True to form, H|L has nabbed even more coveted Adrian Awards for our work with Missouri Division of Tourism and the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission.

Missouri Tourism’s “What’s Not to Like?,” and the CVC’s “The Meeting Guru,” “St. Louis Summer Blockbuster Radio” and “St. Louis Welcomes ASAE” have earned six of the prestigious honors, which celebrate the travel industry’s very best advertising. Not too shabby. Two of the campaigns have won gold. Which means they are in the running to bring home platinum. Which is the best you can get. Really not too shabby. At least until you can win weapons-grade titanium.

More on this after the event in late February.

Mom Bomb 	

Dad Freaks Out 	

Kid Caribbean 	

To some, sending out a holiday card is just a formality. To the St. Louis CVC (and H|L), it’s another opportunity to do something different. Like taking St. Louis-based street artists The Screwedarts Collective, spray-paint, and a camera and creating something memorable. Got your attention? Check it out here.

There are a million and one things to like about our home state. And that’s exactly what we showcased in our latest Facebook campaign for The Missouri Division of Tourism. From having “zero recorded freshwater shark attacks,” to being “the best state between Kansas and Illinois,” the tongue-in-cheek Facebook posters struck a serious chord with users. So much so that the campaign resulted in over a 1,000% increase in likes and a 574% increase in engagement on VisitMO’s page in just over a month. Those are some serious numbers.

So what’s not to like about this campaign? About the same as what’s not to like about MO.

Always wanted to see Venice? Paris? Copenhagen? Well no need to renew your passport, because the STL has got you covered.

Our latest spot for the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission, “Jetsetter,” shows those within driving distance just how close to a world-class city they really are. And it does so by driving a 747 right through it.

Simple idea. Big execution. No TSA pat-downs necessary.

And a big shout out to Coolfire Media, who did a killer job of making this idea come to life.

Landing on the moon is hard.  Landing the Moonrise Hotel‘s PR, digital and social media business… that was slightly easier.  Maybe it was the will of the universe.  Maybe it was our star-studded team of creative thinkers.  Or maybe we’re just lucky.  Regardless, all the stars aligned and we couldn’t be more excited to be adding the Moonrise Hotel to our ever-growing list of great clients.

All which was made official when some aliens from space dropped off a case of Moon Pies at our office. Or at least that’s what one eyewitness claims.  Either way, we can’t wait to use our creativity to tell the world about this wonderful local destination.

And we begin in exactly T-minus 5… 4…3…

The band OK Go has a reputation for taking creative risks, stepping away from easily produced methods, with their videos. Their current project is no exception. Not to mention creatively AND technologically cool, if you have Google Chrome installed on your computer. Which could be a problem if you are an OK Go fan, since only a small percentage of the web-surfing population use the Chrome browser, (only 7-12% depending on the site).

So download Chrome and install it, then go to http://www.AllIsNotLo.st to view the video the way it was meant to be seen.**

How does this all tie into advertising / marketing? My thoughts went to Google. They’ve leveraged this project as a viral way to get users to download (and use) Chrome. Will Google Chrome see a boost in long-term users thanks to OK Go’s video? Remains to be seen. However, this is a smart, simple, cost-effective and engaging marketing effort by Google. A company that has enough money they really don’t have to go the viral route, but they did.

I love it when a big company thinks like a small company.

Here is a link to some of OK Go’s other work if you aren’t familiar with their music.

** = The actual site content takes a while to load. But worth the wait.

It’s not often that we report on meetings. But Tuesday’s was full of potential, hope and tons of enthusiasm.

That’s because it was a meeting with twenty-three students from the Youth Learning Center. The YLC “provides unique academic and enrichment experiences for youth from underserved communities to inspire lifelong learning, social responsibility and moral leadership.”

Specifically, these high school freshmen and sophomores are participating in a five-week course on entrepreneurship. As a supplement to their curriculum, they came to learn about what an advertising agency does and to practice their skills as budding entrepreneurs.

But the early indications around the office show that the agency benefitted just as greatly. If not more.

It was a chance to give back. A chance to learn about a great organization. And an overall fantastic meeting.

McDonald’s is currently offering buy one, get one free Big Mac Sandwiches. Which begs the obvious question—which one will taste better?

In the one hand, you’ve got the Big Mac you’ve been craving. The one you’ve been looking forward to all day. You’ve earned it. In fact, you’ve paid for it. So, that sense of accomplishment comes with the already amazing, world-famous Big Mac taste.

In the other hand, you’ve got the freebie. The bonus Big Mac. The same ingredients but for 100% off. It’s a gift. And you didn’t even have to do anything to get it. Pretty tasty.

We decided there was only one way to find out which Big Mac tastes better. And that, of course, was to create The World’s First Online Taste Test.

So, without further ado, we invite you to click to taste each burger and voice your preference with the like button underneath.

Our good friends over at Twist Film took it upon themselves to enter some work we produced together for McDonald’s last year.

On top of that, it won.

Two TV spots from the “Few Seconds” campaign took silver. (That’s the big one.) From the sound of it, the judges appreciated our idea of McDonald’s getting your food to you fast enough to interrupt your daughter’s makeout session and keep you from falling off of a loading dock.

The winning spots are posted below.

According to their website, “The Telly Awards honor the very best local, regional, and cable television commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions, and work created for the Web.”

Thanks to Director, Matt Pittroff, at Twist for his great work on the campaign and for making the entry.

A while ago, H|L sent out a plea for a multi-talented intern. Someone who could shoot photography. And also shoot video. Oh, and edit video. And design in his or her free time.

To be honest, we were kind of surprised when Rebekah Nelson showed up in February.

Then, we were blown away by all that she could do. She shot. She edited. She designed. In short, she made us look really good. And for only three days a week.

That was until last week when the agency brought her on full-time.

Now we have an in-house staffer to focus on video content, production coordination, graphics and more stuff we haven’t even thought of yet.