she spark up a conversation whenever the chance arises. These are few and far between, as the average New Yorker views the subway as either a sideshow or a moment of calm introspection. This leaves the Lonely Loyalist craving something beyond their office mates.

The Insight

Feeling lonesome amongst 8.6M other New Yorkers is strangely common. A brief conversation with a stranger can leave one feeling more connected to their city and fellow man.

The Strategy

The way our consumer and the majority of New Yorkers get around is via the subway. To most this form of transit is completely fine. But the Lonely Loyalist is seeking more from everyday life. Why not have an option where you’ll get where you need to go and also have the chance to meet a fellow New Yorker. Targeting the subway with messages of our mission to “make an empty seat feel like a missed opportunity” will make our consumer really wonder what they’re maybe missing out on. Studies show that contrary to expectations, people are happier after a conversation with a stranger. Small talk can make big changes.

uberPOOL Manifesto

uberPOOL is more than a vessel taking you from point A to point B. It’s a vehicle that can bring the unknown to light in the shape of your fellow New Yorker; a stranger who cherishes human contact just as you do. The ride isn’t about making a new best friend. It’s about the inescapable story and the brief human interaction that uberPOOL can foster. Imagine a New York where an empty seat is a missed page of your life story.

Segment Illumination - Egg Strategy

Work done in collaboration with Egg Strategy Inc., LLC, Boulder, Colorado, www.eggstrategy.com

The Challenge

A leader in the hydration gear category came to Egg Strategy to better understand two of their key consumer segments -- the Core Achiever and Active Lifestyler.  In order for the brand to relate effectively with each segment, Egg needed to uncover the emotional drivers, beliefs, and behaviors that influence the activities and brands they seek out.  

The Approach

Egg conducted two research methodologies that went beyond surface understandings and into deep emotional components of the segments’ lives. 

Mobile Ethnography

A mobile digital ethnographic study was pushed to respondents' mobile devices.  This methodology allowed 15 respondents of each segment to take Egg along with them in their quest for self-betterment and hydration gear needs all in real-time.

IDIs

Following up with the best respondents from the mobile study, Egg conducted six in-depth-interviews from each segment.  This allowed for an even more textured understanding of where the brand is winning and losing with each segment.  

The Insight

With the right hydration gear, water goes beyond a primal need and into realms of physical achievement and mental empowerment.  

The Strategy

While there were multiple cross-segment truths, Egg recommended exploiting segment specific insights for the brand’s future initiatives.  The following is one example of understanding the nuanced differences of each segment and the corresponding implication.  Functionality was a fundamental criteria in the gear each segment uses, but style and self-expression weighed more heavily on the Active Lifestyler's brand/gear desires.  Thus with this particular segment, Egg recommended more energetic color schemes, graphics, etc. on the SKUs the Active Lifestyler would more likely use.

The Outcome

In illuminating these two key consumer segments, the client left with a sound guidebook to grow product lines, communication strategies, and market penetration tactics.   

Spyder Outerwear - Factory Design Labs

Work done in collaboration with Factory Design Labs, LLC, Denver, Colorado, www.factorylabs.com 

Background

Ski racing is where Spyder began, innovated, and conquered. As the official apparel supplier to the US Ski Team since 1989, Spyder has had a significant impact on racers’ performance at the highest levels of competition.  With a stronghold on the high-performance category, Spyder was struggling to appeal to the more youthful and expressive path that modern skiing was taking.

The Challenge

Spyder needed an updated positioning strategy that would incite a lifestyle component to their brand without losing their storied heritage in the core racing category where they began.

Consumer - The Stoic Core

The Stoic Core spans male and female skiers ages 25-55.  They are a global audience who is well-educated and are of higher incomes.  Skiing is an individual sport and their desire to accentuate their individuality largely correlates to the gear they use.  To them portraying an outward confidence is more fulfilling than knowing their gear will help them perform to the best of their abilities.  It's not a vanity but an expectation for the best that drives their purchasing decisions.   

The Insight

For The Stoic Core, progression is at the fore-front of their minds. Progression is a collection of sentiments, goals, and introspections that all ladder back to how their outerwear makes them feel on and off the slope.  

The Strategy

By taking a macro look at the outerwear industry and the client's competitors, it was determined to highlight inherent emotions that are elicited through using the brand's gear: progression, confidence, and elation.

The Solution

Showcase brand ambassador stories using gear outside of the hardcore, high performance realm to create a more relatable connection that transcends the client's existing image.

Koala Pack Creative Brief - The Street Ad Agency Bootcamp

Brand Proposition

Koala Pack brings simplicity to an otherwise cluttered world.

What do we need to do?

We need to get people to question or reconsider what is essential to their everyday life.

Insights

Market insight:

The traditional backpack is in decline, with more simplified and lifestyle based designs coming to the forefront.  Instead of multi-function, packs are trending to be more single-function i.e. hydration based, school based, commuter based, etc.

