» Client: National Geographic Museum
» Job: Design a local campaign for National Geographic Museum’s new Bizarre Beasts exhibit that will catch the eye of District residents and visitors.
» Agency: Adworks in Washington, D.C.
» Theme: Bizarre Beasts. Adworks focused on the uniqueness of the animals that are in the exhibit by making them the stars of the ads. The Bizarre Beasts exhibit features little-known animals that look mythical, but actually roamed the earth at some point in history. For example, the Helicoprion shark, which existed about 250 million years ago, has a mouth that resembles a circular saw.
» The Concept: Since the animals in the exhibit are so eye-catching, Adworks wanted to do the same with the ads. The team designed a series of oversized advertisements for the sides of city buses that have Helicoprions and other animals jumping off the traditional ad space and onto the windows of the bus. Each ad included the tag line, “Even Darwin didn’t see this coming.” Adworks used a similar concept for the museum’s Archipelago exhibit, which featured unique sea creatures.
“We pioneered this innovative use of the ‘bus king’ format,” said Lin Schaller, Adworks media director. “They do an amazing job of attracting attention.”
» The Plan: The ads ran throughout November and December to promote the exhibit, which will run until Feb. 2.
» Creative Team: Mark Greenspun (creative director), Nancy Karpinski (director of client services), Stephanie Saunders Fouch (director of business development), Howard Taske (director of research and account planning), Lin Schaller (media director), Paul Horenkamp (account supervisor), John McEown (associate creative director).
» Background: Adworks was founded in 1979 by Mark Greenspun on the philosophy that “boring is bad for business.” Today, the agency employs 37 people and has an in-house research and account planning department, as well as a full-service interactive department. Current clients include Hair Cuttery, Virginia Hospital Center and Moore Cadillac.
» Working on Next: The agency will announce its newest campaigns this month. Most recently, Adworks unveiled an online campaign for Virginia Hospital Center.
