PROMO 100 SPOTLIGHT/NEW TRICKS
leaddog marketing shot its first TV spot last year.
Not that the small event agency is a stranger to TV — it has done several tours for the ABC Network. But this was its first time behind the camera.
That willingness to take on new chores has helped LeadDog jump 20 places in the Promo 100.
The TV spots — and radio, print and outdoor ads — were part of MSG Network’s campaign for its documentary series, “The 50 Greatest Moments at Madison Square Garden.” LeadDog handily won the event assignment, then asked to pitch the creative portion. “Their ideas were great,” says Steve Mars, vice president of marketing and on-air promotions at MSG Media.
MSG Network blanketed New York with ads, a sweepstakes, pre-premiere events in Grand Central Station and viewing parties. It even cut a deal with the Garden’s food vendor, Sabrett, to give away 50,000 hot dogs marked with the MSG brand. And all this helped the series pull an average rating of 1.3.
LeadDog’s 2006 net revenue totaled $3.8 million. But that’s three times what it was in 2004.
“We’re in this really good portion of the growth curve,” says Dan Mannix, who founded the agency eight years ago.
LeadDog signed AOL and the NHL as clients last year, and added work from ABC. And it has for years been running that network’s annual Fun in the Sun tour. Once, a bride in Biloxi, MS left her own reception to dance with her favorite soap star at the tour stop. “She showed up in a limo with all her bridesmaids,” laughs Charly Schwartz, a LeadDog vice president.
They didn’t stay for a hot dog.
TOP EXECUTIVES: Dan Mannix, president and CEO; Charly Schwartz, vice president; Karen Ashnault, vice president of account management
2006 U.S. NET REVENUE: $3.8 million
KEY CLIENTS: Cognizant Technology Solutions, World Wrestling Entertainment, Madison Square Garden Network, AARP Publications
HEADQUARTERS: New York
