Mekanism

Mekanism is a San Francisco-based creative agency that specializes in the development and production of marketing campaigns, commercials and branded entertainment for multinational companies.[1][2] Mekanism focuses its work on "Storytelling for Emerging Media", a line the company has trademarked.[3][4] The agency added a New York City office in 2008.[5]

Mekanism
TypeIndependent
IndustryAdvertising, Marketing
Founded2000
FounderTommy Means
Headquarters
San Francisco, CA
,
United States
Number of locations
4
San Francisco
New York City
Chicago
Seattle
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Tommy Means
  • (Creative Director/Director)
  • Jason Harris
  • (President/CEO)
Revenue$28 million (2013)
Websitehttp://www.mekanism.com/

History

Founding

Mekanism was founded in 2000 by Tommy Means as a division of a San Francisco-based company named Complete Pandemonium.[6] Means saw the internet as a great potential storytelling medium that was not being utilized and believed there was opportunity for a company that focused its efforts there.[7] Accordingly, in 2003 Means spun off the company as an independent fully integrated creative production studio to develop branded content outside traditional television commercial channels.[6][8][9] Since then, Mekanism's core mission has grown, and they aim "to place the Web at the center of all advertising, exploiting it to make marketing cheaper, faster, and more effective -- across all platforms."[10]

Growth

In the years immediately following the agency's founding as a stand-alone entity, Mekanism added three key partners: Pete Caban as head of Digital as well as Strategic Development in 2003, Ian Kovalik as a director and Creative Director in 2003, and Jason Harris as an executive producer then President in 2005.[9][11][12] During this period, the agency began to develop its reputation for reaching young audiences and telling branded stories in off-beat ways that tended to go viral.[10][13] As much as 90% of Mekanism's work in those years came from other ad agencies (instead of directly from clients) looking to execute creative ideas on emerging media platforms.[14] They began receiving recognition for that work beginning in 2004 and 2005 with consecutive Cannes Golden Lion awards for campaigns on behalf of Napster and Sega, respectively.[6][14][15]

As a result, Mekanism's business increased twenty-fold; from $472,000 in 2003 to approximately $9.6 million in 2007.[5] In 2008, they opened an office in New York City to accommodate the growth.[5] With Mekanism's revenue increasing by orders of magnitude, so too were the number and size of their clients.[3][5][10] The agency has completed campaigns for such companies as Microsoft, Nike, Axe, Frito-Lay, PepsiCo, Nordstrom, Google, Muscle Milk, and GE.[16][17][18][19]

Full-Service Agency

Soon after this period, Mekanism increased its focus on creating viral content and started working almost exclusively with clients directly.[14][20] For all intents and purposes, it was at this point they became a "full-service" agency; alternately referred to as "one part ad agency, one part production company" and "a hybrid of an advertising agency, production house, and multimedia content factory.[10][21] From 2008 to 2010, Mekanism's annual revenue numbers were $10.3-$12 million (2008), $18-$20 million (2009), $25 million (2010).[7][10][22] in 2011, Harris took over the CEO title from Caban to become President/CEO. In 2011, the agency created its first Super Bowl spot for Brisk Iced Tea starring Eminem.[1][14] It ended up as the No. 1 most-viewed video on YouTube after Super Bowl XLV aired.[14] In 2012, Mekanism launched a campaign for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals with Dan Harris from ABC’s Nightline featuring Harris's adopted cat, "Hovercat"; the video went viral and garnered over 1 million views, with Brendan Gahan, Mekanism's Director of Social Media, noting, "The internet loves cats and it was done for a good cause so it's great to see people rally around it."[23] In early 2013 Mekanism created the ad campaign “Youphoria” for the fashion retailer Nordstrom.[24]

Mekanism is also the Agency of Record for Method Home, Muscle Milk, Pepsi, Brisk Ice Tea, Amp Energy Drink, Art.com, and Virgin Mobile.[14][18][25]

