Oh, There You Are! Hello SS+K!

SS who? Me? Oh, no SS+K. That’s right – Shepardson Stern and Kaminsky – the agency that you very rarely hear about it has sent out a press release. Good to hear the Josh Kilmer Purcell and the rest of the crew are still churning out work.

SS+K has just launched a new advertising campaign for Congestion Pricing on behalf of the Environmental Defense Fund. Mayor Bloomberg’s Congestion Pricing is up for consideration in the New York State Assembly on March 31 and is facing strong opposition from alternate plans and special interests. SS+K, who dabbles in politics quite a bit, are hear to save the day!“

“New Yorkers agree that commuting is a nightmare,” said Marty Cooke, chief creative officer at SS+K. “So we’re targeting them at their most miserable: while they’re waiting for buses or packed into subway trains. It’s the perfect time to tell them how 100% of the money from Congestion Pricing will finance improvements to their commute.”

Now, Marty… You know, what? We’ll save our Marty stories for another post. So, after that little quote, the press release gets a little weird. Included in the release is a swill of information that seems more like an internal release than one for the press:

“Although the campaign will use contextual headlines to reflect the range of placements, it will communicate the following key message in all ads:

• Keep New York New York: Congestion Pricing means more and better, transit, and a more livable city for all of us.
• 100% of the money raised by Congestion Pricing will go to more buses, more subways and a better commute.”

To view the work, go to: ftp.ssk.com

Username: congestion_pricing

Password: sskcp21

CAMPAIGN BRIEF
Agency:		SS+K
Product Name:		Congestion Pricing
Client:		Environmental Defense Fund
Campaign Breaks:		March 2008
Name of Executions:
		1. 100%
		2. No excuse
		3. Faster than walking
		4. Slow moving billboards
		5. Sodoku
		6. Swear Less
		7. Lottery
		8. Your bus would be here
Tagline:		Keep New York New York
Where Airing:		Transit media in NYC
Media Spend:		Nearly 400 bus shelters around the city + subway and commuter ads
Target Audience:		New York commuters, and ultimately the state assembly
THE TEAM (CREDITS)
Chief Creative Officer:		Marty Cooke
Art Director:		Bryan Chiao
Copywriter:		Jack Cheng
Producers:		Jeannie O’Toole
Account Executive(s):		Jonathan Kopp, Alex Mailman

Right, so that happened.

Don’t bother trying the FTP. It doesn’t work (and yes, we tried a MAC and a PC). I guess it would make way to much sense to send out a press release and have the related media on hand for the press to view.

Anyway, nice to hear from you SS+K.