Our agency happy hour
just got way happier.

Sometimes our job comes with perks. And in this case the perks are subtly carbonated, perfectly hopped, wonderfully crafted beers. Glorious, glorious beers.

First, from Philadelphia’s own Yards Brewing Company. It’s one of the many advantages for doing work for these fine people who were doing the whole craft beer thing long before the craft beer thing was a thing. And besides the caseloads of beer, as their new agency of record, we’re getting to do the type of work that we love and are proud of.  Packaging. Social. Traditional. And stay tuned for a ridiculously cool new Yards website.

And then from U-Bahn Philly. It’s the dope new underground rock and roll and beer and grub joint that everyone is talking about. For Zagat to call it, “Hot,” you know it must be, well, hot. And we’re happy to play a part in their success, doing a whole lotta things for them ­– interior design, menus, uniforms, the website, and all of the advertising.

We’re beaming over here guys. Seriously. Or it might just be the beer. Either way, we loooooove it. Bad.

Getting Down with Arborly Love

Philadelphia is known for its passionate folks – just ask us about our feelings on the Eagles (Romo sucks) or how we like our cheesesteaks (Romo sucks). Of course, this love isn’t exactly associated with everything. Take for instance…trees.

So when the fine folks from TreePhilly (a greening initiative from Philly’s Parks and Rec department that’s backed by Mayor Nutter) approached us recently to help them channel some of our city’s passion in Mother Nature’s direction, we only had one thing on our mind—sweet, sweet Arborly Love.

TreePhilly was gearing up to announce their bi-annual free tree giveaway, and our challenge was to cultivate some citywide chatter about the event. So we figured the best way to get the city talking about trees…was to get the trees talking to the city.

We started the convo by hanging speech bubbles on trees all over the city, basically turning Philly into the City of Arborly Love. The signs included messages of love, straight from the trees, expressing how much the citizens of Philadelphia made their branches tingle. To keep the love flowing online, we also included the hashtag #TreePhilly. Of course, we didn’t stop with just speech bubbles. We also did design work for a special promotional “Tree Truck”, created a bunch of ADDY Award-winning posters and launched a series of killer radio spots.

Our participation in the TreePhilly initiative culminated with a registration kickoff event hosted by the man himself—Mayor Nutter—in Love Park. Among the many speakers was our very own spokestree, who could best be described as Barry White reincarnated as a tree who only wanted to love you…oh so gently, baby. You can catch his heartfelt (and sexy) speech below.

We had fun doing our part in spreading some Arborly Love around Philly. If you or someone you know currently has roots in Philadelphia, be sure to check out TreePhilly.org

Handcrafting Brü’s Website

One of our favorite projects from the past year was to help launch Philly’s new German Biergarten, Brü Craft & Wurst. With inspirations from famous German figures like Mad King Ludwig and the Brothers Grimm, we gave the bar a personality that was a bit…off-kilter. Fortunately, people around here really dig off-kilter (and awesome beer), and Brü’s debut was a major success. After we put down our celebratory steins it was time to eye up the next challenge – creating a website for Brü that was as distinctive as the bar itself.

We knew firsthand that the place was pretty damn cool. The arsenal of LCD TVs. The giant self-serve beer wall. The schnitzel. So we pulled up our lederhosen and got to work, eventually hitting on the idea that the best way to show off the bar was to let the viewer walk right through it…virtually. Sure the idea was a bit out there …but hell, so was Brü.

Of course, pulling off unconventional ideas sometimes requires a little teamwork. So we enlisted help from Nic D’Amico, a celebrity-status photographer based in Philadelphia, to help us figure out how to pull off das site. Ultimately, we used high-res photography with Nic slowly…slowly…slowly walking his way through Brü, taking photos about a half-inch at a time. Patience, Daniel-san.

Making things all the more challenging was replicating a rather packed bar house…for a 10am shoot. Thus working at Masterminds that day meant you had to go sit at a bar and pretend to be a patron…by doing things like drinking lots of beer and eating delicious food. It's a rough life.

The whole process would yield a little more than 1,300 photos and end up taking all day to shoot (not that we're complaining). With the goods in-hand our design team along with help from Center City Film and Video poured in the hours, kicking ass until the vision was complete. The end result? Well. You be the judge.

Brüphilly.com

HOWDY PARTNERS

Flying cars. Zombie apocalypses. Coke 3. Regardless of what the future may hold, we’re making sure we’re ready. Since ‘86, we’ve been a private corporation, making noise for most of that time with just two owners—CEO, Nancy Smith and President, Joe McIntire. Now our two captains are calling in reinforcements, including three new shareholders and partners.

The additions to the masthead include: Ryan Leeds, VP Strategy; George Cortesini, VP Director of Account Management; and Joseph McDonough, VP, Executive Creative Director. All three have clocked plenty of years at the mother ship and have made some big impacts to help put us on the map.

When we questioned our CEO, Nancy Smith for a comment, she said she “never heard of any of those dudes before.” We kid, we kid. Here’s what she really said, ““This was the first step in a succession plan. I could think of no better way to secure the future of the company than to begin to pass it down to those who have been key to its past success and are integral to its future.”

Leeds entered the fray in 2007 as an Account Sup. Before we knew it, he was changing things for the better. Back in the day, his spidey sense told him that social media was going to be a game changer. That intuition lead to the explosive growth of our social media division. Ryan also manages our new biz efforts and helps lead the agency’s new digs in Center City.

Cortesini worked his way up, from the ground floor to the top floor. He began in the mid-90s as an Account Coordinator in the basement at our former “converted house” location. (Ah, memories…) Eventually, his unrelenting work ethic and management skills landed him an office. And a door. All you really need to know is that his clients love the hell out of him. (But not in a creepy stalker way.)

Harley-riding McDonough literally helped open the doors to our agency. From ’86 on, he has led the bulk of our creative goodness with a Sharpie in one hand and a Guinness in the other. With Joe at the helm, our creative department continues to rack up awards and fire on all cylinders.

We’re pretty proud of these three chaps. If you see ‘em out and about and want to hear a few stories, buy them a beer. If you want to hear the dirty versions, start a tab.

No summer vacation from doing good work

Bikini season is officially here. While we haven’t won any swimsuit competitions (YET), we have won something slightly better. A National ADDY. Yep, mastermindsagency.com, the very site you’re gazing at right now, won a National Silver ADDY for Advertising Industry Self-promotion. The site was judged by the industry’s best creatives at the local and district levels, before ultimately grabbing the pretty shiny thingy on the national stage during a recent ceremony in Phoenix, Arizona.

That’s not the only kickass work we’ve been getting dirty with around here. We recently finished up a summer campaign for our friends at the Pocono Mountains. We cranked out several solid TV spots that should lead to thousands of people calling out sick to go zip lining with their loved ones. You can check ‘em out by clicking below:

Coming Soon...

We also helped launch a new German Biergarten. If you’re in Philly, swing by BRÜ Craft & Wurst at 1318 Chestnut Street. Tell them Masterminds sent you and get a complimentary pair of pre-owned lederhosen.

As for what else we’re up to, you can get the latest by checking back here.

Building a Stadium — with help from Marshall Faulk

It might surprise you to know that not one person at Masterminds is a member of the NFL Hall of Fame. In fact, most of us have never even played a down of pro ball. We’re just a bunch of rabid fans who’d sell our firstborn for an extra 20 minutes of the Red Zone channel. So you can imagine how pumped we were when our client, St. Louis-based Lumiere Place Casino, asked us to develop a branding campaign for their expanding chain of Stadium sports bars. A campaign that would feature Marshall Faulk. You know, the Hall of Fame running back with a bazillion TDs.

Needless to say, we didn’t waste any time getting to work. Creative team members Jason Brantly, Creative Director; Brian Murray and Chad Brophy, Copywriters; and Justin Rentzel, Associate Art Director, went into OT building a campaign around “Marshall’s Take,” AKA words of wisdom from Marshall. Before we knew it, we were out in St. Louis, cranking out creative magic with the man himself. The work involved everything from photo shoots to studio time. There was even some elbow rubbing. When the dust settled, the campaign was launched with a series of print and outdoor, plus over a dozen radio spots that you can check out for yourself below.

Although we didn’t get to see any Rams cheerleaders, we still had a great time working with Marshall. He even said that his time with us was more memorable than when he won the Super Bowl. And as our campaign shows, Marshall always speaks the truth.