Notable campaigns
Campaigns Designed and Produced by Mekanism[3][8][26][27]
Client (Product) Campaign Year Awards/Nominations
Napster (Relaunch) "EKG", "Metal", "The Deal" 2003, 2004 Cannes Golden Lion (2)
Sega (Super Monkey Ball Deluxe) "True Adventures of Chad" 2005 Cannes Golden Lion, One Show silver, Clio bronze, ANDY bronze
Microsoft (Windows Vista) "Clearification" 2006 Cannes Silver Lion (2), ANDY bronze, Clio bronze (2), Webby (2)
Axe (Body Spray) "World's Dirtiest Film" 2007 Cannes Shortlist
Toyota (Matrix) "Yourotheryou.com" 2008
Frito-Lay (Tostitos) "NOLAF.org" 2008 ADDY Gold (3), One Show silver, D&AD Yellow Pencil (2)
Axe (Body Spray) "The Fixers" 2009 Webby
Nike (Running) "Human Race" 2009
eBay (holiday shopping) "Love to Give" 2010
PepsiCo-Lipton (Brisk Iced Tea) "That's Brisk Baby!" 2011 London International silver, AICP Show nominee
Fast Company (Front cover) "The Influence Project" 2011 Webby Finalist, ASME National Magazine Finalist
20th Century Fox and Rise of the Planet of the Apes "Ape with AK-47" 2011 Cannes Shortlist, 16th Most Viewed Viral Ad of All Time[28]
Brisk Brisksaber mobile app[29] 2012 2 million downloads
Sierra Club "Beyond Coal Initiative"[1] 2012
Method (multiple products) "Clean Happy"[25] 2012
Nightline "Hovercat"[30][31] 2012
Nordstrom "Youphoria"[24] 2013
Pepsi "Super Bowl XLVIII Soundcheck" 2014 USA Today’s 2014 “Super Bowl Top 10 Ad Meter”[32]
Pepsi "Pepsi Mini Oscar" 2014 9 million YouTube views
Peloton “The Gift that Gives Back”[33] 2019 Peloton stock loses $1.5bn in value [34]

The Influence Project

In May 2010, the business magazine Fast Company published a profile of Mekanism, during which Harris claimed that the firm could "guarantee [they] can create an online campaign and make it go viral." The author challenged them to "prove it" with a wager whereby if Mekanism created a viral campaign for Fast Company, the author would document it for the magazine from conception to launch.[10] Mekanism pitched a number of ideas and Fast Company ultimately selected one—initially called the "Cover Project"—that came to be known as "The Influence Project."[35][36] The campaign aimed to name 2010's Most Influential Person by getting people to sign up, have their social networks click on their profile links and sign up themselves.[36] Participants would have their pictures appear in a photospread in the November 2010 issue and the greater their influence, the larger their picture would be.[36][37][38]

Social media critics were skeptical of the means and metrics with which Mekanism designed the project; calling it a gimmick and an "ornate marketing rickroll."[39][40][41] Despite the criticism, the project had 6,000 people sign up within the first 24 hours of the campaign's launch,and 30,000 people by the end.[35][36][37][42] Fast Company had 1.2 million visitors to the site and said that they "couldn't be more impressed with the response."[42]

Super Bowl XLVII

Mekanism was retained by Pepsi to create buzz surrounding Beyoncé’s Super Bowl XLVII Halftime Show for 2014.[43] The company asked fans to submit photos in different poses to compile into the video, creating the first fan-made halftime intro. The campaign collected over 120,000 user submissions generating over 5.5 billion impressions.[44]

Reception

Their work has been featured in Ad Age, Creativity, and AdWeek.[3][6][8][14][35] Its work is featured regularly in major periodicals like Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.[20][45][46][47] In its profile of Mekanism, Fast Company referred prominently to the agency's "reputation as marketing's twisted troubadours" and its ability to "understand who they're trying to reach and how to reach them.[10] Most recently, The New York Times called Mekanism "the Pixar of agencies."[25]

Mekanism, along with the company's campaigns have been used by Harvard Business School as case studies in marketing and virality, most nobility included in the HBS Case Collection in 2012 in the case study "Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing" by Harvard professor Thales S. Teixeira.[48]

Awards and recognition

Beyond awards for individual campaigns, Mekanism has won several awards for its achievements as a company:[3][27][49]

