founder tommy means headquarters san francisco ca united states number of locations 2 san francisco new york city area served worldwide key people tommy means creative director director jason harris president ceo revenue 28 million 2013 website http www.mekanism.com mekanism is a full service san francisco based creative agency that specializes in the development and production of innovative marketing campaigns commercials and branded entertainment for high profile multinational companies . 1 2 mekanism focuses its work on storytelling for emerging media a line the company has trademarked . 3 4 the agency added a new york city office in 2008 . 5 contents 1 history 1.1 founding 1.2 growth 1.3 full service agency 2 notable campaigns 2.1 the influence project 2.2 super bowl xlvii 3 reception 3.1 awards and recognition 4 references 5 external links history edit founding edit mekanism was founded in 2000 by tommy means as a division of a san francisco based company named complete pandemonium . 6 means saw the internet as a great potential storytelling medium that was not being utilized and believed there was opportunity for a company that focused its efforts there . 7 accordingly in 2003 means spun off the company as an independent fully integrated creative production studio to develop branded content outside traditional television commercial channels . 6 8 9 since then mekanism s core mission has grown and they aim to place the web at the center of all advertising exploiting it to make marketing cheaper faster and more effective across all platforms . 10 growth edit in the years immediately following the agency s founding as a stand alone entity mekanism added three key partners pete caban as head of digital as well as strategic development in 2003 ian kovalik as a director and creative director in 2003 and jason harris as an executive producer then president in 2005 . 9 11 12 during this period the agency began to develop its reputation for reaching young audiences and telling branded stories in off beat ways that tended to go viral . 10 13 as much as 90 % of mekanism s work in those years came from other ad agencies instead of directly from clients looking to execute creative ideas on emerging media platforms . 14 they began receiving recognition for that work beginning in 2004 and 2005 with consecutive cannes golden lion awards for campaigns on behalf of napster and sega respectively . 6 14 15 as a result mekanism s business increased twenty fold ; from 472 000 in 2003 to approximately 9.6 million in 2007 . 5 in 2008 they opened an office in new york city to accommodate the growth . 5 with mekanism s revenue increasing by orders of magnitude so too were the number and size of their clients . 3 5 10 the agency has completed campaigns for such companies as microsoft nike axe frito lay pepsico nordstrom google muscle milk and ge . 16 17 18 19 full service agency edit soon after this period mekanism increased its focus on creating viral content and started working almost exclusively with clients directly . 14 20 for all intents and purposes it was at this point they became a full service agency ; alternately referred to as one part ad agency one part production company and a hybrid of an advertising agency production house and multimedia content factory . 10 21 from 2008 to 2010 mekanism s annual revenue numbers were 10.3 12 million 2008 18 20 million 2009 25 million 2010 . 7 10 22 in 2011 harris took over the ceo title from caban to become president ceo . in 2011 the agency created its first super bowl spot for brisk iced tea starring eminem . 1 14 it ended up as the no. 1 most viewed video on youtube after super bowl xlv aired . 14 in 2012 mekanism launched a campaign for the american society for the prevention of cruelty to animals with dan harris from abc s nightline 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 . 23 in early 2013 mekanism created the ad campaign youphoria for the fashion retailer nordstrom . 24 mekanism is also the agency of record for method home muscle milk pepsi brisk ice tea amp energy drink art.com and virgin mobile . 14 18 25 notable campaigns edit campaigns designed and produced by mekanism 3 8 26 27 client product campaign year awards nominations napster relaunch ekg metal the deal 2003 2004 cannes golden lion 2 sega super monkey ball deluxe true adventures of chad 2005 cannes golden lion one show silver clio bronze andy bronze microsoft windows vista clearification 2006 cannes silver lion 2 andy bronze clio bronze 2 webby 2 axe body spray world s dirtiest film 2007 cannes shortlist toyota matrix yourotheryou.com 2008 frito lay tostitos nolaf.org 2008 addy gold 3 one show silver d & ad yellow pencil 2 axe body spray the fixers 2009 webby nike running human race 2009 ebay holiday shopping love to give 2010 pepsico lipton brisk iced tea that s brisk baby 2011 london international silver aicp show nominee fast company front cover the influence project 2011 webby finalist asme national magazine finalist 20th century fox and rise of the planet of the apes ape with ak 47 2011 cannes shortlist 16th most viewed viral ad of all time 28 brisk brisksaber mobile app 29 2012 2 million downloads sierra club beyond coal initiative 1 2012 method multiple products clean happy 25 2012 nightline hovercat 30 31 2012 nordstrom youphoria 24 2013 pepsi super bowl xlviii soundcheck 2014 usa today s 2014 super bowl top 10 ad meter 32 pepsi pepsi mini oscar 2014 9 million youtube views the influence project edit in may 2010 the business magazine fast company published a profile of mekanism during which harris claimed that the firm could guarantee they 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 . 