Welcome to Boomtown.
Rebranding
Client | Boomtown Casino
Pinnacle Entertainment’s iconic Boomtown brand was tired, bland and relegated to an afterthought by many. Until Masterminds came in and brought some noise.
To jump-start an image overhaul, we hit the books, the pavement and the coffee until we unearthed the insight that people were into the local vibe and familiarity of Boomtown. It wasn’t just their casino. It was their joint. A place where they could knock back a few drinks among friends, get into a little trouble and just be themselves.
To bring this “speakeasy” experience to life, we created the “Welcome to Boomtown” campaign complete with a rich backstory. Boomtown was reloaded with a provocative attitude and a brash, bold look. Not unlike those customers who are the heart and soul of this joint.
Meet the heroes behind the heroes.
REBRANDING
CLIENT | BATTLESHIP NEW JERSEY
Every Batman has his Robin. The lesser-known guy behind the scenes. It was this type of unsung hero that the Battleship New Jersey, now a floating museum on the Camden Waterfront, was set to spotlight with the new “City at Sea” tour.
The tour took visitors into the rarely seen areas of the Battleship - the doctor’s office, dentist’s office, laundry room, TV studio, barbershop and post office - where the “heroes behind the heroes” thrived. The campaign pulled off some heroics of its own, but fortunately none of us were forced to wear spandex. Though some may have voluntarily.
Blood, sweat and more blood.
PRINT CAMPAIGN
CLIENT | JERSEY SHORE RUGBY
Legend has it that at a local bar, a Masterminds employee accidentally spilled a whiskey sour onto a member of the Jersey Shore Rugby Club. The employee quickly agreed that our agency would do an ad campaign in exchange for not getting his ass kicked. After some brutal creative scrums, we nailed our winning campaign.
Loaded up with the type of blood, guts, testosterone and grit that make up a good rugby player, these ads scored big with league members and fans alike. In fact, we had so much fun making them that we eventually formed a rugby team of our own. On XBOX.
I am Fallen Oak.
BRANDING
CLIENT | FALLEN OAK GOLF COURSE
Most of us at Masterminds are pretty handy with a 7 iron. So when MGM MIRAGE asked us to take our best shot at launching their new Tom Fazio-designed golf course, Fallen Oak, we were game.
The research was tough, and included many, many, exhausting hours on those perfectly manicured greens. We ultimately discovered that the course had a personality all its own, and to highlight this to our audience of elite golfers from around the country, we gave it its own voice. One that spoke directly to the psyche of avid golfers, who we knew wanted nothing more than to put their game to the test against the best. A voice that called, “I am Fallen Oak, 7,487 yards of possibility and impossible beauty.”
The golfers answered and came in droves. Unfortunately for us, we eventually had to leave.
Discover something unique.
WINTER CAMPAIGN
CLIENT | THE PHILADELPHIA ZOO
Hippos. Illusive giant elephant shrews. Ring-tailed lemurs. We love everything about the Philadelphia Zoo. So when they approached us to help boost their attendance during the winter months, we were all over it.
The challenge was not only to create awareness that the zoo was open year round, but to also prove that it was worth going to, even in the brutal cold. To solve this, we settled into our natural habitat – messy office desks filled with the warming glow of laptops. Eventually, in true survival of the fittest fashion, we landed on the insight that smaller crowds gave visitors the chance to linger a bit longer and discover something unique that they may have missed during more crowded visits.
Adult swim.
NON -TRADITIONAL MEDIA
CLIENT | BEAU RIVAGE RESORT & CASINO
Located on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, MGM MIRAGE’s Beau Rivage is a resort casino that draws plenty of out-of-state visitors. So when it came time to think of a new way to make this segment take notice of The Beau, we decided to take our creative talents to the first place this audience sees when they hit up the Gulf Coast – The Biloxi Gulfport Airport.
Figuring they were already stressed out from flying, our intent was to give travelers a sense of R&R, asap. Our big idea was to transform the bag belt into a refreshing pool, complete with real water and real bikini models. And when the airport said, “no,” we created the illusion of a refreshing pool with some really cool imagery. It grabbed travelers’ attention – and we grabbed plenty of awards. Splish splash.
Nothing’s greater than this.
FACEBOOK + POCONOS = GREATNESS
CLIENT | POCONO MOUNTAINS
Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau [PMVB] turned to Masterminds to help launch their seasonal campaign, which included two major media markets—and a gutted budget. To solve this problem, we did what we do best. We made some hot chocolate. Then we did the other thing we’re not too shabby at – we got creative.
“Life’s Greater in the Pocono Mountains” is a multi-channel campaign which compared our audience’s hectic city life with the kick back ‘n’ relax offerings of the Poconos. The campaign featured the “Greater Maker,” a social media game that allowed fans to take a break from posting pictures of their meatloaf dinner and instead create their own “greater than” equation to share with their friends. It was an easy way for the PMVB message to be extended into big markets without draining the budget. More importantly, it was fun as hell to play.
Adventure overload.
BRANDING
CLIENT | UPSTATE PA
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. Five convention and visitors bureaus come together for the first time to market themselves under one umbrella. They have a nearly non-existent budget. They turn to you for help.
Who knows why the hell we said yes to this challenge, but we’re glad we did. We focused our efforts by going after a group who also likes a good challenge– “The Roof Rack Crowd.” And we did it by calling them out. We appealed to their inner adventurer to “Mount Up” and do a little extreme multitasking – biking, hiking, tubing – hell, even some spelunking if they were game.
We didn’t break any bones making these ads (that we remember) but one guy endured a paper cut that will never be forgotten.