References
  1. Levere, Jane. To Promote Brisk Tea, Pepsi Enlists Yoda. New York Times. January 2, 2012.
  2. Levere, Jane. Using a Light Touch to Attack a Dark Subject. New York Times. March 26, 2012.
  3. Champagne, Christine. Profile: Tommy Means. AdWeek. May 19, 2008.
  4. Ozler, Levent. Mekanism Signs Velvy Appleton to Head Production. Dexigner. October 15, 2007.
  5. Yang, Tony C. Laughing All the Way to the Bank. San Francisco Business Times. 8/3/08.
  6. Diaz, Anne-Christine. Mekanism: Setting the Stage for a New Media Model. Creativity. September 25, 2007.
  7. Entrepreneur Profile: Tommy Means. San Francisco Business Times. November 8, 2009.
  8. The Production A-List '09: Mekanism. Creativity. October 23, 2009.
  9. About Page. Mekanism Official Website.
  10. Borden, Mark. The Mekanism Guarantee: They Engineer Virality. Fast Company. May 1, 2010.
  11. Mekanism Agency Personnel Profiles. AdForum.com. Retrieved July 27, 2012.
  12. Jason Harris LinkedIn Page. LinkedIn. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
  13. Production Roundtable. Creativity. January 22, 2008.
  14. Patel, Kunur. Mekanism is Ad Age's Small Agency of the Year. Ad Age. August 8, 2011.
  15. Venables, Bell & Partners Agency Profile. AdForum.com. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
  16. Mekanism Signs New York Directorial Duo Dave and Rory. Studio Daily. August 18, 2008.
  17. Mekanism Signs Trifecta of Talent. Studio Daily. July 13, 2009.
  18. Beltrone, Gabriel. "Portrait: Mekanism Ad shop spins ideas into shareable content for brands on the social Web". AdWeek.
  19. "Virgin Mobile Commercial: The Miraculous Enlightenment". Funny Commercials.
  20. Kung, Michelle. Behind the Social Marketing of ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’. Wall Street Journal. May 1, 2010.
  21. Keane, Meghan. Q & A: Mekanism & The Influence Project. econsultancy.com. August 11, 2010.
  22. The 2011 Inc. 5000 List of America's Fastest Growing Companies: Mekanism Company Profile. Inc'.'
  23. Hernandez, Brian Anthony. Meet Hovercat, The Levitating Adopted Feline VIDEO. Mashable. June 13, 2012.
  24. Beltrone, Gabriel. "Nordstrom Launches First Work From Mekanism". Ad Week.
  25. Elliott, Stuart. Ads for Method Celebrate the Madness. New York Times. March 12, 2012.
  26. Agency Credits: Mekanism. Creativity.
  27. Mekanism Agency Awards. European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) Forum via adforum.com. Retrieved July 27, 2012.
  28. Mashable Global Ads Chart. Mashable.
  29. Gaudiosi, John. The Force Is Strong With New PepsiCo Star Wars 3D Brisksaber Videogame. Forbes. January 4, 2012.
  30. 'Hovercat': The Viral ASPCA ad. ABC News. June 18, 2012.
  31. Winter, Michael. VIDEO: 'Hovercat' flies in promotion for pet adoption. USA Today. June 13, 2012.
  32. Lepore, Steve. "The complete 2014 Super Bowl Ad Meter results". USA Today. Archived from the original on 2014-05-27.
  33. Peloton ‘Male Fantasy Ad’ Could Dent Brand Image. AdAge. December 03, 2019.
  34. Peloton loses $1.5bn in value over 'dystopian, sexist' exercise bike ad The Guardian December 04, 2019.
  35. Moses, Lucian. Fast Company Editor Discusses Influence Project. AdWeek. September 19, 2010.
  36. Borden, Mark. Popularity, Ego, and Influence - What Is the Influence Project?. Fast company. July 7, 2010.
  37. Borden, Mark. A Social Media Diva Reveals Her Formula for Winning The Influence Project. Fast Company. July 13, 2010.
  38. Myers, Courtney Boyd. Fast Company's Influence Project Is About to Burst Every "Social Media Guru's" Bubble. Huffington Post. July 7, 2010.
  39. Tsotsis, Alexia. Fast Company Influence Project Pisses Off Online Influencers. SF Weekly. July 7, 2010.
  40. Qualman, Erik. Fast Company Influence Project: Pyramid Scheme or Genius? Archived 2012-12-19 at the Wayback Machine. Socialnomics.net. July 26, 2010.
  41. Fast Company Influence Project is a Gimmick. Going Social Now. July 7, 2010.
  42. Borden, Mark. The End Of The Influence Project. Long Live Influence! Fast Company. August 14, 2010.
  43. Nudd, Tim. "Here's the Groovy Little Pepsi Ad That Will Launch Sunday's Halftime Show". AdWeek.
  44. Oster, Erik. "Mekanism Debuts Revamped Website, Which is Still Weird". MediaBistro.
  45. Mekanism Article Archive. Fast Company. Retrieved July 28, 2012.
  46. Elliott, Stuart. EBay Promises Christmas Freakouts. New York Times. November 14, 2010.
  47. Vega, Tanzina. Samsung Takes New Camera on a National Tour. New York Times. May 1, 2011.
  48. Teixeira, Thales S. "Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing". Harvard Business School.
  49. Mekanism Agency profile Archived 2012-07-15 at the Wayback Machine. Ad Age Lookbook.
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