Mekanism is a

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

-based creative agency that specializes in the development and production of marketing campaigns,

commercials A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

and

branded entertainment Branded content (also known as branded entertainment) is a type of entertainment product made or otherwise funded by an advertiser. They are designed to build awareness for a particular brand by presenting content that reflects its values and image ...

for

multinational companies A multinational corporation (MNC; also called a multinational enterprise (MNE), transnational enterprise (TNE), transnational corporation (TNC), international corporation, or stateless corporation, is a corporate organization that owns and cont ...

. The agency added a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

office in 2008.Yang, Tony C
Laughing All the Way to the Bank
''San Francisco Business Times''. 8/3/08.

History

Founding

Mekanism was founded in 2000 by Tommy Means as a subdivision of the San Francisco-based company Complete Pandemonium.Diaz, Anne-Christine
Mekanism: Setting the Stage for a New Media Model
''Creativity''. September 25, 2007. Means early on anticipated the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

's potential as a

storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing narrative, stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatre, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cul ...

medium and identified a market gap for a company that focused its efforts on it.Entrepreneur Profile: Tommy Means
''San Francisco Business Times''. November 8, 2009. In 2003 Means spun off the company as an independent fully integrated creative

production studio A production company, production house or production studio is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and video. These groups ...

to develop branded content outside traditional

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

channels.The Production A-List '09: Mekanism
''Creativity''. October 23, 2009.About Page
Mekanism Official Website.

Growth

Mekanism added three key partners: Pete Caban as head of Digital and Strategic Development, as well as Ian Kovalik as a

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

and

Creative Director A creative director is a person who makes high-level creative decisions; oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos; and directs and translates the creative people who produce the end results. Creat ...

in 2003, and Jason Harris as an

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

then

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

in 2005. During this period, the agency began to develop its reputation for reaching younger audiences and telling branded stories in off-beat ways that tended to go

viral The word ''Viral'' means "relating to viruses" (small infectious agents). It may also refer to: Viral behavior, or virality Memetic behavior likened that of a virus, for example: * Viral marketing, the use of existing social networks to spre ...

.Borden, Mark
The Mekanism Guarantee: They Engineer Virality
''Fast Company''. May 1, 2010.Production Roundtable
''Creativity''. January 22, 2008. In those years, as much as 90% of Mekanism's work came from other ad agencies (instead of directly from clients) looking to execute creative ideas on emerging media platforms.Patel, Kunur
Mekanism is Ad Age's Small Agency of the Year
''Ad Age''. August 8, 2011. In 2004 and 2005, they began receiving recognition for their work with two consecutive Cannes Golden Lion awards for campaigns on behalf of

Napster Napster was an American proprietary peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing application primarily associated with digital audio file distribution. Founded by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker, the platform originally launched on June 1, 1999. Audio shared ...

and

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

.Venables, Bell & Partners Agency Profile
AdForum.com. Retrieved July 26, 2012. As a result, Mekanism's business increased twenty-fold; from $472,000 in 2003 to approximately $9.6 million in 2007. In 2008, they opened an office in New York City to accommodate the growth. With Mekanism's

revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of product (business), goods and services related to the primary operations of a business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some compan ...

increasing by orders of magnitude, so too were the number and size of their clients.Champagne, Christine
Profile: Tommy Means
''AdWeek''. May 19, 2008. The agency has completed campaigns for such companies as

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine giv ...

Axe An axe (; sometimes spelled ax in American English; American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for thousands of years to shape, split, a ...

Frito-Lay Frito-Lay, Inc. (; ) is an American food company that manufactures, markets, and sells snack foods. It began in the early 1930s as two companies, Fritos, the Frito Company and Lay's, H.W. Lay & Company, that merged in 1961. Frito-Lay itself merg ...

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase, New York, Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the f ...

Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and a seco ...

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

Muscle Milk CytoSport is an American manufacturer of sports-oriented nutritional products, or "supplements" based in Benicia, California. It is a subsidiary of PepsiCo organized under the Gatorade line of products, and is primarily known for its line of Muscl ...

, and GE.Mekanism Signs New York Directorial Duo Dave and Rory
''Studio Daily''. August 18, 2008.Mekanism Signs Trifecta of Talent
''Studio Daily''. July 13, 2009.

