PR Contact: Kathy Macaraeg
Ph: (310) 649-0944
E: [email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LOS ANGELES – Muse Communications proudly announced that Partner, Vice President and Account Director Candace Rohr has been recognized by Black Enterprise as a “Top Woman Executive in Advertising and Marketing.” Rohr, who has been with the agency for 14 years, has successfully led such accounts as Wells Fargo Bank and California State Lottery in their multicultural marketing efforts.
“Candace has played an instrumental role in building solid relationships with her clients, ensuring their business goals are met, as well as maintaining the agency’s position as a leader in providing culturally relevant work,” states Shelley Yamane, President and Chief Strategic Officer.

Black Enterprise conducted an extensive review to select the “Top Women Executives in Advertising and Marketing” by researching the nation’s 100 leading advertisers, the top 100 global marketers, general market advertising firms and Black Enterprise’s top 100 advertising agencies to select women who are charged with consumer engagement, product positioning and brand-moving initiatives that are making a huge impact on the top and bottom line of global business. The list includes women from advertising agencies, as well as marketing executives at leading national and global brands.

Since joining Muse Communications, Rohr has worked with the agency’s top clients to create culturally intelligent brand experiences and marketing programs that produce solutions and desired results. In addition to account management, she also spearheads the Agency’s new business efforts, with notable assignment wins for Google and Mattel.

For information about the agency, please visit www.museusa.com.

About Muse Communications
Muse Communications, an independent advertising agency that celebrated its 25 year anniversary this year, has been an agency partner to Wells Fargo since 2001. Founded as America’s first agency to target African American, Asian and Hispanic audiences, the award-winning agency has developed culturally relevant messaging for Fortune 500 companies, The White House, The Partnership for a Drug Free America and The Ad Council.

The mission of Muse is to create brand experiences that occur at the intersection of advertising, entertainment, technology, and culture. The agency’s strategic insights and creative ideas transcend ethnicity and race. Everything done at Muse is filtered through the lens of culture – it’s what differentiates the agency from others. Muse has received the Agency of the Year award from the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the Mercury Award for Best Radio Spot, the AAAA O’Toole, a CLIO Award, The Advertising Club of New York Andy Award of Excellence, Creative Show Silver Award, Gold Effie Award, Art Directors Club Award, Belding Award and the Hispanic Agency of the Year award from the American Association of Advertising Agencies. For more information, call (310) 945-4100 or visit www.museusa.com <http://www.museusa.com/> .

Agency Launches Broadcast and Print Campaign To Reach
African American Consumers


LOS ANGELES (Oct. 17, 2012) – Muse Communications announced the launch of broadcast and print advertising for long-time client Wells Fargo. The creative is part of a larger campaign titled “Conversations”. It takes a personal approach to demonstrating the importance of planning for the future in a clear, relatable way through real-life scenarios.

Muse Communications developed the African American execution of “Conversations” to complement the general market campaign, developed by Wells Fargo’s general market agency DDB. The African American campaign includes two broadcast commercials and two print ads.

The broadcast spots, titled “Todd” and “College” focus on the benefit of establishing a relationship with Wells Fargo for long-term planning. “Todd” shows the journey a young man takes in purchasing his home, including a conversation with his financial advisor at Wells Fargo. It highlights the importance of saving for long-term goals while still meeting day-to-day financial needs. In “College,” a husband and wife look up from the chaos of everyday life to wonder, are we ready to pay for college? They turn to Wells Fargo for early guidance in meeting their financial goals to better prepare themselves once their son heads off to an HBCU. The broadcast ads began airing early September and will be an ongoing campaign. The creative is running on TBS, CBS, TV One and Gospel Music Channel.

“The two spots, ’Todd’ and ‘College,’ were designed to take away some of the apprehension African American consumers may have in dealing with a bank,” states Jo Muse, chairman and chief creative officer, Muse Communications. “By showing how Wells Fargo fits in to real situations, we can demonstrate how a better understanding of financial options can lead to greater control and confidence when making financial decisions. While the commercials are meant to reach African American consumers, it is a message that applies to a broader audience, which is why it will also air on general market networks.”

