The USGA came to us looking for help branding their flagship championship. The U.S. Open was one of golf’s oldest and most important championships, but it was losing ground to the competition because it lacked a clear, powerful brand. Our first deliverable was a timeless tagline that could somehow speak to the difficulty of the championship, its uniquely American heritage, the fact that it’s open to anyone who’s able to qualify, and the prestige of winning. So four things. One memorable timeless line. Easy, right? The solution came in the form of our national motto. We realized that e pluribus unum (out of many, one) made the perfect tagline if you just flipped its original meaning 180 degrees.
The U.S. Open. From many, one.
They liked it so much, one of our clients even named his new puppy Unum. Once we had the line, it was time to build out the platform. Here’s how it went down. Them: We don’t have much money for production. We have a very conservative audience. We’re a notoriously risk-averse organization. We have to be on air in a few weeks. Us: Let’s see if we can get Don Cheadle.
Fox liked our script so much they asked if we could come up with a promo they could run during the Super Bowl. We heard about it 45 minutes before we started filming. Insert quote about pressure being super motivating or whatever.
This spot ran Championship Sunday, just after the final putt dropped.
Here’s this year’s champion, Bryson DeChambeau, talking about our work in his post-round interview, minutes after winning his first major championship. Pretty cool.
Not sure what’s in the glass.
After the success of the U.S. Open work, the USGA asked us to help them talk about their commitment to junior golf. Because their budget was so small, they asked for an internal-use manifesto video made with found footage. We called in a bunch of favors and made this instead. And then ran it on national network TV.
Next it was time to promote the U.S. Women’s Open. The USGA had never really put any money behind the Women’s Open so first, we got them to reallocate some funds to fund a media plan. Then we reached out to some friends and friends of friends to help us make something to push out. Turns out that not only is Kathryn Newton a huge golfer, but she’s a friend of a friend of a friend.