Friend and Johnson: Out to Lunch Campaign

Challenges Established artist representative agency, Friend + Johnson, was looking for ways to connect with a new generation of young art directors. Coinciding with the launch of their new MSLK-designed blog, they needed a campaign to kick-start traffic in order to build buzz around their brand and increase their social media presence. Strategy Combining online and traditional media, we recommended a direct mail sweepstakes that would encourage art directors to engage with the blog. As art directors ourselves, we came up with an idea that was sure to inspire our colleagues: a napkin sketch sweepstakes. The title of the campaign, “Out to Lunch,” refers to daydreaming (where great ideas come from), and the grand prize (a free lunch). To enter the sweepstakes, invitation recipients were encouraged to share their daydream doodles on a provided letter-pressed napkin. Additionally, we created a promotional calendar and provided Friend + Johnson with tools for promoting the campaign on their blog, Facebook and Twitter pages. Design We came up with a distinctive logo to brand the campaign consistently across all media — from the cover of the mailer, to the Friend + Johnson blog, Facebook and Twitter pages. The thought bubble combined with the empty vessel of the napkin encouraged recipients to create fan art, ultimately giving Friend + Johnson more stories to tell and promote. To complete the lunch metaphor, the entire package was sent in an upscale brown lunch bag. Launching the Contest on the F+J Blog: Building their Following on Facebook: Inside of Printed Mailer: Artist sketches:           Success The mailer was sent to over 5000 art directors across the country, helping to generate the largest traffic spike in their website’s history. The blog received the highest amount of visitors to date, up 55% from before, with 23% of that traffic coming via facebook. The submissions were fun, creative, inspiring and were of exceptional quality, making for engaging blog content. As a result of the campaign, Friend and Johnson’s facebook fan-base grew by 10% and fan activity engagement increased by 21%.