Creative Team Moves From Agency to In-House

As the marketing lead on Time Warner Cable's high speed internet product, I was challenged to keep the sales momentum moving and get creative. I began thinking of ways to relate to our consumer-based target audience and alas I remembered a brief conversation I had with a 6-year old boy at a picnic I was hosting in my backyard. A bee buzzed around the roses as a crowd of friends merrily gathered around a long table under a large umbrella in the afternoon sun. Out of the blue, the little boy, Elliott, asked, "Do Bees Have Ears?"

Interestingly, no one knew the answer. "Hmmm," I said. "I don't know, let's look it up on Road Runner!" So, away we went inside the house and searched the question on the internet browser, "Do Bees Have Ears?" A multitude of finds cluttered the computer screen. We began digging and sure enough, we found the answer, quickly and easily. Since the real-life scenario entered my thought process, I decided to pitch the idea to the Vice President of Marketing. He instantly lit up and said, "Yes, go do that!"

This was a very successful campaign creating a 21% lift in sales over business as usual. You'd hear people talking about it too in restaurants, stores, on the playground.

Do you know if bees have ears? The first direct mail answered a bunch of trivia about bees.