WHEN TWO CAMPAIGNS ARE BETTER THAN ONE.

KATY STAFFORD
AUGUST 6, 2024

There are few meetings during the creative process that get me more excited than the concepting presentation. We pride ourselves on bringing the best ideas into the room for our clients–fresh, ownable, and always infused with a touch of surprise or delight. We push ourselves to bring a full breadth of work to every presentation, and we only bring ideas we feel confident will help our clients reach their goals.

Sometimes, a client asks for our creative opinion in making a final selection. Rarely have I enjoyed that question more than when it came from Tommy’s Express Car Wash.

Headed into our Tommy’s Express concept meeting, I remember a lot of build up and anticipation. Our team had chosen to do something pretty unusual and asked to push the concepting meeting.

While we loved the ideas we’d been working on, we also sensed that there were a couple of final creative nuggets to unlock. So we proposed to the client that we take a bit more time, and they agreed. With that extra room, we came to all our concepts fresh and pulled a couple of late nights to get each idea just right. When we presented that work, it really shone–each idea vibrant, expressive, and distinct, each with unique strengths.

Tommy’s Express thought so too.

“Which would you choose?” they asked.

That’s when we threw out an even bigger idea—how about we do two of them together?

First things first: I don’t take proposing joint campaigns to a client lightly. It’s not always the right way to go about things. But Tommy’s Express was looking to strengthen its brand in a couple of key ways:

1) Drive recognition of and connection to the brand.

2) Inspire feelings of loyalty among sporadic car washes to convert them into Tommy Club members.

3) Create a sustainable series of assets that aligned with peak seasonal patterns for purchasing gift cards and club memberships.

We knew that our “Express Yourself” concept would offer a striking and nimble brand awareness campaign for the Tommy’s Express team and would resonate in ways that built loyalty.

However, when it came to seasonal promotions and telling stories that would tug at the heart strings of Tommy’s Express customers for holidays, celebrations and birthdays, we knew our second concept offered something special, so we proposed blending the two concepts together.

The Tommy’s Express team was intrigued. After a bit more conversation, our teams embarked on a larger partnership, generating a wildly engaging joint campaign that worked on every level that Tommy’s Express needed.

Because sometimes, two is better than one.