Flavor Fanatics wins a WOMMY!

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas…unless it’s the Word Of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Summit in Las Vegas, in which case you’re supposed to do nothing but talk, right?

Emily Paradowski and Nathalie Espinol were fortunate enough to represent 22squared and Buffalo Wild Wings at WOMMA’s annual conference, where the summer 2011 Flavor Fanatics’ campaign received a bronze WOMMY Award for Best Use of Social Media.

Even without the shiny hardware, the Flavor Fanatics campaign is a major accomplishment, primarily because it’s one of the first truly integrated and socially driven campaigns 22squared has produced. The approach we developed and honed while working on this campaign is indicative of an evolving paradigm that 22squared is building, one that leverages insights derived from listening to consumers and ultimately drives everything from creative to media.

See you in Vegas in 2012!

Meet Mr. Sloth, spokesanimal for Costa Rica’s Million Dollar Gift of Happiness

Who’s this sloth, and why is he talking? The Tico Times finds out in an interview with our Andrew Jones about Costa Rica’s Million Dollar Gift of Happiness, our new campaign for The Costa Rica Tourism Board.

“The Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) and U.S. advertising agency 22squared unveiled a series of promotional videos last week that feature a talking three-toed sloth hanging from trees and zip-lining in various locations in Costa Rica. The sloth, referred to as ‘Mr. Sloth’ in the videos, is advertising Costa Rica’s new ‘Million Dollar Gift of Happiness’ campaign. The promotion will give away a free trip to Costa Rica every weekday until Feb. 5, 2012, totaling $1 million in ‘gifts of happiness.’”

Read the full story here: The Tico Times.

Futureself, meet SNL.

It doesn’t rank up there with Mom Jeans, but it’s pretty funny. If anything, it’s fun to see our Effie Award-winning work for Lincoln Financial Group influence pop culture, rather than the other way around.

Jackson Hewitt Finds a New Lead Agency 22squared succeeds Zimmerman Advertising

Drum roll, please: 22squared wins the Jackson Hewitt account – yay, tax season!

“Experience with financial services was naturally a factor in Jackson Hewitt’s decision to hire 22squared as its new lead agency for its creative and media business. Just as important, however, was the shop’s ability to cultivate brand fans on Facebook…”

Read the full story here: Adweek.com

What Does Google+ Mean For Marketers?

What’s our POV on Google+? Funny you should ask, we told Social Times all about it.

“Who would have predicted, just two months ago, how quickly Google+ would take off?

Its features and execution are compelling. Many in social media are very actively engaged on the platform and there are no shortages of either suggestions or predictions on future functions and features…”

Read the full story here: Social Times

Going Green With Bursts of Color

22squared is The Wall Street Journal’s Workplace of the Day! Check out our swanky, new, (soon to be) LEED Gold Certified digs.

“Advertising firm 22squared, Inc., whose clients include brands like Buffalo Wild Wings and Baskin Robbins, renovated its Atlanta headquarters earlier this year. The company applied to receive the second-highest certification from environmental friendliness from the U.S. Green Building Council…”

Read the full story here: The Wall Street Journal Online

Mobile Phones Key To Researching Brand Conversations

What gets people talking about brands? Hmm…Chief Strategy Officer Brandon Murphy describes how we’re going to find out.

“22squared is an agency with expertise in consumer advocacy and conversation generation around a brand. Insights from their previous research, titled ‘Why People Talk: 8 Ways to Inspire Conversation Around Your Brand,’ can be found on Slideshare…”

Read the full story here: PSFK.com

The alarming lack of new interactive talent

In this editorial, Chief Creative Director John Stapleton lays out what the ad industry’s missing and issues a call for more – and better – interactive talent.

“Over the last five years, growth in the area of interactive advertising has been staggering. From the perspective of a creative director, I value my team members who truly understand interactive and how it must integrate functionally and creatively with each campaign. Unfortunately, when you go looking around today for interactive talent, you find very few who are truly capable of getting the job done. This is not only a problem now, but it’s going be to a huge problem for the industry over the next 10 years. We are quickly approaching a time when interactive is no longer going to be used only in more progressive ad campaigns but in all campaigns…”

Read the full story here: iMediaConnection