Creative Crackdown, Boston Market Catering Effort

By / /

The seventh submission in our running series is up for your honest critique. Once again, our friends from Tequila TBWA\Chiat\Day’s in-house interactive shop, will be joining us to give their take on the work. We also have a team from Merkley + Partners in NY peeking in. Here’s the set-up for this Boston Marketing catering effort from Cameron Christopher Thomas Advertising.

Sometimes in advertising your target audience really speaks to you. And in some cases, they keep speaking and speaking and just will not shut up until you’ve written spots about them. That’s when they become really annoying. But it’s also when you know you’ve created some universal truism your audience can relate to. So when we found out that the people who ordered catering for meetings were typically procrastinators, worriers and wanted something easy, we created three personas to speak to them: Tom the Procrastinator, Wanda the Worrier, and Big Jim Easy. These viral videos were sent to office managers and meeting coordinators in hopes they might see a bit of themselves in these little scenes. They then were directed to a website where they could order catering for their next meeting from Boston Market. The result? No procrastinating. No worries. And easy as Sunday morning.

Here’s Procrastinator Tom’s website.

Here’s Wanda The Worrier’s website.

Here’s Big Jim Easy’s website.

Agency Credits:
Cameron Bridges, Creative Director
Lawrence Leung, Art Director
Anne Macomber, Writer
Kathyrn Colbert, Broadcast Producer
Patricia Welch, Account Executive

Production Company:
GreenDot Los Angeles, Ca.
Richard Sears, Director

Editorial:
Cosmo Street Editorial Los Angeles, Ca.
Christjan Jordan, Editor

Boston Market:
Trey Hall, Chief Brand Officer
Michelle Glander, Sr. Director of Marketing

Comments

  1. TQLALA October 24, 2007

    I’m always hesitant when

    I’m always hesitant when people pitch ideas that are “viral.” Few videos have the new/pervy/hilarious/ohmigosh factor it takes to create something that goes viral. These videos don’t warrant me passing them along to my friends and the websites were too templated.

  2. Bowen Mendelson October 25, 2007

    Decent idea. Horrible

    Decent idea. Horrible execution. The only one that makes the connection to Boston Market is “The Procrastinator”. He orders food for his office and he procrastinates. Boston Market can accommodate that. Plus, I really don’t believe the characters, especially “Big Jim Easy” Bad casting. Bad direction.
    It is raining in New York as I rain in on your creative. Lo siento

    Bowen Mendelson
    Sr. Copywriter Merkley and Partners.

  3. Randall October 26, 2007

    Concept and casting aside,

    Concept and casting aside, what’s up with the logo? They used to have a balanced, well-designed logo with elegant elements. Now, it’s stripped-down to an economy-hotel feel. The type isn’t positioned in the oval evenly. It’s naked, boring and cheapens their branding. Perhaps, it was in an effort to give the impression of a cost-effective experience. Never thought BM was too expensive. Logos are supposed to evolve. Not devolve. Overall, it lacks a degree of finish that should be associated with a national chain.

  4. jay October 27, 2007

    Seems to be the

    Seems to be the trend.

    Applebee’s has a bare-bones logo now.

    I think Bennigan’s and Chili’s took a similar tack.

    Is this to be a more neighborhood feel?
    A homegrown strategy?

  5. David Stone October 30, 2007

    The writing is really nice.

    The writing is really nice. This would probably win Best of Show if Denver still had a show. Unfortunately, the food shots look like stock. The bursting lettuce cracks me up—but I don’t imagine that’s the intent. They need to spend more bucks on food shots, for sure.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *