Getting noticed by potential clients can be a big challenge for small agencies. So, when 88 Creative heard that “dream client” Warby Parker was setting up shop in Toronto, it decided to get creative.
The Toronto-based digital marketing, design and PR agency created an illustrated poster that outfits some of Canada’s biggest celebrities including Justin Bieber, Pamela Anderson and Drake, in Warby Parker’s spring collection of eyeglasses and sunglasses. The poster featured the headline “Warby Parker Looks Good on Canada.”
88 Creative sent a copy of the poster to Warby Parker’s New York headquarters. It also created a landing page welcoming the company to Canada and saying, “we want to work with you on your Toronto launch.”
“We started a ‘dream 100’ client list, thinking about the types of brands and companies that we would love to work with someday, and Warby Parker was on that list,” said Erin Bury, managing director at 88 Creative. “When we heard that they were launching in Canada, we said, ‘okay, this is our chance and we need do something attention-grabbing.’”
88 Creative is a small agency with just 11 people, and Bury thought Warby Parker might gravitate towards a larger local agency if they were to hire one. “We wanted to stand out, so that if they need help locally, they think of us first,” she said.
More than a welcome message, the illustrated poster also showed off 88 Creative’s design skills and creativity. “The goal of this was always to get their attention, but I think the larger goal is to showcase the type of aesthetic we have as an agency and the type of creativity that we put into our ideas,” said Bury, noting 88 Creative also shared the poster on social media.
“The larger by-product of putting it out there was all of the comments that we had from people in the industry saying ‘wow, it’s a great idea,’” said Bury. “I think that larger feedback is almost as important as any recognition from Warby Parker, although it wouldn’t hurt if they hired us.”
Bury said a retail brand manager at Warby Parker reached out and said the poster wass “unreal,” but so far no word on setting up a meeting.