Full-Service Agency

Soon after this period, Mekanism increased its focus on creating viral content and focussed their efforts almost exclusively on clients directly.Kung, Michelle
Behind the Social Marketing of ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’
''Wall Street Journal''. May 1, 2010. Harris took over the CEO title from Caban to become President/CEO. In 2011, the agency created its first

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

spot for Brisk Iced Tea starring

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...

.Levere, Jane
To Promote Brisk Tea, Pepsi Enlists Yoda
''New York Times''. January 2, 2012. It ended up as the No. 1 most-viewed video on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

after

Super Bowl XLV Super Bowl XLV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

aired. In 2012, Mekanism launched a campaign for the

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing animal cruelty. Based in New York City since its inception in 1866, the organization's mission is "to provide effective mea ...

with Dan Harris from

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

’s

Nightline ''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News (United States), ABC News' Late night television in the United States, late-night television news program broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC in the United States with a franchis ...

featuring Harris's adopted cat, "Hovercat"; the video went viral and garnered over 1 million views, with Brendan Gahan, Mekanism's Director of Social Media, noting, "The internet loves cats and it was done for a good cause so it's great to see people rally around it."Hernandez, Brian Anthony
Meet Hovercat, The Levitating Adopted Feline VIDEO
''Mashable''. June 13, 2012. In early 2013 Mekanism created the ad campaign “Youphoria” for the fashion retailer

. Mekanism also became the Agency of Record for Method Home,

Pepsi Pepsi is a Carbonated water, carbonated soft drink with a cola flavor, manufactured by PepsiCo which serves as its flagship product. In 2023, Pepsi was the second most valuable soft drink brand worldwide behind Coca-Cola; the two share a long ...

, Brisk Ice Tea, Amp Energy Drink, Art.com, and

Virgin Mobile Virgin Mobile is a wireless communications brand used by seven independent brand-licensees worldwide. Virgin Mobile branded wireless communications services are available in Ireland, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emi ...

. As of 2022, Mekanism clients included

Peloton In a road Cycle sport, bicycle race, the peloton (, originally meaning ) is the main group or pack of riders. Riders in a group save energy by riding close (drafting (racing), drafting or slipstreaming) to (particularly behind) other riders. The ...

OkCupid OkCupid (often abbreviated as OKC, but officially OkC) is a U.S.-based, internationally operating online dating, friendship, and formerly also a social networking website and application. It features multiple-choice questions to match members. ...

Jose Cuervo Jose Cuervo is a Mexican brand of tequila manufactured by Proximo Spirits. As of 2012, it was the best-selling tequila brand in the world,Dana Cimilluca, Paul Sonne and Simon Zekaria“Diageo Ends Its Attempt to Buy Jose Cuervo Tequila,”''Wall ...

Fanatics, Inc. Fanatics, Inc. is a global digital sports platform that consists of several businesses, including licensed sports merchandise, trading cards and collectibles, sports betting and iGaming, special events, and live commerce. The company began as a ...

and the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

App. In June 2022, the entrepreneurial network Plus Company Canada, bought Mekanism. On October 31, 2022, Eleven, whose brands included

CommonSpirit Health CommonSpirit Health is a health system based in the United States, the country's largest Catholic hospital chain and its second-largest nonprofit hospital chain (as of 2019). It operates more than 700 care sites and 142 hospitals in 21 states. ...

Pella Pella () is an ancient city located in Central Macedonia, Greece. It served as the capital of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. Currently, it is located 1 km outside the modern town of Pella ...

and

Kraken The kraken (, from , "the crookie") is a legendary sea monster of enormous size, per its etymology something akin to a cephalopod, said to appear in the Norwegian Sea off the coast of Norway. It is believed that the legend of the Kraken may h ...

, became part of Mekanism, planning to move into the company's

facilities. Mekanism's New York City office also houses Plus Company's New York City operation, and the San Francisco office will become Plus Company's office for that area.

