Sparking Imagination

Background.

“Your dreams? Yeah, we support them fully.” In the mind of a child, this is the only thing that matters, especially in music and art. Curtis Cormack, one of the founders of CORMACK, experienced this first-hand in the Texas music community, and his name carries some significant weight for local music history and legacy.

While CORMACK was previously associated with another travel company, the company had shifted focus to helping students kindle their passion for making and producing music, all while organizing travel for students to attend festivals and performances around the world. The idea behind all of this — to keep the next era of music alive and inspired.

CORMACK approached us because it’s not easy to start a new company with only half of your prime selling season, and they asked us to help them quickly generate revenue while giving the brand exponential lift and growth. Using our 5-1-2 framework for building relationships among professional networks, a far-reaching strategic advantage in a short timeframe, CORMACK relied on us to generate critical mass and build out their runway for their next 12 months, and we only had 2.5 months to hone the strategy, produce new creative and media, and run the campaign.

Challenge.

We sat around a table and painted the picture — we had very little time as it was the middle of CORMACK’s main selling season. With a crammed strategy phase, and relying heavily on team knowledge of the industry, we needed to strategically position the CORMACK company, brand, and founders with a new name and identity that would break through the market.

We already knew of the lifelong connection between the decision-makers and our target audience over the course of their professional careers, and so we mapped out the thousands of people across the nation that needed to know who was behind this new brand name, and what the name meant. By harnessing the power of these relationships and scaling them to new audiences, we knew we had a challenge worth pursuing as a way to earn new business.

We also needed to position this new brand as a long-established industry leader, building off its reputation and simultaneously funneling it to the new initiatives.

Campaign.

The ‘Sparking Imagination’ campaign began with a coordinated effort to build the brand image and develop meaningful relationships with the specific audiences we targeted, including the directors of music groups, school administrations (school principals, board members, etc) and the parents of students. Among the students, however, we only sought to provide additional, multi-generational motivation to get community members involved and make these once-in-a-lifetime trips a reality.

The next step was to develop and supply CORMACK with a fresh identity, creative collateral, and a natural online and offline presence, extending the brand’s reach into the fabric of each tour’s experiences. Using virtual reality was a category disruptor and a breakthrough idea at the time, and it was paramount in reinforcing the fun, wonder, and imagination that these experiences could present. The VR experiences were strategically placed at some of the largest music educational conventions, including the TMEA (which represents over 17,000 current and future music educator members) where all the CORMACK account targets would assemble in a single place.

Through the use of VR, we developed a platform to immerse users in experiences that transported them to world-class performance venues, world wonders, and cultural and historical centers. Students virtually played along with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall; they traveled to England to march for the Queen; they rode bicycles down trails in Chile.

These experiences targeted students and music directors alike at the conventions. While students virtually traveled the globe, we connected the music directors with a panel of the country’s top judges and directors, providing insights into how CORMACK’s tours can help improve their music organization’s performance and their students’ passion.

Results.

The VR experiences sparked a series of insightful discussions about the brand and what it was accomplishing, and it allowed the CORMACK team to create new, meaningful relationships while strengthening past relationships with key individuals from their years of industry interaction.

Nevertheless, it was the middle of CORMACK’s sales season and the odds were stacked against us. But we believed in the campaign’s power and hit the industry with extraordinary gravitas. Within just 3 months, the campaign netted over $5M, sustaining the brand through its first breakneck selling season.

The campaign also propelled the brand’s reputation as a premier option for student travel without having to leave the State of Texas.

FIVE

Along with our strategy of ‘Sparking Imaginations,’ we set out to revamp the CORMACK brand identity and form deeper, more meaningful relationships with the specific audiences we targeted. This included improved sales copy and artwork for an elegant stationery system and sales-enablement collateral, supported by a custom, trip account management system.

Finally, at some of the largest music educational conventions, we set up the unique, immersive VR experiences that left unforgettable memories between the brand and students, educators, and music directors alike.

ONE

Guiding the campaign was a strategy based on identity and experience and was powered by the strength of the personal and professional networks of the industry. It also focused on an exceptional, transparent interaction between brand and audience at the last mile and was scaled to a nation-wide approach.

TWO

From the VR experiences at the largest conventions in music to the updated brand identity targeting new, diverse audiences, including the directors of music groups, school administrations (school principals, board members, etc), and the parents of students, we helped CORMACK earn over $2.3M in first-year revenue. Along with increased brand loyalty and referred demand, we also deeply connected the brand to 50 qualified leads for large international accounts with the VR experience at the conferences.

The Work.