Consumer insight:

Simple, purpose driven design, leads to a consumer feeling more modern, eloquent, and different.

What is the single most important thing to say?

Bring yourself.

Reason to believe

There are backpacks for your textbooks and brief cases for the rigid/corporate world, but Koala Pack fills a gap in both function and lifestyle.  A tablet or laptop doesn’t need a massive space to live in a pack.  Koala Packs have boiled down what the urban, youthful, tech-reliant consumer needs: a sleek pack that protects and carries the bare necessities (laptop/tablet).

Consumer - The Urban Minimalist 

The Urban Minimalist are 20-35 year-old male and females living in urban settings with average incomes, either working towards or having earned a college degree.  They treasure where they are in life: young, goal-oriented, and constantly seeking out the "new."  Although tech savvy and reliant on their laptops/tablets/phones, The Urban Minimalist isn't hunched over at a desk all day.  They are very active and mobile during and after work/school.  They avoid name brands in an effort to be different but ironically the brands they seek out bring them into the fold of a bigger collective.      

What do we want them to do?

We want them to further identify with the urban, tech culture and feel like it’s a fit.

What do we want them to think/feel?

Think:

Wow, do I really need a pocket for my pens or my business cards?  There's a vesicle that caters to my simplified lifestyle.

Feel:

There's a new way to carry my stuff and it makes me feel free.

Inspiration

Imagine running to your bus stop with your loaded down pack.  It’s flopping against your back and you try to adjust the straps, but in doing so, you slow down and the bus drives away.  Koala inherently reduces clutter in your life with its sleek and simple design.  Realizing that all you need is your tablet/laptop and maybe a book is the way young people are living.

Sprig Salad Dressing - Factory Design Labs

Work done in collaboration with Factory Design Labs, LLC, Denver, Colorado, www.factorylabs.com

Background

A local salad dressing company had some early success.  Yet with the success coming from the one and only dressing they were producing, future dressings did not have a positioning or brand to live under.  

The Challenge

Develop a defendable and inspiring position for an artisanal brand to prosper in the already saturated healthy, organic food market. 

The Insight

Salad dressing is what brings a salad together and this has the power to gather people around a table.

Who are we?

We Are

Ingredient-centric

Creatively driven

Insatiably passionate

Hollistically human

Rebel With A Cause

Positioning: 

Sprig is the salad dressing company that doesn't conform just to be DIFFERENT.  We simply do what we WANT which happens to be different.  We create delicious, energetic, and revolutionary dressings.

Brand Message: What we promise to do

We will remain an unwavering beacon of explorative flavors, allowing the adventurer in all of us to comfortably rebel.

Brand Personality: How we speak

Quietly confident / Rad / Humble / Invigorating / Relentless

Core Tenets: How we behave in the world

Embrace the unexpected and run full on, along paths newly revealed.  We continue forward in search of flavors that assault the norm.

"Change your opinions, keep to your principles; change your leaves, keep intact your roots," Victor Hugo.

Gatherer 

Positioning:

Sprig gathers ingredients to create flavors that not only bring dishes together but also enhance dining experiences with friends and family.

Brand Message: What we promise to do

Sprig's flavors are curated with the intention to enjoy them amongst our fellow man.

Brand Personality: How we speak

Warm / Unselfish / Welcoming / Human

Core Tenets: How we behave in the world

Dressing is what ultimately brings a salad together.  Why not carry over this togetherness of food to gather people and enjoy it beyond oneself?

"If you really want to make a friend, go to someone's house and eat with him... the people who give you their food give you their heart," Cesar Chavez

The Outcome

Telling the story of an owner who didn't go to culinary school but simply knew he had to get this dressing out to the world could drive package design, dressing creation, and brand name.  A positioning that encompassed the owner's rebellious beginning and attention to gathering the best ingredients led to a brand name that resonated with the client.

ProtoLocal - The Street Ad Agency Bootcamp

The Challenge

ProtoLocal, a start-up company challenging the review site status-quo, needed a concise and striking banner ad campaign to build brand recognition and product trial.

The Insight

Locals are more likely to patronize new places, places that are also local, and that have a story living beyond the counter.

Consumer - The Timid Explorer

Relying on their social network and perused online media, the Timid Explorer wants to experience new things but needs some nudging in doing so.  Where they shop and where they eat tells a story about them.  The Timid Explorer is always searching to add depth to their story, but often don't know where to look for that next chapter. 

The Strategy

Incite curiosity and provoke a questioning of daily routines by giving a glimpse into the stories of local businesses and their founders.   

The Solution

With copy that made you think about trying something different than your morning Starbucks and art direction that left you with the inklings of a connection made to the business owner, the client gave the go ahead on round 1 creative development.  Furthermore, instead of overspending media dollars on programmatic advertising, we determined to focus our ad placements in local online publications where 'locals' look for what's new in Denver.

Executions & Placements