Smart, aggressive PR

For 15 years, Tool of North America maintained a solid reputation as a live-action production company representing top-tier directors to the advertising industry. When the company decided to expand its presence by becoming the first firm to represent digital artists, it needed help repositioning its brand.

TRUST created a media strategy and digital materials that redefined Tool's identity both online and in traditional media, moving the company into the digital space with smart outreach, and quickly extending its profile.

Thanks to these efforts, Tool is now known in the advertising and entertainment industries as a leader for innovation in digital, and its directors and digital artists are regularly recognized for their award-winning and visionary work. Here's how TRUST helped Tool make that change:

• Push the new brand into the digital space: We brought Tool's unique new strategy to multi-tiered trades, blogs, and relevant social networking hubs, re-positioning Tool as the digital firm representing accomplished innovators and visionaries.
• Put the focus on the people: Because Tool represents one-of-a-kind digital artists and shops working across the spectrum, we prioritized those introductions, bringing to the foreground people like video game visionary Jason Rohrer, Tool's new digital marketing exec Dustin Calliff, and multiscreen director Jason Zada.
• ... and on the tech: From an experimental interactive music video for the band Cold War Kids, to original content for the sci-fi Universal Studios film Repo Man, we draw out the details of Tool's artists' ground-breaking work.

Today, the content creators, video game designers, directors, and other digital artists represented by the bicoastal Tool of North America appear in major publications and are recognized at industry award shows, and Tool attracts the most innovative and sophisticated talent in digital advertising and entertainment.

When TRUST and content creation studio Mekanism first hooked up, they already had an impressive and growing portfolio of work including viral, web, live-action, and branded entertainment. Mekanism needed help refining its own core brand message, syndicating and seeding client content, and building awareness across advertising and entertainment.

TRUST met these goals handily both online and in print. In fact, Mekanism and TRUST saw immediate results, thanks to a package of strategies that included:

• Extend the brand message digitally: We researched and worked with multi-tiered trades, blogs, and social networking hubs relevant to the target market, putting Mekanism's core message and achievements in front of the right audience.
• Market with syndicated content: We developed target-specific online tactics and content to support the existing marketing efforts of the company and its clients.
• Follow up with the right analytics: Using the best, most relevant tools - such as Google Analytics and Tube Mogul - we tracked search volume, buzz factor, and overall traction of the campaign to get an accurate picture of its impact.

With offices in both New York and San Francisco, Mekanism's client list includes Microsoft, Mike's Hard Lemonade, PG&E, and Sprint to name a few.