Giant Ideas
Company: Giant Ideas
Company Division/Group: Giant Ideas
Company Description: Giant Ideas has become the Pittsburgh regions 6th largest creative advertising group in less than two years and is one of the fastest growing creative agencies in the United States, working in partnership with clients nationally, regionally and locally.
Nomination Category: Organization Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Creative Organization
Nomination Title: Giant Ideas
Tell the story about what this nominated functional organization achieved in 2003 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:
Founded after the events of September 11th, 2001, Giant Ideas grew astronomically in 2003 from 6 employees to 23 by years end. Recently recognized by the Pittsburgh Business Times as the region's 6th largest creative advertising agency based on the results from 2002, Giant Ideas is on course for even more growth in 2004. The reasons behind this tremendous growth are varied, but all stem from the vision of Founder Bryan K. Ward who set out to create an organization that encouraged great creative, fostered a spirit of understanding and cooperation, and treated clients with respect, all focused on one singular goal - client success. In 2003, Giant Ideas created nearly 100 television commercials, 88 of which were broadcast nationally, produced an original television series which is scheduled to air on The Outdoor Channel, as well as national direct mail campaigns, print advertising and much more.
One of the biggest challenges in 2003 was the work Giant Ideas did for Adelphia
Communications, which has been in bankruptcy since 2002 and is the subject of
national news. As Adelphia’s agency Giant Ideas task was monumental - convince
existing and new customers that the “new” Adelphia was a vibrant company with a future. The major effort of the year was creating a unified national campaign that totally re-defined the way the company sold its services and products, re-branding the entire offering and producing a major campaign (television, print, direct mail, posters, billboards, bill messaging, internal support and much more.) in a period of only eight weeks from start to finish. This included national focus groups, research and tremendous cooperation between agency and client and resulted in a very successful campaign. To date the campaign and re-branding has been widely accepted among customers and recognized within the industry as a benchmark. It become the largest single campaign in Adelphia’s history and has seen customer retention numbers increase nearly 17% since it began. Considering that customer loss was running at nearly 8% before the campaign puts that number in perspective.Giant Ideas also worked closely with the Pittsburgh Penguins this year and
created a new and highly successful brand for them. The Penguins are currently involved in a rebuilding effort and have nearly 30 players under the age of 25 in their organization. The challenge was to create a brand that acknowledged that fact while creating excitement and increasing ticket sales. The result was “The X Generation”, a brand developed and presented in only 48 hours! The resulting campaign has seen tremendous success and included television spots, billboards, in-game graphics and video, and much more. More importantly however, it was embraced by the sports community and resulted in 18% higher season ticket sales than last years numbers.All of this and more accomplished while continually adding staff, expanding office
space and facing the normal problems that growth brings with it. The hand-picked staff has preformed above expectations and has meet and conquered each challenge above and beyond the call to duty. The vision of Giant Ideas is one that is shared by each and every member of the team.
List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: List each link on a separate line, begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.website.com]:
Giant Ideas own award-winning website
http://www.giant-ideas.comGiant Ideas on AdCritic
http://www.adcritic.com/special/whodidthatspot/current/animal/Article on Penguins Campaign
http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2003/08/11/story5.htmlCTAM Member Directory
http://www.ctam.com/directories/adagencies.htmAgency Preview listing (Advertising Age)
http://www.agencypreview.com/search/credential/general.asp?direct=1&id=20051&tdi=AGgtwxZl
Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of this nominated functional organization:
Bryan K. Ward, Founder/President and Creative Director
Bryan’s expertise as a creative director, ability to forge strategic solutions, and
singular focus on client satisfaction have produced targeted, highly effective work for clients including Adelphia Communications, Campbell’s Soup, Marvel/Fleer
Entertainment, NFL Films, H.J.Heinz, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Carnegie Science Center, among others. In a radical departure from the traditional agency model, Giant Ideas is also involved in a number of television production projects, lending creative and practical business expertise to companies seeking to create syndicated programming content. His work has received recognition from a variety of organizations including national and regional Addy awards, Telly awards, PRINT and CTAM Mark awards.