10 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 . 33 34 the campaign aimed to name 2010 s most influential person by getting people to sign up have their social networks click on their profile links and sign up themselves . 34 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 . 34 35 36 social media critics were skeptical of the means and metrics with which mekanism designed the project ; calling it a gimmick and an ornate marketing rickroll . 37 38 39 despite the criticism the project had 6 000 people sign up within the first 24 hours of the campaign s launch and 30 000 people by the end . 33 34 35 40 fast company had 1.2 million visitors to the site and said that they couldn t be more impressed with the response . 40 super bowl xlvii edit mekanism was retained by pepsi to create buzz surrounding beyonc s super bowl xlvii halftime show for 2014 . 41 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 . 42 reception edit among advertising critics and industry figures mekanism is recognized as one of the unique story tellers in the business as well as experts in creating viral content that effectively reaches its intended target . their work has been featured in ad age creativity and adweek . 3 6 8 14 33 its work is featured regularly in major periodicals like fast company the wall street journal and the new york times . 20 43 44 45 in its profile of mekanism fast company referred prominently 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 . 10 most recently the new york times called mekanism the pixar of agencies . 25 mekanism along with the company s campaigns have been used by harvard business school 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 . 46 awards and recognition edit beyond awards for individual campaigns mekanism has won several awards for its achievements as a company 3 27 47 2014 webby winner webby awards 2014 shopper marketing effie effie awards 2014 2014 entertainment effie effie awards 2014 2012 small agency of the year winner 2011 small agency of the year gold winner advertising age 2011 named an inc. 500 5000 top fastest growing company inc. magazine 2010 a list agencies to watch advertising age 2008 named to the creativity 50 creativity magazine references edit a b c levere jane . to promote brisk tea pepsi enlists yoda . new york times . january 2 2012 . levere jane . using a light touch to attack a dark subject . new york times . march 26 2012 . a b c d e champagne christine . profile tommy means . adweek . may 19 2008 . ozler levent . mekanism signs velvy appleton to head production . dexigner . october 15 2007 . a b c d yang tony c. laughing all the way to the bank . san francisco business times . 8 3 08 . a b c d diaz anne christine . mekanism setting the stage for a new media model . creativity . september 25 2007 . a b entrepreneur profile tommy means . san francisco business times . november 8 2009 . a b c the production a list 09 mekanism . creativity . october 23 2009 . a b about page . mekanism official website . a b c d e f g borden mark . the mekanism guarantee they engineer virality . fast company . may 1 2010 . mekanism agency personnel profiles . adforum.com . retrieved july 27 2012 . jason harris linkedin page . linkedin . retrieved july 26 2012 . production roundtable . creativity . january 22 2008 . a b c d e f g patel kunur . mekanism is ad age s small agency of the year . ad age . august 8 2011 . venables bell & partners agency profile . adforum.com . retrieved july 26 2012 . mekanism signs new york directorial duo dave and rory . studio daily . august 18 2008 . mekanism signs trifecta of talent . studio daily . july 13 2009 . a b beltrone gabriel . portrait mekanism ad shop spins ideas into shareable content for brands on the social web . adweek . virgin mobile commercial the miraculous enlightenment . funny commercials . a b kung michelle . behind the social marketing of rise of the planet of the apes . wall street journal . may 1 2010 . keane meghan . q & a mekanism & the influence project . econsultancy.com . august 11 2010 . the 2011 inc. 5000 list of america s fastest growing companies mekanism company profile . inc . hernandez brian anthony . meet hovercat the levitating adopted feline video . mashable . june 13 2012 . a b beltrone gabriel . nordstrom launches first work from mekanism . ad week . a b c elliott stuart . ads