Love is a two-way street. And in the case of our neighbor and new client, that street is Seventh.
After learning that our hometown ball club was in the market for a new advertising agency, we wasted no time in assembling a team and establishing contact.
Several agency staffers had previously worked with the Redbirds. But a proven track record and strong relationships were just the beginning.
Next, we set out to do for ourselves what we do for our clients every day: get recognition.
Looking out our office windows, we couldn’t help but notice that our potential client was literally right there. Just down Seventh. Well up, technically. North. Anyway, we knew there had to be a way to reach out to our neighbor as more than a prospect.
And that was exactly it. We would approach them as neighbors—neighbors who happened to find a major league baseball on their hardwood floor amid a pile of broken glass.
We bought baseballs, created boxes, handwrote notes and purchased broken glass.
Yes, we bought broken glass. As in Hollywood stunt glass from Alfonso’s Breakaway Glass in Santa Monica, CA.
Hey, if it’s good enough for Bruce Willis, it’s good enough for us. And we didn’t want anybody cutting themselves during a pitch.
The attached note simply read: “We found this on the floor next to our broken window. We can only assume it came from your stadium. Let’s meet to resolve this matter in a neighborly fashion. How does next Friday sound?”
The only trouble was we didn’t get a meeting on Friday. Or the following Friday. Or any other day for another month.
Evidently, the team was busy. They had assured us we would get together after the division series. Or the NLCS.
As they marched into the World Series, we had time to think. And stew. And decide to stop stewing and come up with another idea.
So in an effort to stay in their minds, we came up with another idea. We just had to make sure it would be even bigger and more attention-grabbing than the broken window.
On the Monday following the World Series victory, we delivered a branded, painted, semi-functional, thirty-pound bullpen phone to their offices.
The message was simple: we’re ready.
Programming the actual message that would play when someone picked up the receiver would prove a little more complex.
In order to do that, we MacGyvered a light-activated, pre-recordable sound chip into the phone’s existing hardware and reassembled it. Easy, right?
Well, it was a little involved. But it was ton of fun. And we immediately got a response. The week after the Cardinals collected their eleventh World Series trophy, the client said the bullpen phone was by far the most impressive thing they had ever received.
And one week later, we were named agency of record for our beloved neighbors to the North.
To announce our new relationship, the Cardinals sent us a customized mailer of their own. Love requited.