Like the broadcast campaign, the two print ads focus on the message of starting a conversation with a Wells Fargo banker. The “Conversations Anthem” and “Financial Guidance” print creative will run in regional newspaper, Black Enterprise, Ebony, Essence, N.V. and Uptown.

View the commercials below:

LOS ANGELES (Feb. 29, 2012) – Muse Communications, the first and only independent multicultural agency, is celebrating its 25 year anniversary. Founded as the first agency to target African American, Asian and Hispanic audiences, the award-winning agency has developed culturally relevant messaging for Fortune 500 companies, government agencies and non-profit organizations.

“In 1986, launching a multicultural agency that addressed African American, Hispanic and Asian audiences was unheard of,” states Muse Communications’ Chairman and Chief Creative Officer Jo Muse. “While others thought it would be impossible for one agency to create work that addressed all three audiences appropriately, we saw it as the future of the industry. As the consumer market has evolved, our agency has adapted to develop messaging that is pertinent to our clients’ targets. We’ve come a long way, and we still have much more to accomplish.”

As the agency celebrates this milestone, it continues to strive to be at the forefront of the industry. This year, Muse Communications is launching a new division, Quantasy, which merges technology, entertainment and culture to create engaging creative that reaches today’s consumers in a more relevant format. Muse, powered by Quantasy, will enable clients to reach their consumers in new ways that are more interactive and allow them to connect with the brand.

“Our heritage is multicultural communications, which gives us a specialized insight into the consumer mindset,” states Muse, “In this new era of advertising where creative does not just live in print or broadcast media, it is critical to develop creative that is more tailored to the audience’s interests and draws in consumers in a completely different way.”

To learn more about Muse Communications, or to see examples of the agency’s award-winning work, visit www.museusa.com. You can also visit the agency’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/MuseCommunications to see a history of the agency’s milestones.

About Muse Communications

Muse Communication’s multicultural heritage adds a unique dimension to its clients’ marketing intelligence. The agency has received the Agency of the Year award from

the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the Mercury Award for Best Radio Spot, the AAAA O’Toole Award for Multicultural Advertising, a CLIO Award, The Advertising Club of New York Andy Award of Excellence, Creative Show Silver Award, Gold Effie Award, Art Directors Club Award, Belding Award and the Hispanic Agency of the Year award from the American Association of Advertising Agencies.

For more information, call (310) 945-4100 or visit www.museusa.com.

LOS ANGELES (Dec. 6, 2011) – Muse Communications today announced the launch of The Love Project (www.theloveproject.tv), a grassroots experiment that gets to the heart of what love really means to people. The cultural endeavor features an interactive website with man-on-the-street interviews, as well as conversations with relationship and life coaches and community notables.

“Muse Communications has always shared our cultural expertise with our clients,” states Jo Muse, chairman and chief creative officer at Muse Communications. “We decided to create The Love Project as a way to explore culture and share it with a broader audience. This site allows us to create something completely independent of client work, allowing us to flex our creative muscles, which ultimately betters our work overall.”

The Love Project interviews are grouped by questions such as “What the hell is love, anyway?, ”What’s the difference between making love and having sex?,” to “Is it possible to love everyone on this planet?”. The surprising answers include one subject who discusses her love for her husband’s child, who was conceived with another woman during her marriage. In another interview, a man states that he doesn’t believe that it is possible for people to be monogamous in a long term marriage and another video features a young man who proclaims he is ready to marry his high school love, now.

The site features interviews tagged by topic and users will be able to watch videos in random order, or create their own playlist that they can then share with others. The interviews cover a variety of topics like dating, religion, family, race, sex, heartbreak, divorce and sustaining a healthy marriage. While the majority of the interviews consist of man on-the-street videos recorded by Muse Communications, users will have the ability to pose their own questions, as well as film and upload their own stories, which will be reviewed by the agency. To learn more about the experiment, visit www.theloveproject.tv.

