Challenge
During my time at GMR, I had the opportunity to lead the pitch presentation for 3M. 3M needed to tell their story without advertising themselves traditionally and upfront and center. They wanted to be known for their science and innovations, resonating with the audience in a meaningful way.
Solution
Superbowl was held in Minnesota 2018, and leaders crafted a Bold North Super Bowl platform/theme that embraced the state’s chilly winter weather gathering more than 100,000 out-of-town visitors, 100 million TV viewers and 5,800 journalists. I needed to align the theme to the Super Bowl's theme and deliver a strong message.
3M captures the spark of new ideas and transforms them into thousands of ingenious products. I lead the creative and brand platform development. One of the main challenges was that 3M was not your conventional product that you are familiar with, thus it was a challenge to bring 'Science applied to life' in a way that was relevant to the brand and traditional marketing was not going to cut it.
I was able to build a strong idea with limited guidance from the client and tight deadline. We needed to tell the story of 3M's culture, creative collaboration that inspires a never-ending stream of powerful technologies that make life better. 3M is the innovation company that never stops inventing. 3M underscored every part of the city with their innovations, light-enhancing optical films that protect sensors aboard autonomous buses being tested that week on Nicollet Mall by the Minnesota Department of Transportation and providing materials necessary to put on an event the magnitude of the National Football League Championship. While 3M will have its name on a warming tent along Nicollet Mall, it also produced the reflective lanyards and hat logos for the 10,000 Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee volunteers who will greet and help visitors.
Fans attending games saw 3M products tucked into every crevice of the building. 3M’s graphic films were used extensively in banners, advertisements and displays. Its “DI-NOC” architectural laminates and fancy finishes were used in concession stands. 11 different fire barriers used inside the building and the semi-translucent polymers that were extruded to make the stadium’s lightweight roof. 3M also provided the ear plugs, safety goggles and hard hats used by construction workers over the two years it took to construct the building.
Results
We not only won this project but got to work with the client as a partner, winning even more business. Further, the team and myself leading the project were invited to 3M's innovation center to learn more and get on-boarded as their brand. 3M exclaimed that we 'really understood their business" this was a true accomplishment for me as a creative director. My ideas lived beyond the Super Bowl presentation and translated into a plethora of 3M brand experiences, from SXSW, pop-up experiences to content on their social channels; twitter and facebook.
My Manager was very pleased and said I did a great job on an incredibly tight timeline with vague guidance from the client. Further I dove right in to a space that was outside of my comfort zone
