Spectrum “Monsters” Campaign 
Case Study Summary for Chamberlain Group RFI

Ironically, this story of building a brand soul involves a whole collection of characters with no souls at all. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves…

Spectrum - the internet and cable provider - was struggling to differentiate itself in a commodity industry. Not only did they not have a strong brand, but what little recognition they had was negative. Not the ideal springboard for the competitive campaign they needed to take on the big names – and billion dollar spenders – while trying to differentiate themselves in the category and with consumers.

Shouting louder was never going to be an option. They were being outspent ten or even fifty to one. David against the Goliaths. They needed to sneak in under the radar, with a strong, ownable message. A personality. A tone. 

So we created what we call the Monsters Campaign. Using the world’s most evil characters - the soulless individuals we talked about earlier -  to call out the category’s most evil business practices. Because who better to know. Bad guys skewering bad guys, in funny, watchable ways.

It immediately repositioned Spectrum as a brand that had your best interests at heart. A truth teller. An honest broker in a world filled with AT&T’s and T-Mobile’s crappy business practices. 

But what was conceived as competitive, quickly became a brand hit. Suddenly Spectrum was part of the conversation. Comments went from neutral (leaning negative) to positive. The campaign was brought up on customer service calls. Online, people clamored for more spots. LA was even interested in a sitcom (given the Geico Cavemen story we politely said no.)

In a saturated industry, full of speeds, feeds and price points, an honest, meaningful, entertaining message did wonders for the brand. It ran for 5 years. Breathed new life into the company. And is still the most successful campaign in Spectrum’s history at shifting brand approval.