We recently began working with internationally acclaimed architecture firm, Perkins+Will, who this year will celebrate their 75th anniversary. The firm has asked us to tell their story in six parts.

The first episode, which features Perkins+Will CEO Phil Harrison, launched recently. These stories will release once a month leading up to the firm’s anniversary celebration:

The unique assets, and ideas that differentiate your story to clients can risk ending up as a broad concept that gets lost when using traditional marketing conventions. The bottom line here: Corporate videos need to resonate, but most corporate videos come across as dull and lifeless.

So, what’s the solution? What’s the approach in avoiding just becoming another talking head?

Here’s how we approached telling the story of the largest office building in the world… Chicago’s Merchandise Mart:

Communicating your unique stories through people creates a genuine takeaway for a client in the considerations they make about your brand and the conversation they want to have with you.

Another example is this piece we did for the new product release of the Belleville Bike for TREK BIKES, which was part of our DOCUMENT series for Trek:

The TREK piece is a great example of taking a story that could have been boring (the launch of a new bike) and make it genuine and compelling by telling a human story that will relate to the target audience.

And here is another “hero” story that tells a larger overall brand message… one sample from our individual attorney profiles from San Francisco’s prestigious HOWARD RICE.

The trust and connection with their clients was achieved through new media tools using video profiles that emphatically defined their people, and company culture. You know what they say…
people remember 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, but 50% of what they both hear and see.

Case Study: Howard Rice.

Challenge: Recruiting from top rated law schools.

Story: The people of Howard Rice.

San Francisco based Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin is one of the country’s leading boutique corporate law firms. In this case study AboutFace creative director Nicolas Gagliano discusses how we use social media to help Howard Rice recruit the best and the brightest.

You can see samples of the original work here>>

We recently finished a series of videos for San Francisco law firm Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin.

The vids have been created for use in recruiting the best and the brightest from the nation’s best law firms, both on the Howard Rice website and within social media.

They are intended to help candidates get a sense of the firm’s culture and people, and help them decide whether or not they are a ‘good fit’.

Here’s a few samples — starting with a profile of Bobbie Wilson, who discusses being the pro-bono counsel for the City of San Francisco handling the gay marriage case at the California Supreme Court.

The firm also plans to use these for ‘client facing’ general marketing the firm on their website.

Shaudy Danaye-Elmi, a Litigation Associate at Howard Rice, sums up her philosophy as having an effect. Results. “Something gets better for a client”. Howard Rice challenges its attorneys with tough cases.

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Seth Sternglatz, Business Associate, discusses transactional legal work, the collegial atmosphere of Howard Rice, San Francisco as a pace to live and the Howard Rice basketball team in this profile.

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John Hughes, Litigation Director, shares his philosophies on recruiting the best of the best to represent Howard Rice. In seeking out ideal candidates, John equates his approach to that of a sports team.