 

About Muse Communications

Muse Communication’s multicultural heritage adds a unique dimension to its clients’ marketing intelligence.  Muse Communications has received the Agency of the Year award from

the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the Mercury Award for Best Radio Spot, the AAAA O’Toole Award for Multicultural Advertising, a CLIO Award, The Advertising Club of New York Andy Award of Excellence, Creative Show Silver Award, Gold Effie Award, Art Directors Club Award, Belding Award and the Hispanic Agency of the Year award from the American Association of Advertising Agencies.  For more information, call (310) 945-4100 or visit www.museusa.com.

 

The Agency Debuts an African American Brand and Recruitment Campaign

LOS ANGELES (July 11, 2011) – Muse Communications has launched two new advertising campaigns on behalf of Farmers Insurance. The initiatives include a brand and recruitment campaign designed to increase awareness and consideration among African American consumers regarding their insurance needs and the opportunity to own a Farmers Insurance agency.

“Our goal with these campaigns is to reach African American consumers in an engaging way that resonates with their lifestyle,” states Jo Muse, chairman and CEO of Muse Communications. “These campaigns take a cue from the general market initiative with the introduction of Professor Allen, while addressing key factors that are important to African American consumers – community leadership and financial independence.”

Building the Brand Connection
The brand campaign continues the University of Farmers theme while targeting an African American audience. The commercials introduce the newest faculty member, Professor Allen, played by actor Orlando Jones, who helps simplify the complexities of the insurance world and demonstrates the importance of having a Farmers Insurance agent by your side. Jones’s comedic background brings an ironic, yet knowledgeable, tone to University of Farmers that resonates with the target audience.

The campaign will run throughout the year on top African American radio stations in key markets, followed by a print campaign in Essence, Ebony, Jet and Black Enterprise. An online banner campaign will be geographically targeted in key markets in addition to running on top websites such as BlackPlanet.com, BlackEnterprise.com and BET.com.

Live the Life
The second campaign presents the opportunity to own your own Farmers Insurance agency. Recognized as one of the best small business opportunities in America, owning a Farmers Insurance business affords African American prospects the chance to become leaders in their community and invest in a business shielded from changing economic conditions.

The campaign features the Live the Life web portal (www.livethelife.farmers.com), which communicates the Farmers Insurance story and its history with the African American community. Agents and District Managers will have the opportunity to engage one another and share opportunities on the site.

The recruitment campaign is designed to draw traffic to the online portal through targeted direct mail, online campaigns, local radio advertising, agent collateral and recruitment events. As with the brand campaign, the online banners will be geographically targeted in key markets and on top African American websites. The campaign will also run on African American radio station websites.

In addition to traditional advertising elements, Muse Communications has designed Farmers Insurance recruitment events that will take place in key markets through October 2011. The events will feature marketing expert and philanthropist Bernard Kinsey as the keynote speaker, along with celebrity appearances and district manager and agent panels. The goal of the events will be to celebrate African American leadership and what it means to “Life the Life” with Farmers Insurance.

Both the brand and recruitment campaigns will run through 2011.

 

About Muse Communications

Muse Communication’s multicultural heritage adds a unique dimension to its clients’ marketing intelligence. Muse Communications has received the Agency of the Year award from the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the Mercury Award for Best Radio Spot, the AAAA O’Toole Award for Multicultural Advertising, a CLIO Award, The Advertising Club of New York Andy Award of Excellence, Creative Show Silver Award, Gold Effie Award, Art Directors Club Award, Belding Award and the Hispanic Agency of the Year award from the American Association of Advertising Agencies. For more information, call (310) 945-4100 or visit www.museusa.com.

# # #

 

Creative Credits

Client: Farmers Insurance

Agency: Muse Communications

Chief Creative Officer: Jo Muse

Executive Creative Director: Wilky Lau

Creative Directors: Marcus Moore

Wilandrea Blair