Notable campaigns

The Influence Project

In May 2010, the business magazine ''Fast Company'' published a profile of Mekanism, during which Harris claimed that the firm could "guarantee

hey Hey, HEY, or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the ...

can create an online campaign and make it go viral." The author challenged them to "prove it" with a wager whereby if Mekanism created a viral campaign for ''Fast Company'', the author would document it for the magazine from conception to launch. Mekanism pitched a number of ideas and ''Fast Company'' ultimately selected one—initially called the "Cover Project"—that came to be known as "The Influence Project."Moses, Lucian
Fast Company Editor Discusses Influence Project
''AdWeek''. September 19, 2010.Borden, Mark
Popularity, Ego, and Influence - What Is the Influence Project?
''Fast company''. July 7, 2010. The campaign aimed to name 2010's Most Influential Person by getting people to sign up, have their

social network A social network is a social structure consisting of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), networks of Dyad (sociology), dyadic ties, and other Social relation, social interactions between actors. The social network per ...

s click on their profile links and sign up themselves. Participants would have their pictures appear in a photospread in the November 2010 issue and the greater their influence, the larger their picture would be.Borden, Mark
A Social Media Diva Reveals Her Formula for Winning The Influence Project
''Fast Company''. July 13, 2010.Myers, Courtney Boyd

Huffington Post. July 7, 2010.

Social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

critics were skeptical of the means and metrics with which Mekanism designed the project; calling it a gimmick and an "ornate marketing

rickroll The Rickroll is an Internet meme involving the unexpected appearance of the music video to the 1987 hit song "Never Gonna Give You Up", performed by English singer Rick Astley. The aforementioned video has over 1.6 billion views on YouTube. Th ...

."Tsotsis, Alexia
Fast Company Influence Project Pisses Off Online Influencers
''SF Weekly''. July 7, 2010.Qualman, Erik
Fast Company Influence Project: Pyramid Scheme or Genius?
. Socialnomics.net. July 26, 2010.. Going Social Now. July 7, 2010. Despite the criticism, the project had 6,000 people sign up within the first 24 hours finishing with 30,000 people in the end.Borden, Mark
The End Of The Influence Project. Long Live Influence!
''Fast Company''. August 14, 2010. ''Fast Company'' generated a traffic of 1.2 million visitors on their site and commented that they "couldn't be more impressed with the response."

Super Bowl XLVII

Mekanism was retained by Pepsi to create buzz surrounding

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...

’s Super Bowl XLVII Halftime Show for 2014. The company asked fans to submit photos in different poses to compile into the video, creating the first fan-made halftime intro. The campaign collected over 120,000 user submissions, generating over 5.5 billion impressions.

Reception

Mekanism's work has been featured in

Ad Age ''Ad Age'' (known as ''Advertising Age'' until 2017) is a global media brand that publishes news, analysis, and data on marketing and media. Its namesake magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930. ''Ad Age'' appears in ...

Creativity Creativity is the ability to form novel and valuable Idea, ideas or works using one's imagination. Products of creativity may be intangible (e.g. an idea, scientific theory, Literature, literary work, musical composition, or joke), or a physica ...

, and AdWeek. The agencies projects are regularly featured in major

periodicals Periodical literature (singularly called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) consists of Publication, published works that appear in new releases on a regular schedule (''issues'' or ''numbers'', often numerically divided into annu ...

like ''Fast Company'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''.Mekanism Article Archive
''Fast Company''. Retrieved July 28, 2012.Elliott, Stuart

''New York Times''. November 14, 2010. Vega, Tanzina
Samsung Takes New Camera on a National Tour
''New York Times''. May 1, 2011. On Mekanism profile, ''Fast Company'' referred to the agency's "reputation as marketing's twisted troubadours" and its ability to "...understand who they're trying to reach and how to reach them." Most recently, ''The New York Times'' called Mekanism "the

Pixar Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney ...

of agencies." Mekanism, along with the company's campaigns have been used by

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

as case studies in marketing and virality, most nobility included in the HBS Case Collection in 2012 in the case study "Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing" by Harvard professor Thales S. Teixeira.

Awards and recognition

Beyond awards for individual campaigns, Mekanism has won several awards for its achievements as a company:Mekanism Agency profile
. ''Ad Age'' Lookbook.

References

{{Reflist, 3 Advertising agencies of the United States Companies established in 2000 Companies based in San Francisco Companies based in New York City