Campfire, the New York-based brand entertainment shop responsible for some of the industry’s more memorable campaigns for Sega, Levi’s, Audi, Pontiac, Verizon, HBO, and Discovery Channel, has acquired The Advance Guard, one of the first marketing consultancies to focus on the consumer conversation side of emerging technology and community platforms.

• The Advanced Guard co-founders Steve Coulson and C.C. Chapman will join Campfire’s executive team of partners, Steve Wax, Mike Monello, Gregg Hale, and Jeremiah Rosen, as Creative Directors.
  
  
• Financial terms of the acquisition are undisclosed. The Advance Guard’s 2008 billings approximate $1 MM, while Campfire’s annual billings are estimated at $7 MM.
  
  
• The merging of the two companies will bring Campfire to a total staff of 25.
  
  
• Since its own inception in 2007, The Advance Guard has collaborated with Campfire on several groundbreaking campaigns including HBO’s ‘True Blood’ viral controversy; Verizon FIOS’s original TV makeover series, ‘My Home 2.0’; Discovery’s ‘Shark Week’ adventure marketing; and Snapple’s latest digital ‘Real Facts’ initiative. Such successful collaborations led to Campfire’s decision to acquire the shop.
  
  
• Steve Coulson comes from a rich alternative media background. As an agency director at both JWT and McCann Erickson, his portfolio included award winning brand work for the likes of DeBeers, Ford, Smirnoff, WSJ and Unilever. He is also known for creating the successful pop culture blog YesButNoButYes, which to-date feeds a community of up to 1 MM readers per month.
  
  
• C.C. Chapman, whose background is in social engagement, is revered as a pioneer of podcasting and new media. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and Boston Globe and appeared on CNN during Obama’s inauguration to comment on the CNN/Facebook integration effect. As the host of the famed weekly podcast, Managing the Gray, Chapman educates people on how to best leverage the social media landscape.
  
  
• One of The Advance Guard’s earliest successes was a pioneering social media experiment for American Eagle Outfitters. This led to more breakthrough work for the likes of Coca-Cola, Warner Brothers and St Martin’s Press.
  
  
• Campfire opened its doors in 2006 and has helped the advertising industry achieve great strides in brand storytelling and entertainment marketing ever since.
  
  
• Monello and Hale, two of the shop’s founding partners, recently celebrated the 10 year anniversary of their 1999 classic cult creation, The Blair Witch Project, a pitch perfect study in the power of social media marketing

 

Attributed to Steve Wax, Campfire:

"This acquisition was a natural step forward in providing Campfire with access to The Advance Guard’s thinking from day one. We are delighted to have them in-house at Campfire."

Attributed to C.C. Chapman, The Advance Guard:

"We’re eager to fully integrate our process into Campfire’s legendary narrative efforts in marketing. Bottom line, brands should be managing their own conversations – and the trend toward bringing on experts to help them do that will continue to grow. Both The Advance Guard and Campfire were built to assist brands in precisely this way, and we look forward to a successful and entertaining ride."

Attributed to Michael Monello, Campfire:

"Steve Coulson and C.C. Chapman are the master navigators behind the social media scene who make transmedia storytelling possible. We think cross-platform, they execute cross-platform. We create addictive and entertaining content, and they disseminate it strategically based on research and analytics. It’s a perfect match that brings Campfire completely full circle and full service."

Attributed to Jeremiah Rosen, Campfire:

"Steve and C.C. have proven themselves crucial to our ideation and execution process time and again. And we now have a new, accessible offering for our current and prospective clients."

 

Images

• Campfire Executive Team Photo (web)
• Campfire Executive Team Photo (print)
• Campfire Logo (web)
• Campfire Logo (print)
• The Advance Guard Logo (web)
• The Advance Guard Logo (print)

 

Case Studies

• Verizon - MyHome 2.0
• Audi - Art of the Heist
• A Taste of Something Different: How HBO created advance buzz to promote the launch of Alan Ball’s “True Blood”
• Rocking the Steel City: Pittsburgh gets rocked by American Eagle Outfitters on and off the music stage

 

Founded in 2006, New York-based Campfire propels brands into two-way audience engagement. By employing integrated tactics in the non-traditional, interactive, online and social media categories, Campfire puts brands in the hands of captivated consumers, building communities of brand loyalists across multiple media. An acclaimed leader in the new marketing space, Campfire created award-winning campaigns for major brands including: Audi, HBO, Levis, Pontiac, USA Networks and Verizon.

For more information, please visit us on the web at www.campfirenyc.com

Press Inquiries
Contact:	Alyssa Siegel
Phone:	212.396.9179
Email:	alyssa@aj-media.com

General Inquiries
Contact:	Simone Oppenheimer
Phone:	646.837.0340
Email:	soppenheimer@campfirenyc.com

 

Campfire | The Advance Guard | Social Media | Agencies |