MailChimp said “hi” to the world in a way that felt right to them: by having fun with their name.

We created a massive, integrated search campaign featuring nine stand-alone pieces with names that all kind of sound like “MailChimp.” Using mispronunciation as our creative device, we made cultural activations for almost every type of media you can imagine—snack-food brands, musical groups, hairstyles, instruments, nail art, beauty trends, cinematic short films, OOH, influencers, editorials, digital and social media.

These seemingly disparate executions were all part of a highly orchestrated web of digital and physical content, connected by mispronunciation and design.

We knew that if we made something intriguing enough, people would search for it.

And when they did, we’d be there waiting for them, Then we’d tell them a little story about a company that believes doing things your way isn’t just more fun, it’s good business.

We created MailShrimp, JailBlimp and KaleLimp—three cinematic short films that entertained audiences in hundreds of theaters nationwide.

We invented FailChips, a real brand of crushed potato chips that flew off the shelves in bars, bodegas and sandwich shops everywhere.

We formed VeilHymn, a musical collaboration between Dev Hynes and Bryndon Cook that spawned a hit single (on SoundCloud and Spotify) with an interactive music video (on Vevo and YouTube) that received praise from Rolling Stone.

We started the MaleCrimp, a hair trend so ridiculous it was covered by major fashion magazines, including Vogue Paris.

We made WhaleSynth, a real, digital instrument made entirely out of whale noises.

We launched NailChamp, an online battle in which hundreds of thousands voted for the world’s top nail art artists.

We introduced SnailPrimp, an anti-aging beauty treatment that had LA beauty bloggers covering their faces with snail slime at the Ace Hotel.

MailChimp’s “Did You Mean MailChimp?” campaign was covered by elite media of all segments and surpassed benchmark expectations across the board.

The campaign garnered a total of 775.3 million media impressions, created culture rather than chased it with $3.52 million in earned media value, sparked 3.8 million organic searches and brought in 29% more visits to MailChimp’s digital ecosystem than anticipated.

When we surveyed 1,000 people in our target audience (including entrepreneurs, small businesses and the creative class), 44% of respondents recognized the campaign, with 85% of those who recognized the campaign having something positive to say about it.

People who recognized the campaign thought it was different and attention grabbing:

77% said this ad campaign captures my attention

70% said I have a better sense for MailChimp’s personality after seeing this ad campaign

65% said this ad campaign makes me interested in learning more