Case Study: Merchandise Mart Properties.

Challenge: Introduce potential clients to the benefits of leasing space at the Merchandise Mart.

Story: these are the faces and stories of your potential neighbors.

Chicago’s Merchandise Mart is the largest commercial office building in the world. AboutFace’s CEO Barry Poltermann explains how our new media work helps the Mart keep their building leased.

You can see samples of the original work here>>

We previously blogged about the web videos we did for The Merchandise Properties and The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

These webisodes were micro-targeted mini messages designed for online use.

A printed companion to the "60654" video pieces.

But this isn’t the full story of either clients work with AboutFace.  In both cases a full marketing package all spun off of the documentary work we did last fall.

First up, the Mart made a really great, visually dynamic book that reflected closely the visuals we established with the videos.

The photography is made up of images taken from the raw digital footage we shot as well as additional photos shot during the shoot.

Check out the slide show below in order to see how the book came together.

The book also included a DVD of the following long form overview for The Mart Center.

While we wouldn’t recommend a nearly five minute video for online use, it works great to a captive, highly motivated audience:

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For the MSO, we did a five minute ‘fund raiser’ that was shown to captive audiences between intermission at shows.  The piece was very effective… see our MSO case study for some background on results.

Videos were delivered on Blackberry's for use by Brokers

We recently launched a series of webisodes for The Merchandise Mart in Chicago.

The Mart is the largest commercial office building in the world, and these videos profile tenants in the Mart.

It is a great content marketing strategy:  Identify the audience (potential tenants) and determine what would be useful or interesting to THEM.  In this case, “meet your potential neighbors”.

The marketing message of the Mart (parking, green building, public transportation access, technology infrastructure, etc.) is embedded in each video, target to different micro-audiences.

JOHN | SUN-TIMES. We see an inside look at Merchandise Mart tenant The Chicago Sun-Times through the eyes of Former Publisher John Cruickshank and learn why The Mart is such an important part of the paper’s operation.

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MARV | Q101 & THE LOOP. Marv Nyren, Regional Vice President, Emmis Radio, gives us a personal tour of Q101 and 97.9 “The Loop”. The two stations needed to be in the same building, and there was only one right choice – the Merchandise Mart.

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MARK | COMCAST.  Comcast SportsNet needs to be close to the stories – the Chicago teams like the Cubs, Bulls, Blackhawks, and Bears. The Merchandise Mart has the proper facilities and location to bring sports coverage to millions of homes every day.

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JWT. JWT is a creative company and needs a different working environment for its business to thrive. That’s where The Merchandise Mart comes in.

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PUBLICIS. Flexibility is key for Publicis and their advertising companies. We see how Publicis takes advantage of the Merchandise Mart for their needs and how the Mart is on the cutting edge of green efforts.

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CRAIG | NUTRASWEET. Craig Petray, CEO of Nutrasweet, shows off their Merchandise Mart offices and explains how the Mart helps recruit talent that might otherwise work elsewhere

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ALLSCRIPTS. “It feels good to be in a building with some history, and I think our clients like it,” Chairman and CEO of Allscripts, says of being located in the Merchandise Mart. The software business goes well with the Mart.

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JIM | BLUERPRINT. Jim Horan, Founder & CEO of Blueprint, shows us how he went from social worker to food service provider, and how they’re both about helping people – and how the Mart helped Blueprint every step of the way.

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JAN | MINDSHARE. Jan Naddy, Facilities Manager, Mindshare, speaks to the time imperatives her business necessitates, and how the Mart makes operations flow smoothly day and very very late at night.