Tom Haslow Strategic Planning Portfolio

Tom Haslow!646-342-8176!

tom.haslow@gmail.com!thomashaslow.com!

Good ideas happen when you’re awake

Being awake means seeing things as they are

When you see things as they are, you can be a little more fearless

Because you know what’s important

And can move toward it without hesitation

You can connect the dots and see the shape of things

And what they could become

You know what you need to do to change them

And then you can

This portfolio contains 3 case studies of projects completed at Miami Ad School’s Account Planner’s Bootcamp. They represent collaborative work with two talented and dedicated teams.

The targets are diverse, as are the brands and business challenges. What unites them is thoughtful research and creative thinking about how to solve problems and create opportunities for brands. They are all driven by good ideas.

After the case studies, there is a short section about my life and previous experience.

Case Studies!

GameStop – Making an irrelevant product relevant ! 4!

Smart Car – Finding a new target for a brand that missed the mark!! ! ! 11!

All Saints – Positioning an established brand in a new market! ! ! ! 17!

Bio!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 23!

A product insight makes the irrelevant relevant

Tom Haslow, Account Planner; Eider Cordoba, Account Planner; Kristina Bingham, AD; Dan Berenson; Copy Writer!

…by selling a product no one needs

Downloadable content is something serious gamers know about. You just click through your Xbox or PS3 online portal, punch in your credit card number, and buy new maps and levels for your existing game. It’s easy, and you don’t need a DLC Card from GameStop to do it. DLC cards involve a trip to the mall, disorganized in-store displays, and you don’t even get to keep the cards, you just get a register receipt with a code that you punch in at home.

BACKGROUND: Avoiding Blockbuster’s fate

GameStop, America’s largest video game retailer, was in an unenviable position: remain relevant as a bricks and mortar selling digital content in the download era. They asked us to increase interest in their DLC (Downloadable Content) cards as a way to drive traffic to their stores and keep them relevant.

CHALLENGE: Make the irrelevant, relevant

We thought about who may actually have a use for DLC cards: Heavy gamers (usually men in their 30’s) still have to buy game discs at GameStop, but they all download DLC the easy way. Young women are growing consumers of games, but they play mostly casual games that don’t involve DLC. Moms buy a lot of games for kids, but reaching out to them would mean rebranding GameStop. The stores are blocky, computery temples to maleness. Change that and we lose the core dudes.

INSIGHT:

With so many reasons not to buy DLC cards, it struck us that there was one feature that DLC cards had over online systems: you don’t need a credit card. You can pay cash, then use the code GameStop gives you to access the content when you get home.

Dudes welcome here

The Product

STRATEGY:

GameStop empowers teenage gamers to play by their own rules.

TARGET: Teenage boys 13-17

Once we identified the key advantage of DLC cards, finding a target was a lot simpler. Who loves games and doesn’t have a credit card? Teenage boys.

Give them what they want… freedom.

We video interviewed teens and confirmed what we remembered from our own pimply awkward years: teens crave freedom, and love to express their autonomy. They text, IM, go to malls together, and drive around for no reason… all to be themselves outside the realm of parents.

Parents tend to tightly monitor their purchases and restrict credit card access. But teenagers do have small disposable incomes from part-time jobs and allowances that they can spend as they please.

CREATIVE STRATEGY: GAMESTOP LETS YOU PLAY YOUR OWN GAME

We created NOCC Club, a multimedia platform and loyalty program that puts DLC cards at the center of giving teen gamers control over their gaming experience.

No awkward adolescents were harmed during the making of this strategy

NOCC means “no credit cards” and is a riff on the Non Official Cover agents used by the US Government. With exclusive features in-store and online, NOCC gives teen gamers the control they crave. No one can track them, and no one can tell them what to do.

INVITATION TO JOIN NOCC Teens today don’t really receive mail, so we decided to go retro and send them (and not their parents) physical mail inviting them to join NOCC.

“Game Stop speaks your language… Because gaming is more of a lifestyle than a hobby, we refuse to provide anything less than the ultimate gaming experience. We’re still in your shoes, we know what gamers want. Unlock the next level of your life, control your own world. No permissions, no restrictions…. Enjoy all the DLC your HD can handle, in-store, with cash… At GameStop, the gamer makes the rules...”

We wanted every touchpoint to breath life into the world we were creating for teens, so we made over the DLC cards to feel like access cards into a top-secret organization. The cards detach from their hang tags, and can be collected in the NOCC card portfolio.

DLC cards, before and after! Card Portfolio!

AUGMENTED REALITY ID CARD These cards are blank, but when aimed at the AR kiosk below, they reveal the photo and identity of the user, and unlock the features of the kiosk

NOCC members have access to augmented reality tools that enhance gamers’ experience in-store, and create a sense of covert exclusivity.

