We grew out of Altman & Manley, founded in Boston 25 years ago. It was one of the first hybrid design/ advertising firms in the country. We did everything from branding to television campaigns, packaging to direct mail, exhibits to publishing ventures for such clients as Ben & Jerry's, Lotus, and Electronic Arts. Since our work did not look, feel, or sound like advertising, it caused quite a stir. Part of our m.o. is to blur the line between editorial and advertising so that people aren’t quite sure what they’re looking at. The other part is that we see ourselves as people first and marketing people second, which helps us to be pretty good at planting ideas in other people’s heads.
NetJets Europe
Photography: Thomas Heinser Graphic Design: Michael Mabry Design
NetJets Europe has 130 private jets that ferry serious business people, entrepreneurs and rock stars all over Europe and beyond. They were formerly positioned as the leader in private jet travel. We are now reaching out to a much larger audience. The advertising campaign is designed to get across the magic of flying without poor connections, lost luggage, crying babies, etc. The campaign appears in top financial papers and over a hundred luxury magazines.
Riverbed
Illustration: Carey Sookocheff Art Direction: Jason Anderson, A Hundred Monkeys
When we started working with NBT Technology in May, 2003, it was four guys in a room on Bryant Street in San Francisco. The last time we looked, their market cap was $3 billion. NBT stood for, believe it or not, Next Big Thing. They knew they had to do better than that. Riverbed has a product that does some amazing things but it’s hard to explain it unless you have half an hour and a whiteboard. So the job of the advertising was to take something complicated and make it simple.
NetJets Recruitment Advertising
Graphic Design: Michael Mabry Design
Finding the right people takes on a whole new meaning when those people are pilots. This campaign is helping to attract hundreds of pilots to NetJets at a time when supply is very tight. This campaign is also helping to spread the news about a little known player across the European aviation industry.
