Rakuten is a way to get cash back on your purchases, both in store and online. Before Rakuten was a household name in the US, they approached Sandwich to create some DR work to do the heavy lifting of telling people what it is, how it works, and why people should be excited about it. 

The goal was clear: drive acquisition and create a brand announcement for a new market. In essence, “This is Rakuten!” Our approach was to shoot a series of elevated testimonials: real Rakuten users speaking to their experiences, knowledge, and honest feelings about Rakuten (all positive, naturally). 

We recognize that trust is the key element in the success of these kinds of commercials, so we grounded our testimonial stories in truth and authenticity in order to give our audience reasons to believe the people on-screen, and by extension, to trust the Rakuten brand. If the audience trusts that what they’re seeing is not just good, but true, they’re that much more likely to take action towards the next steps of becoming Rakuten users. And because sometimes a little repetition can help make a complicated name a little “sticky” from a brand perspective, we also threw in a goofy spin on our testimonial spots for good measure…

While Sandwich isn’t in possession of the performance data, Rakuten approached us for an even more comprehensive campaign within two months of our first shoot with them. And they’ve agreed to be our reference, so something tells us the work is working… 

Rothy’s makes fun, colorful shoes—and just so happens to make them sustainably, too. They sold over a million pairs in 2018 and were looking to take their advertising to the next level: TV.

They asked if Sandwich could help. We tried their shoes and loved them. It was a perfect fit.

The challenge was to create a campaign that clearly articulated Rothy’s brand values, but did so by using the lively visual language of fashion marketing. So we set aside the standard tropes of explainer videos, or DR–driven testimonial spots, and focused on crafting something more artful and aspirational.

We collaborated closely with Rothy’s on the concepts, the casting and the styling, producing two spots in the same scope but with different messaging approaches. (And we did it with a crew that was almost entirely female.) They were designed to be similar in look and attitude but with different messaging approaches so Rothy’s could see which resonated more with their audience.

The commercials don’t rely on a narrator, or even a single spoken word. They’re driven by music and sound and color and personality, with a few carefully chosen end cards to wrap it up. All these elements work together to tell the Rothy’s story in a way that’s just as fun and colorful as the shoes themselves.

And it worked. Rothy’s TV investment has increased their aided brand awareness and their direct sales.

The spots also caught the attention of ADWEEK:
Rothy’s Is the Latest DTC Brand to Launch a National TV Campaign With Its Fun Female-Focused Spots

Subsequent to our campaign, we also had the opportunity to work with them on some alternative edits for a creative refresh after the initial spots spent some time in market, which we were able to do economically from what we shot during their initial campaign.

Sandwich has helped launch a number of brands that are now ubiquitous. One of the biggest is a product we didn’t think we we needed: Slack. 

Slack’s founder, Stewart Butterfield, wrote us an email saying we should try it out and make a video about it. Our founder, Adam, said: Nah, we’re good with what we have. But then we tried Slack out, discovered how great it was, and pretty soon it transformed how we worked. We were sold, and, even better, we realized how we could sell other people on it, too: 

Just tell our story. 

See, a lot of people didn’t think they needed Slack, because they didn’t really know what it was, or how it was better than email or chat or Dropbox. They could relate to our initial skepticism, and they would get the a-ha moment just like we did. 

So we shot the video in our office, documentary-style, starring us as ourselves. We even got Stewart to re-enact writing his first email to us. (Complete with annoyed scowl when Adam turns him down.) 

Instead of cluttering up the spot with a lot of technical details and interface shots, we grounded Slack’s features in actual interactions between actual people actually using them. This not only helped explain how Slack works, but also helped define the brand as human and humorous—something that’s still in its DNA today. 

Years later, people still tell us all the time that they used our video to convince their management to give Slack a try…just like we did.

Stitch Fix is a service that hand-selects clothing based on your unique style and size, then ships it right to your door. In 2016, they were ready to expand their advertising from online to TV, but wanted to test the waters with performance-driven, direct-response testimonials. So they got in touch with us.

We’re known for introducing and explaining exciting new things to people, using whichever method is the most effective. Testimonials are one of the tools in our toolbox, but Stitch Fix trusted us to bring something new to the format, and execute at the highest quality.

We wanted to explain how Stitch Fix works through the words of their customers, but we always prioritized emotion over process. Sure, Stitch Fix is all about convenience, but what it’s really about is confidence—feeling good about yourself and comfortable in your own skin.
We captured that feeling on film and…it worked:

“For our first TV campaigns we hired a ‘big’ agency to produce one ad and we hired Sandwich for another. The Sandwich work surpassed our expectations and was far more successful for us than the campaign from the larger agency.”
—JULIE BORSTEIN, COO, STITCH FIX

What started as an experiment became a core part of Stitch Fix’s marketing strategy for the next few years. Sandwich helped create one successful campaign after another, constantly evolving and refining our approach.