True to form, H|L has nabbed even more coveted Adrian Awards for our work with Missouri Division of Tourism and the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission.

Missouri Tourism’s “What’s Not to Like?,” and the CVC’s “The Meeting Guru,” “St. Louis Summer Blockbuster Radio” and “St. Louis Welcomes ASAE” have earned six of the prestigious honors, which celebrate the travel industry’s very best advertising. Not too shabby. Two of the campaigns have won gold. Which means they are in the running to bring home platinum. Which is the best you can get. Really not too shabby. At least until you can win weapons-grade titanium.

More on this after the event in late February.

Mom Bomb 	

Dad Freaks Out 	

Kid Caribbean 	

To some, sending out a holiday card is just a formality. To the St. Louis CVC (and H|L), it’s another opportunity to do something different. Like taking St. Louis-based street artists The Screwedarts Collective, spray-paint, and a camera and creating something memorable. Got your attention? Check it out here.

There are a million and one things to like about our home state. And that’s exactly what we showcased in our latest Facebook campaign for The Missouri Division of Tourism. From having “zero recorded freshwater shark attacks,” to being “the best state between Kansas and Illinois,” the tongue-in-cheek Facebook posters struck a serious chord with users. So much so that the campaign resulted in over a 1,000% increase in likes and a 574% increase in engagement on VisitMO’s page in just over a month. Those are some serious numbers.

So what’s not to like about this campaign? About the same as what’s not to like about MO.

Always wanted to see Venice? Paris? Copenhagen? Well no need to renew your passport, because the STL has got you covered.

Our latest spot for the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission, “Jetsetter,” shows those within driving distance just how close to a world-class city they really are. And it does so by driving a 747 right through it.

Simple idea. Big execution. No TSA pat-downs necessary.

And a big shout out to Coolfire Media, who did a killer job of making this idea come to life.

Landing on the moon is hard.  Landing the Moonrise Hotel‘s PR, digital and social media business… that was slightly easier.  Maybe it was the will of the universe.  Maybe it was our star-studded team of creative thinkers.  Or maybe we’re just lucky.  Regardless, all the stars aligned and we couldn’t be more excited to be adding the Moonrise Hotel to our ever-growing list of great clients.

All which was made official when some aliens from space dropped off a case of Moon Pies at our office. Or at least that’s what one eyewitness claims.  Either way, we can’t wait to use our creativity to tell the world about this wonderful local destination.

And we begin in exactly T-minus 5… 4…3…

It’s not often that we report on meetings. But Tuesday’s was full of potential, hope and tons of enthusiasm.

That’s because it was a meeting with twenty-three students from the Youth Learning Center. The YLC “provides unique academic and enrichment experiences for youth from underserved communities to inspire lifelong learning, social responsibility and moral leadership.”

Specifically, these high school freshmen and sophomores are participating in a five-week course on entrepreneurship. As a supplement to their curriculum, they came to learn about what an advertising agency does and to practice their skills as budding entrepreneurs.

But the early indications around the office show that the agency benefitted just as greatly. If not more.

It was a chance to give back. A chance to learn about a great organization. And an overall fantastic meeting.

McDonald’s is currently offering buy one, get one free Big Mac Sandwiches. Which begs the obvious question—which one will taste better?

In the one hand, you’ve got the Big Mac you’ve been craving. The one you’ve been looking forward to all day. You’ve earned it. In fact, you’ve paid for it. So, that sense of accomplishment comes with the already amazing, world-famous Big Mac taste.

In the other hand, you’ve got the freebie. The bonus Big Mac. The same ingredients but for 100% off. It’s a gift. And you didn’t even have to do anything to get it. Pretty tasty.

We decided there was only one way to find out which Big Mac tastes better. And that, of course, was to create The World’s First Online Taste Test.

So, without further ado, we invite you to click to taste each burger and voice your preference with the like button underneath.

Our good friends over at Twist Film took it upon themselves to enter some work we produced together for McDonald’s last year.

On top of that, it won.

Two TV spots from the “Few Seconds” campaign took silver. (That’s the big one.) From the sound of it, the judges appreciated our idea of McDonald’s getting your food to you fast enough to interrupt your daughter’s makeout session and keep you from falling off of a loading dock.

The winning spots are posted below.

According to their website, “The Telly Awards honor the very best local, regional, and cable television commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions, and work created for the Web.”

Thanks to Director, Matt Pittroff, at Twist for his great work on the campaign and for making the entry.

This campaign made its first appearance in our pitch that eventually won Hoffman Lewis a new piece of business.

From there, we put together a massive initial launch. Then, Together We Save picked up steam (along with several more iterations).

Touchstone Energy co-op members all across the country logged onto TogetherWeSave.com to calculate their potential energy savings. The crowd went wild. All were happy.

But that was only the beginning.

This time around, Together We Save continues to drive home the message that co-op members can save energy and money, but now we’re able to broaden the ways we say it.

Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be rolling out sections of this campaign here on the agency website (below in the callouts). Then you, like the over 700 co-ops who have the opportunity to run the ads, can pick your favorite executions.

And therein lies the beauty of this campaign.

We have a chance to produce TV, print, radio, outdoor and posters in multiple mini-campaigns that all payoff the bigger idea.

So, get ready for the onslaught. In the meantime, here’s the anthem spot for this latest incarnation of Together We Save.

Updates:

Get ideas for what you can do with the money you save here.

See what Together We Save means for our future here.

The foundation for Together We Save was built when cooperatives were founded. See where it all started here.

The final posting on Together We Save can be viewed here.

We proudly welcome the agency’s first healthcare client, Mercy Health, into the fold.

The review, conducted in April, came after Mercy decided to unify its 28 facilities in 4 states under one single brand.

This June, a new multimedia campaign goes into production for an August launch. While this marks the first healthcare system logo on the agency roster, several H|L staffers have experience in the category.

This also marks the second business win on the year for the St. Louis office. We are both flattered and energized to work with Mercy and share their story with their communities.