Everyone knows what a typical state commerce ad looks like. It is a cookie-cutter template where you just hit "print." To expose this status quo trap to stakeholders, I created a blind montage, playing all of South Carolina's competitors' ads back-to-back with their names erased. The lack of originality was undeniable. The trap was snapped, freeing us to tell South Carolina's story in a way only we could.

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The Strategy: "Work Where You Love"

South Carolina’s biggest hurdle was an outdated, backward perception. Marketing fluff alone would not convert skeptical business leaders. Our story had to be a disruptor. We needed to counter perception with fulfilled promises, proven case studies, and corporate kingmakers.

In the New Economy, South Carolina offers a rare and highly coveted proposition: why not live in the place you love to vacation? This insight became our creative strategy, inviting corporations to escape the concrete cages of the Old Economy and finally "Work Where You Love."

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Show, Do Not Tell: Executing the Vision

Executionally, we had to show, not just say, that South Carolina was innovative. To dramatically demonstrate our embrace of technology, beautiful landscapes, and a maverick mentality, we crafted a visually arresting narrative starring actual corporate trailblazers.

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Recruiting top CEOs from BMW, Sonoco, and Nephron Pharmaceuticals provided immediate validation, but it also introduced severe constraints on their on-site availability and production windows. These constraints became our creative launchpad. By combining brand new innovations in optical camera techniques and CGI, we developed inventive, high-tech visual landscapes that seamlessly surrounded our narrators. The result was an emotive and visually powerful argument positioning South Carolina as the true headquarters of American innovation.

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The Legacy

Unlike anything in its category, the Launch to Legacy campaign and its all-new brand identity system completely differentiated South Carolina from the clones of commerce.

The Results:

• $20B+ in economic investment secured.

• 15,000 new jobs created.

• 65M+ global impressions across trade and business media.

• Top Honors for video innovation awarded by The Drum Awards and Telly Awards.