Share the Love on Generosity Day

Sometimes we like to wax philosophic and think about the mysteries of the universe. For instance: what is love? Being in advertising and understanding that all ads speak the truth, we watched as many Valentine’s Day commercials as possible for the answer. Our conclusion was that love is made of the following: a greeting card, preferably one with glitter [only $4.99], chocolate truffles wrapped in red cellophane [FREE with purchase of three cards!], 12 red roses delivered publicly [only $39.99 and FREE shipping!], a gourmet dinner somewhere fancy [just hand over your wallet now] and finally a diamond, delivered under a tree covered in lights, on bended knee [your soul.] Wait. What?

Ok, so perhaps we’re being a little dramatic, but when did love become about how much one could spend, rather than how much one could simply give?

Last week, we were contacted by volunteers from an organization called “Generosity Day.” They asked for guidance in spreading the word about this “holiday” based on kindness, generosity and yes - love. The idea sprang from a “Generosity Experiment” undertaken by the Chief Innovation Officer at the Acumen Fund, Sasha Dichtor. For one month, he said “yes” to every request as an effort to put action behind the idea of generosity. After his experiment, he launched Generosity Day on February 14th,. The idea was to change the meaning of Valentine’s Day from expensive gifts and obligatory dinners, to true love and generosity. You can see more about the history and watch Sasha’s TED Talk here.

We were inspired by the idea. Our answer to their request was to build an app to facilitate the spread of generosity , which we called “Share the Love.” Here one can learn more about the day, peruse ideas for ways to act kindly and share them through Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, share a personal story of generosity or thankfulness, plus find more information on becoming a media ambassador to help spread the word. You can check it out in action here.

Generosity Day is a complete grassroots effort. There are no paid staff and there is no budget. No one has to buy any chocolates or heart-shaped pendants. There are only volunteers who believe in the premise of generosity, who came together to help spread the word through blogger, social and media outreach. It's positively refreshing. It made us feel happy and we were proud to be a part of the spread of generosity. We plan on giving a little bit extra back on February 14th and throughout the year. We hope all of you reading this will consider doing the same. Share the Love.

We’re Movin On Up.

We’re going through a bunch of changes around here. New office, new clients, new look, hence the new website.

Yep, we’re now in Philly. Conveniently located near other businesses. Like bars. While we’re new to Philadelphia, we’re not new to the area. And we’re certainly no strangers to marketing and advertising. In fact, we’ve been making noise at our Jersey Shore headquarters before Snooki was even born. 27 years to be exact.

Now we have our eyes on bigger things and we’re looking to bring in some talented guys and gals to come along for the ride. Take-no-prisoners creatives, account management folks, and anyone who fancies themselves as an interactive juggernaut. Is that you?

Shoot us an e-mail loaded up with work so impressive, it’ll make us fight out back over who gets to call you first. Until then, thanks for checking us out.

Check out our current job openings here.

Double Truck Rocks the Legendary Dobbs.

We put our talents to work on a daily basis making damn good ads for our clients. But every now and then, a few of us get together to work on one of our other passions. Music.

Such was the case on a recent Thursday night when our Masterminds band “DoubleTruck” tossed its cowboy hat into the ring to take part in the Philadelphia Art Directors Club’s 2nd annual “Battle of the Agency Bands.” Held at The Legendary Dobbs in Philadelphia, our country rock band threw down with groups from other Philly agencies for a wild night of music (and drinking).

DoubleTruckers included VP/CD Jason Brantly and Social Media Manager Drea Janssen on lead vocals, and Account Executive Jon Branca on bass and acoustic guitar. The rest of Masterminds crew was in the house as DoubleTruck rocked the crowd with tunes like Lady Antebellum's "We Owned the Night" and "Need You Now," "Satisfied" by Ashley Monroe and "Don't You Wanna Stay" by Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson. The competition was fierce, but when the dust settled and the final note was sung, only DoubleTruck was left standing. Well, maybe wobbling. There were lots of shots being passed around.

Aside from a damn good show, many of those in attendance also got their hands on limited edition DoubleTruck double koozies. Many of which found their way to ebay, selling for justifiably exorbitant prices.

Of course, the best part of the whole event was that all the proceeds went to charity. Rock on.