News

Capitalizing on the Shot Occasion in a Positive Way

Mon, 06 May 2013 17:34:25 GMT

On-premise spirits sales are on the rise again, and with cocktails comes specialty drinks and shots. A new study from Mike Doherty, president of Seattle-based adagency Cole & Weber United, in conjunction with research consultancy The Palmerston Group...

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Mother's Liquid Helper

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 21:04:13 GMT

By Joel Stein

It took nearly a year after having our son for my lovely wife Cassandra to get her body back to where it was before. It took nearly three years to get her drinking back to where it was before. For a while, she and her new-mom friends met once a week at the playground to watch their kids and have cheese and wine. "Being a stay-at-home mom is isolating," she told me. "If you're chilling out with other moms, it's social. I guess we could have been meeting for tea, but that seems a lot more dorky and a lot less fun."

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Wine Companies Turn to Niche Groups to Uncork Profits

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 20:46:36 GMT

Cole & Weber and Chateau Ste. Michelle are featured in this piece on Fox Business News.

Cole & Weber Creates Campaign for Trident

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 20:40:23 GMT

Seattle-based creative agency Cole & Weber United recently announced a new campaign for Trident Seafoods (in particular, their number-one selling salmon burger). The integrated campaign includes OOH, radio, digital banners and a Web site...

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Marketing Wine as a Respite From Women’s Many Roles

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 20:29:09 GMT

In the 1970s, Miller High Life introduced the “It’s Miller Time” campaign with commercials featuring men working at harrowing professions, like aerial firefighter pilots and high voltage wire repairmen, who joined co-workers for an after-work beer.

A print ad from a new campaign for Chateau Ste. Michelle that is aimed at women, especially mothers, ages 25 to 38.

An executive at the agency that created the campaign described Chateau Ste. Michelle as the friend who prods harried women to indulge.

Winemakers today are taking a similar approach to market wine to women, particularly mothers, promoting wine as a break from juggling work, family and households...

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5 reasons Myspace is making a comeback

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 20:01:02 GMT

Cole & Weber's own Zach Smalley, Connections Supervisor, comments on why Myspace is making a comeback:

"I think if they can land one big high-profile client, other marketers would come a clamoring," says Zach Smalley, connections supervisor at Cole &Weber. "Myspace needs marketers, and Facebook does not. I think Myspace is much more willing to work with smaller brands at this point. No matter what, it's going to be a slow upturn growth. It's not going to be any sort of overnight flip-a-switch type of deal where everyone gets back on the Myspace bandwagon."

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Pros from the creative, production and post communities assess 2012, explores prospects for rest of year and beyond

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 19:47:11 GMT

As for lessons learned and reflections on the state of the industry thus far in 2012, SHOOT for its industry report card canvassed a cross-section of folks to get their responses to the following questions:

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Trident Seafoods Casts Consumer Net

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 19:10:04 GMT

With more than $1 billion in annual sales, Seattle-based Trident Seafoods Corp. bills itself as North America’s largest seafood company.

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Local Capella University Launched A New Campaign

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 19:01:36 GMT

Locally based Capella University partnered up with agency Cole & Weber United and director Matt Ogens to bring us a new campaign.

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The Story Behind The Stuff: Consumers' Growing Interest In "Real" Products

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 18:47:14 GMT

Sure, your sweater might be genuine wool. But can you trace its fibers back to the very sheep from which it was shorn? This is the granular level of "realness" consumers now increasingly seek. What is your company doing about it?

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Doherty’s Olympic Games Diary

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 22:04:59 GMT

This was my second Olympics, and while Vancouver was awesome, the Summer Games are on a whole other scale. There are more countries, more athletes, more people and more sports.

We were honored to again get a taste of “Olympic Family” life because of the promotional work our agency does for the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

We were treated to IOC credentials that gave us access to all the events through the IOC entrances and the Olympic Family lounges at each event, as well as use of the Olympic shuttle cars to get from event-to-event in their own Olympic Lane (much to the consternation of many Londoners).

We arrived at Heathrow Airport before noon and after a quick shower and bite to eat, we were seated at our first event—women’s beach volleyball. The atmosphere was much more of a party than we realize on TV. There were conga lines, loud party music and lots of Halloween-like costumers, including wearable flags and other outward displays of country allegiance. At the match, we ran into Seattleites Bill Gates and his daughter Jennifer...*

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Beyond The Logo: How To Win At Olympic Sponsorship

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 20:37:00 GMT

This article is by Britt Peterson, director of growth strategy at Cole & Weber United

There’s been a lot of discussion around what brands succeeded during the Olympics. Who made the most of their affiliation? What sponsors “won?” But moreover, it’s started a discussion around whether or not sponsorship is really worth it.

