MLB Launches New "Always Epic" Campaign...
The New York Times: "The campaign is the first for Major League Baseball from its new creative agency, Hill Holliday. Not only are the tone and approach different from previous campaigns, which took more traditional tacks, but the ads will have a far larger presence in social media that younger Americans adore, like Facebook and Twitter."
AdWeek: "Hill Holliday takes a closer look at the famous Wilson beard—going deep inside it, in fact, to reveal some tiny Renaissance-fair merrymakers having a grand old time dancing around the follicles, and using one thick strand as a maypole."
[see the work]
...Opens Fan Cave
New York Post: "MLB pays 'cave' man to watch every game."
Gothamist: "The cave was designed and created in part by Extreme Makeover star Paul DiMeo, and includes a pool table, bar, 50s diner, memorabilia museum, fantasy baseball counter, and pitch-speed tester."
Craig Calcaterra on NBC Sports: "Inhabiting this baseball Shangri-La will be Mike O’Hara. O’Hara was born in Yonkers, N.Y. and he’s a Yankees fan, but he has lived in Los Angeles for a while where he has been a sometimes actor/sometimes singer for what sounds like a Dropkick Murphys-style punk band called “The Mighty Regis.” He’s a Syracuse grad who applied and was accepted to law school before deciding instead to move to L.A. and get into the entertainment business. I don’t know how this show/project will do, but so far O’Hara seems to have made wise decisions. Such as not going to law school and leaving his Irish punk band behind in the name of baseball.
O’Hara has a wingman in this endeavor. His name is Ryan Wagner. Wagner is an O’s fan from Baltimore. Wagner has a sports broadcasting degree and has done some stage acting as well as covered the Orioles for 1370 AM in Baltimore."
CNBC's Darren Rowell: "It just might be the craziest, most ambitious, yet perfect idea a sports league has ever come with."
Also in CNN, CBS, ESPN, Mashable, New York Magazine, among others.
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"Great Wolf Resorts Inc., a Wisconsin-based chain of indoor waterpark resorts, has selected Hill Holliday to be its advertising agency of record." - The Boston Globe
"After handling its marketing in-house for years, health-care company Cigna has appointed Hill Holliday to lead consumer advertising and business-to-business marketing, as well as media-buying duties." - AdAge
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The agency's founder, Jack Connors, was inducted into the American Advertising Federation's Advertising Hall of Fame. The Globe quotes a statement from the Federation: "Jack used the considerable talent and resources of Hill Holliday to make a difference in the Greater Boston community through pro bono work for non-profit and charitable organizations."
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Liberty Mutual's Responsibility Project is nominated for a Webby Award in the insurance category.
Paul Alexander, SVP Communications at Liberty Mutual, reviewed the Responsibility Project case study on CMO Advantage [video].
Adweek: A report from Ace Metrix used a panel of 500 U.S. consumers to measure the effectiveness of the 136 different car insurance ads that have run in the last 12 months. "The top ad for both male and female participants was the Liberty Mutual spot with Winfrey’s voiceover. The ad scored a 653 Advertising Creative Effectiveness (ACE) score, well above the average 501 norm."
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