Cap Gemini

Defy the Economy - A cross border brand campaign

While at StrawberryFrog in Amsterdam, Scott Goodson agreed to have Matt Peterson join me abroad to create a pan European campaign for Cap Gemini. Their business was a complex consultancy with services ranging from IT management to Supply Chain Management to all kinds of other things that made my mind go blank. Our solution needed to be effective in all the countries they served in Europe which meant each office’s marketing team needed to be involved in the approval. While our task was to build a brand but also crystalize their story. In the midst of a recession it became clear that there one thing was common to doing business in every country in the world, the economy. The solution became one of my favorite ideas and perhaps the one that gave me the confidence to start my own agency with Matt. Defy the Economy. We personified the Economy as a sadistic, controlling character and teased out the effort by creating grim notes from "The Economy" throughout Europe. A week later we put up the response from Cap Gemini with the message, "Defy the Economy." My favorite message was this. "Running a company is simple. I should know. I'm running yours.  - The Economy."  I also had the pleasure of learning how seriously the French take their meeting lunches. No sandwiches or cookies here.