AUGMENTED REALITY KIOSK NOCC members can preview and get information about DLC content available

NOCC EXCLUSIVE YOUTUBE CONTENT NOCC members are given a password to access exclusive content on GameStop’s youtube channel. There, they can watch video walkthroughs and tricks from hit games, lead by top gamers and designers

NOCC FACEBOOK This page contains members-only forums, realtime chat events with expert gamers, and exclusive pre-order opportunities for upcoming releases

SMART CAR: Finding a new target for a brand that missed the mark

Tom Haslow, Account Planner; Eider Cordoba, Account Planner; Kristina Bingham, AD; Dan Berenson; Copy Writer!

CHALLENGE: The hybrids… they’re multiplying!

Fast-forward to 2011, and a new slate of hybrids from Honda, Ford, Toyota were set to launch that beat Smart hands down on mileage and eco-footprint. Young urbanites liked Smartʼs small size for city parking, but found it too expensive for what you get (4-seaters like Toyota Yaris or Hyundai Accent cost the same) and surprisingly, many of them just found it ugly. !

BACKGROUND: Small, and getting smaller

The tiny, 2-seater Smart Car launched in 2006 as a funky, cheap, eco-friendly ride for young, progressive urbanites. As time went on, sales and interest in Smart began to wane. We had to figure out why and make a change while not abandoning the core progressive ideals of the brand.!

Smart was more about fun than anything else…

We drove the car (very fun), interviewed owners and dealers, and poured through Smart forums online. There was a passionate user base for this car. People proselytized about it to their friends. They liked the eco-friendliness, but what they loved most was just driving it, how people gave them thumbs up as they cruised by and asked them about it at gas stations. Even a trip to the grocery store became an adventure. But these Smart lovers were not the young urbanites who Smart had been attempting to reach. !

A Facebook poll of Smartʼs current target yielded alarming results!

INSIGHT: Learning to have fun again!

Our target was entering a new phase of life. For Boomers, their kids were gone, and the middle aged dads could finally set aside some time for themselves. Smart reminded them of a bumper car, a golf cart, a Lego car, something that hearkened back to a more innocent time. It was anything but a boring commuter car. It was a little vessel to get out and explore.!

When they drove their Smarts through their cities with no kids in the non-existent back seat, they were momentarily free from the decades of being responsible for everyone but them. They felt young again, exhilarated by that same feeling of freedom and exploration that came when they got their first car.!

STRATEGY:

Driving Smart is like driving your first car, all over again. !

TARGET: Boomers and Dads

We discovered that the people who loved this car, and bought the majority of them, were significantly older than the 20-somethings Smart had been targeting: They were mostly baby boomer empty-nesters and middle aged affluent dads. They liked Smart for the mileage and did share the progressive outlook of Smart, but they loved it for other reasons. !

CREATIVE STRATEGY: YOUR NEW FIRST CAR

We created Street Smart, a mobile platform that helps Smart drivers explore their world and turns driving into an adventure

This man was shocked to learn that he was not 25!

STREET SMART

The Street Smart mobile platform helps our target explore their cities so they can make the most of their newfound freedom. It has games, curated content, and guided tours.

We didn’t want to “age up” Smart, so while we targeted older drivers, the platform was designed to appeal to progressive people who like to explore, no matter what their age.

DICE GAME

Re-imagining a teenage driving game, we created Street Smart Dice. Shake your phone to shake the dice. They determine which direction you drive and how long

you drive for. Spontaneous and dead simple.

STREET SMART GUIDE

A collection of GPS guided tours of American cities that aren’t boring travel guides, but off-the-beaten-path tours of quirky destinations, and lesser known museums and cultural events. They help uncover the hidden gems of the cities that Smart lovers will want to explore.

smARTist SERIES

A year-long traveling exhibit of customized Smart Cars produced by 12 artists, placed near key attractions in 12 cities over 12 months.

It may seem odd to put “street art” and “baby boomer” in the same sentence, but we’re reaching progressive people who have been out of it, and are looking to get back in, go to museums, do culture. We chose crossover artists they may have read about in the paper and would be curious about, like Sheppard Fairey (Obama’s HOPE poster) and David Byrne (from Talking Heads.)

smARTist Game

Driving game where drivers try to find all 12 artist Smart cars in their cities. The app geotags the driver’s location when they find a car, and gives clues as to the location of other cars.

To enhance the feeling of connection to the local, and the artists themselves, we’ll partner with Pandora, and ask each artist to design a custom playlist around the memory of their first car.

We will sell reproduction panels of each artist’s work which can be easily affixed to Smart cars, letting our target show the world what they are into.

ALL SAINTS: Positioning an established brand in a new market Tom Haslow, Account Planner, Micaela Ancewitz, AD; Fernanda Machado; Copy Writer!