Overall, I’m a believer that just sponsoring an event – while nice – doesn’t add much to a brand. A logo here or there may add some credibility, but it doesn’t further people’s involvement with you. Activating that affiliation is what’s important. When a brand is able to create an active connection between its brand promise and the purpose of the event, magic happens...

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Project Butterfly

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 00:15:14 GMT

Believing that being in social media doesn't make a brand sociable, Cole & Weber United along with The Palmerston Group announced the completion of a 6 city, 3 month qualitative study called Project Butterfly. The study aims to better understand what makes some people more sociable than others, the differences between sociable people and hyper-connectors, the role sociable people play in their communities and what brands can learn from sociable people to behave more sociably. The Palmerston Group fielded the study in Portland, Los Angeles, San Antonio, Austin, Minneapolis and Syracuse using online anthropology, ethnographies and a variety of social experiments. For more information, contact mike.doherty@cwunited.com or britt.peterson@cwunited.com.

Trailer link: http://vimeo.com/35015264

Olympic Ad Passes The Torch With User-Generated Content

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 00:01:18 GMT

Competing in the Olympic Games has a way of inspiring athletes to perform at the peak of their powers. Simply watching from home, though, tends to inspire people of mere mortal ability to be at their physical best too. It’s a phenomenon the International Olympic Committee is counting on, and has been actively courting in the lead-up to Summer 2012. As the starting line nears, we’re about to see the results.

Earlier this year the IOC rolled out its campaign internationally. This initiative encouraged people from around the world to film their personal best efforts at any physical activity within reason, and upload it onto the campaign website for a chance to win a trip to the Olympics. Now, Seattle-based agency Cole & Weber United has integrated some of those home videos into a new ad, and they’ve done so with visually stunning new technology.

Red the rest of the article and watch the spot here

Project Butterfly

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 23:58:15 GMT

Along with The Palmerston Group, Cole & Weber just completed an innovative research project called Project Butterfly to help brands become more sociable. It's a qualitative study using a diverse range of research methods including immersive ethnography and social experiments in six cities for 3 months. We examined people's social conventions both offline and offline, the characteristics that differentiate truly sociable people from hyper-connectors and how understanding that behavior can provide key lessons for marketers in building and adopting sociable behavior. To find out more or for a complete presentation of the results, contact Mike Doherty at mike.doherty@cwunited.com.

To watch the Project Buttery Trailer click here

Apple juices are all the same, right? Uh, no.

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 23:55:10 GMT

Tree Top is made in Washington State using 100 percent US-grown apples by growers who are cooperative owners. They care about their product and it’s reflected in the quality and taste and Tree Top’s brand tagline, “Real Fruit From Real People.” Seattle Agency Cole & Weber and directorial trio Everynone brought the essence of the brand to life in “Cool.”

Read the rest of the article and see the spot here

International Olympic Committee Launches Ad

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 23:51:40 GMT

A new TV spot from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), via Cole & Weber United mixes user-generated content with Olympians. The spot draws from amateur video submissions across 175 countries to create a video mosaic of current Olympians -- including Michael Phelps, Yelena Isinbayeva and Usain Bolt.

Read the rest of the article and watch spot here

Will Cookies Pump Up Gas Stations?

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 23:27:21 GMT

Mike Doherty comments on how making a gas station convenience store into a shopping destination could be a tall order for United Oil.

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6 Ways to be a Pinterest Superstar

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 23:20:13 GMT

By Britt Peterson, Director of Growth Strategy at Cole & Weber United

The launch of another social community can often cause brands to flock around it like pigeons to a breadcrumb. They want to know the next new thing and feel they must "be there" in order to be relevant.

But Pinterest isn't just another social community. It's an inspiration hub.

Pinterest brings the fun of window shopping, watching an episode of "House Hunters," and flipping through a travel magazine all into one experience. So it's no wonder the average time spent there is over an hour per visit.

Pinterest is aspirational. While Facebook is all about me -- where I am and what I'm doing -- Pinterest is the place where we can share who we want to be, what we want to do, or where we want to go. Those are powerful insights that brands can leverage.

We recently completed a study on human sociability -- called Project Butterfly...

Read the rest of Britt's article here

Tree Top Juice Reminds Us of The Wonders Of Nature in New TV Spot

Wed, 23 May 2012 19:21:02 GMT

Here is the first Cole & Weber United TV spot for Tree Top juice after 30 years, called, simply, ‘Cool’. It was made in order to promote the product and show that it differs from the competitors by the way that it is made, reflecting its natural side and ’Sense of wonder’. Tree Top juice is made in Washington State, using 100% USA grown apples, by cooperative owners that tend to make their product the best possible. This is why using real, non-actor children and shooting in an editorial, documentarian style, the TV spot represents a wonderfully gentle and heart worming take on kids and their moments of wonder in nature.

Read the full article and see the spot here.