Embarq: 1 of 3

Challenge: Begin with deteriorating economic realities, add telecom price wars and a redefined consumer target (families with kids under 18) and you’ve got the conditions for a smart new messaging platform – one that acknowledges the changing times and target audience.

Solution: Leverage the reasons that families are spending more time at home together—changing lifestyles, life stages and new economic pressures—and demonstrate how EMBARQ fits in.

From morning to night, communication providers play an active role in nearly every activity in the household: Checking the weather online or on TV. Helping kids research a history project. Connecting with family and friends. Planning travel. Watching movies together. So we created a campaign around our new messaging platform, “It’s a big world out there. EMBARQ brings it home,” positioning EMBARQ as the provider who brings the world into your home through the Internet, phone and television. Through engaging imagery, we showed consumers that planning a trip to Easter Island and researching naval history for their child’s project were only a web page away, and family movie night was right in their living room.

We’re thrilled that the “Bring it Home” campaign generated over 1.6 million calls from January–June ’09, while core service (Phone/Internet/DISH) direct mail within the campaign generated 25% close rates for Q1 ’09.

Embarq: 3 of 3

CSX: How Tomorrow Moves - 1 of 4

Challenge: Increase awareness and improve opinions of transportation giant CSX.

Solution: Show that CSX is a responsible way to ship the products we love and need.

CSX is one of the biggest transportation companies in the U.S., but few people know exactly what they do or how important they are to our day-to-day lives. Not to mention, a lot of what people think they know about rail freight is wrong. Trains are actually a safe and environmentally responsible way to transport goods. They keep traffic off our highways and can move a ton of freight 436 miles on a single gallon of fuel. As it turns out, once we made people aware of these facts, opinions of CSX improved dramatically. This led to our new brand positioning and strategy: CSX moves the critical ingredients of everyday life in ways that make a difference today and tomorrow. In plain English, that means we all get the stuff we want without wrecking the planet. Check out CSX.com for the whole story.

CSX: How Tomorrow Moves - 2 of 4

CSX: How Tomorrow Moves - 3 of 4

CSX: How Tomorrow Moves - 4 of 4

SunTrust: Live Solid. Bank Solid. - 1 of 3

Challenge: Establish SunTrust as a trusted partner in this day and age when no one trusts financial institutions.

Solution: Stand for something that consumers can genuinely believe in.

Live solid. After the meltdown, that’s what people everywhere were looking for. A way to be solid, live solid, do business with a bank that was solid. SunTrust couldn’t simply claim it, even though they were one of the few banks to emerge unscathed from the economic crisis. Instead, by celebrating people who chose to and believed in living solid – staying out of excessive debt, living within their means, knowing their priorities, focusing on family and loved ones – SunTrust had a platform from which to talk about its own products and services. Products and services that were compatible with people who wanted to “live solid.” The campaign touches on every aspect of people’s lives — television, print, in-branch, collateral, radio, online advertising, microsites and a corporate website – suntrust.com.

SunTrust: Live Solid. Bank Solid. - 2 of 3

SunTrust: Live Solid. Bank Solid. - 3 of 3

Challenge: Refresh La Quinta’s brand positioning to differentiate it from a sea of look-alike competitors.

Solution: By being an antidote to negativity and stress, La Quinta can build an emotional bond with travelers.

Let’s face it: Travel has become pretty stressful these days. Especially for business travelers, who shuffle around the country praying for upgrades and an extra bag of airline pretzels. But there are moments of joy for even the most relentless road warriors, and we knew if we could find them we could forge a connection with these travel-weary souls. We thought the power of optimism could elevate and transform perceptions of La Quinta and help the brand stand out against the competition. So we positioned the hotel chain as the “bright spot” at the end of the traveler’s tunnel.  Softer beds. Brighter colors. Bigger rooms. Comfort and relaxation at the end of a long day. Maybe it’s all the positive thinking, but people seem to be responding. With a 20% increase in brand awareness and traffic to lq.com up by double digits, there’s a lot to be optimistic about.

LaQuinta:Wake Up on the Bright Side - 1 of 4

LaQuinta:Wake Up on the Bright Side - 2 of 4

LaQuinta:Wake Up on the Bright Side - 3 of 4

LaQuinta:Wake Up on the Bright Side - 4 of 4