CHALLENGE: What does All Saints mean in America?

The middle Americans we needed to reach had more conservative taste than the fashion forward buyers in New York and LA, yet they were buying the clothes. We had to find and connect with the newbies, nurture them, and not lose those who had embraced the brand from the beginning.

BACKGROUND: British (Fashion) Invasion

All Saints, the edgy British clothier, had launched in America. Their upscale garments, inspired by London punk and Japanese avant-garde, had found eager buyers in coastal cities without any advertising. They wanted a plan to position the brand in this new market, and grow loyalty as they expanded to 70 stores across America.

ALL SAINTS

Comme de Garcon

Diesel

Old Navy

TARGET: Professional women in their mid-20’s

When interviewing shoppers and visiting stores, we quickly realized that while men liked All Saints, they didn’t perceive the menswear as being that different from competitors’ clothes. The women’s line was very different, and the women (mid-20’s professionals) who liked it, really liked it. They also has the disposable income to buy a $250 sweater once in a while. We knew they could be advocates for the brand.

The gateway drug to high fashion…

To our target, All Saints was the nexus of the mall and the runway; more radical than Diesel, but not as crazy as the Comme De Garcon dress they saw in Vogue. It was a first step into the upper reaches of the fashion world.

Women found the clothes “scary at first” and they “couldn’t find the arm hole” on some of the garments, but once they put them on, they fell in love. These distressed, edgy garments made them feel more confident and powerful. The clothes were helping them push the traditional notions of what was sexy, what was masculine, what was feminine, what was appropriate.

fashion pyramid!

INSIGHT:

When our target wore All Saints, they were giving little clues about their “other side.” They were telling secrets that they wanted the world to know.

STRATEGY:

All Saints lets women to share their secrets and embrace their “other side”

…and to a more fully realized vision of themselves

It was deeper than just how they looked. All Saints made them feel like “the women I want to be.” It was different for each woman, but it was clear that All Saints was taking them to what we called the “other side”.

They usually wore just one or two items, a funky sweater or a distressed coat, over their more “normal” clothes. They loved wearing the clothes at work, where they provoked conversation and attention. They said it was like wearing “a little piece of last night’s party in this morning’s office meeting.”

CREATIVE STRATEGY: SECRETS

We created a multi-channel campaign that lets women share their secrets, hear others’, and turns their stories into future content, and reward them for their participation.

Your  face  here  

the woman you want to be!

PHASE 1: RAISE AWARENES Funny internet radio and viral video spots about women using that hidden, aggressive side of themselves to get what they want.

PHASE 2: SHARE SECRETS Encourage target to share their own secrets

In-store vintage typewriter and submission box

Microsite to share and read others’ secrets

Secrets

PHASE 3: GENERATE USER CONTENT Use submissions to create additional media

User-submitted secrets printed on garment tags and turned into additional All Saints-produced videos on youtube

PHASE 4: REWARD PARTICIPANTS

Direct mail invite to a masquerade ball for those that submitted and their guests, held in cities where All Saints has stores, so that secret sharers can come out and play,

but still be anonymous. If they desire…

PHASE 5: KEEP TALKING Fun ways to keep people telling their secrets

Partnership with Foursquare to add anonymous secret stories about the bars and clubs our target hangs out at. You get an All Saints “bas ass” badge for participating.

All Saints blog where people can continue to share their stories, and get info on future All Saints events

I discovered planning in 2010 while editing a new business video at JWT. I loved the people I worked with. What they did and the way they thought just made sense. I worked 12-14 hours a day for about 2 weeks. We won the pitch. Iʼd found my tribe and set a path to join it. !

Before that I spent several years in film and television, editing and producing music videos, documentaries and TV shows for AMC, IFC, Comedy Central, and Discovery. Iʼve also worked with big consumer companies like Merk Pharma and IBM, shaping their b-to-b communications. I learned storytelling and structure from all of this; how pieces fit together to create a larger narrative. I also learned how to work with clients. !

During this time I also played music. As the guitarist for The Drums and the singer/guitarist for Action Painters, I toured Europe and America, played for thousands of people at the temples of my rock and roll heroes, recorded two albums, made music videos, and had my tunes on MTV and in bad commercials. I also had more fun than you can imagine. !

It was art, but it was also business, and I approached it as an entrepreneur. In music, the competition is relentless and there is never any time or money to waste, so you have to pay attention and make smart choices. It focused my passions and taught me to think strategically and work collaboratively. There is no harder industry to make it in than music. I made it. Then I got sick of sleeping on a bus for months on end. !

I received a BFA film and television from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.!

In planning, I see an ideal combination of the creative and analytical skills that I have been sharpening for a long time. I canʼt wait to get started. !

about me