The Responsiveness Campaign

With the "Big 8" accounting firms being cut in half to the "Big 4" and the passage of the groundbreaking Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Eisner LLP, wanted to convey that its client-centric responsiveness, deep service offerings and industry expertise were more relevant than ever in this new economic climate. The Responsiveness Campaign was developed for Eisner by Liquid Comma to set this leading accounting and advisory firm apart from its competitors.

The Enron scandal lead to the passage of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, mandating that most public companies could no longer use only one accounting firm. Two different accountancies now have to act as independent internal and external auditors. Eisner LLP, first established over 45 years ago, capitalized on this by promoting its wide range of accounting, tax and financial advisory services, partner accessibility and large New York metro area presence. To respond to these changes Eisner engaged with the task of reinvigorating the company's advertising. This provided a chance to build on our institutional experience working with Eisner on numerous engagements over the past five years.

The central idea behind the campaign was to use word-play to convey the firm's responsiveness and industry expertise. By changing the meanings of key industry terms the ad campaign drove home the firm's message with immediacy, intrigue and relevance. The striking graphical look of the ads, drew in viewers to find out more about Eisner, which was in sharp contrast to the prevailing staid advertising that pervades the sector.

With the proliferation of online advertising and the increasing credibility attributed to it in the B2B market, we designed the Eisner campaign from the ground-up to be as effective online as it is in print. The instantaneous nature of the strike-outs made the concept easily transferable into a series of online banner advertisements. These were adapted to industry specific media placements and were also used on specific landing pages on the firm's own web site, also designed by Liquid Comma. The campaign was even flexible enough that it was used on unique promotional items such as a credit card sized USB card targeted specifically at broker-dealers using a strike-out that focused on securities.

Liquid Comma also ensured that our designs would be cost-effective to implement. By eliminating the usage of photography, Eisner was able to obtain cost savings on photo licensing fees. With a systemic approach the designs were formatted to give the firm the flexibility it needed to accommodate numerous ad placement sizes.

Recently, Eisner had jumped to the 7th largest accounting firm based in New York as featured in Crain's. Liquid Comma also had the honor of having the campaign recognized by the New Jersey Business Association's Fourteenth Annual Impact Awards.

We look forward to continuing to grow our relationship with Eisner, incorporating the look and feel of the ad campaign into the next edition of their seminal publication, The Eisner Personal Tax Guide.

We turned to Liquid Comma Design to help us launch a new advertising campaign. Our goal was to have our ads stand out among our profession and create a "buzz" factor. Justin and his team sure delivered. At all stages of the project — from concept development to the final unveiling, the Liquid Comma team was professional, fun to work with, and always delivered on time and within budget. Considering the ads won a design award, I think we more than succeeded in our undertaking. Liquid Comma provides us with more than just creative services; they take the time to understand our firm and our business goals — something that's hard to find these days. — Jennifer Price, Director, Eisner LLP