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Rockefeller Center: The Beam

Rockefeller Center is known for its incredible Christmas display, but this holiday season brought a new incredible attraction to the heart of the city: The Beam at Top of the Rock. The Beam allows visitors to take a step back in time and out into the air over New York City, with a re-creation of the classic photograph, "Lunch Atop A Skyscraper," itself shot at Rockefeller Center during 30 Rock's construction.

The new Top of the Rock stands as a testament to the rich artistry and history of innovation embodied by Rockefeller and The Beam is the first in a series of new experiences launching this year as a part of the Top of the Rock redevelopment. Known was tasked with building a campaign “SEE YOU AT THE TOP” that highlights, connects and brings each new experience to life, building momentum, excitement and awareness that the new Top of the Rock is where incredible moments become magical memories.

Marketing for The Beam started as an out of home and social campaign highlighting iconic New Yorkers experiencing it for the first time. We partnered with stars of New York's culinary, fashion and entertainment fields to create assets promoting The Beam in December and throughout 2024.

The launch built momentum that propelled the new experience into every New Yorker's social feeds and into a must-see for incredible visitors who have since stopped by: from the TODAY Show to David Beckham. Known continued to capture and promote it all across organic and paid media, garnering huge numbers for our Top of the Rock accounts.

TikTok: It starts on TikTok

Facing geopolitical volatility, regulatory scrutiny and a growing competitive set, TikTok found itself in a challenging position. They needed to drive brand affinity at a time when their value wasn’t fully understood - so they tapped Known to develop the platform’s first ever belief system, advanced segmentation, followed by global brand campaign.

In late 2021, Known helped the biggest music company in the world, Universal Music Group, launch into hospitality, building a first-of-its-kind hotel at the intersection of music, heritage, technology, and purpose.

UMusic Hotels: A Portfolio of Unparalleled Music Experiences

In late 2021, our longstanding client Universal Music Group, the biggest music company in the world, chose Known to develop the strategic plan, brand identity, experience design and marketing strategy for an ambitious new group of hotel properties, called UMusic Hotels, that would fuse music, technology and social impact into extraordinary experiences all around the world.

Our first property opened in 2023 in Madrid, Spain, and has sold out ever since, becoming a new kind of platform for artist discovery, dynamic live experiences and new music content. Today, our growing global portfolio of UMusic Hotels continues to proliferate, with new properties opening all over the world.

Sesame Workshop: Making Impact At Home and Abroad

As the media AOR for Sesame Workshop, the non-profit educational organization behind Sesame Street, Known provides strategic support, audience research, and media planning and buying services for all paid media efforts across the Sesame Workshop umbrella. Our work has shown significant, incremental growth in reach and impact among parents and providers, helping Sesame Workshop bring sunnier days ahead to children everywhere. 

As a non-profit, Sesame Workshop relies heavily on donations to fund the multitude of resources and services that it provides. To support all of Sesame Workshop’s impactful programs across the globe, Known also handles new campaign creative and delivery for their individual giving donation campaigns. You can donate today 

Sesame Workshop leads the charge on responding to crisis when it happens, providing global support for children and families when they need it most. Over the past year, Known helped Sesame deliver a highly targeted video campaign surrounding the crisis in Ukraine and aiding refugee children and families cope with conflict and crisis. We ran a multi-touch campaign structure that used shorter cuts of video resources in Ukrainian to reach a larger number of impacted families across Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Hungary, and then retarget them with the full-length videos. The campaign drew nearly 40 million impressions from users living (or who recently lived) in Ukraine.

Business and technical audiences, and in particular, enterprise tech, is the origin story of our Insights business. 

B2B: 20 Years of Decoding Commercial Audiences

Business and technical audiences, and in particular, enterprise tech, is the origin story of our Insights business. We are deep experts in understanding commercial and technical audiences; over the last 20 years, we’ve done hundreds of projects in support of B2B clients.

We help our B2B clients decode the entry points to large IT spenders, understand how commercials and technical budgets get spent, and how decision makers and technical audiences think. And we are increasingly opening conversations around what role brand plays in B2B, how to bring the next generation of products and experiences to life, how to define audiences, and ultimately, how to deliver.

We are experts on topics that are relevant to these audiences and clients: cloud, developers, licensing, AI, ML, security, governance, GDPR… More importantly, we’ve built strong partnerships that go beyond the length of a given project; we are trusted advisors as our clients go to market.

For more on Known’s B2B experience and capabilities, email us at 

For over two decades, Known has been Microsoft's strategic partner at every inflection point and existential moment. 

Microsoft: 20+ Years of Partnership

For over two decades, Known has been Microsoft's strategic partner at every inflection point and existential moment. Known helped Office and Windows navigate the journey from packaged software to cloud services. Known was at the helm to rethink the value prop and target segments when Microsoft re-launched Surface. From Xbox to Azure to M365, and dozens of other products, services, and brands, Known continues to define the target audiences, and set the go to market strategies for the next generation of ground breaking B2B and B2C tech used by billions of people around the world.

From launching CoPilot to helping Microsoft identify which brand metrics, when shifted, most directly affect future revenue with B2B stakeholders, we continue to partner with Microsoft to craft the strategies as they evolve.

We’re excited for what the next 20 years will bring.

Hispanic Brand Love Index

The Hispanic Brand Love Index is the first comprehensive research study to scientifically calculate the revenue impact of brand perception among US Hispanics, the fastest-growing consumer cohort in America.

Across a broad set of industries, Known used data science and advanced analytics to measure brand affinity, decode what drives consumer preference, and predict quantifiable implications for US businesses. We did this for 58 brands in 9 industries.

Nestlé Health Science: Nuun

Nuun retained Known as part of their effort to achieve start-up level growth after its acquisition by Nestlé Health Sciences. As an established hydration tablet within the road running and sports performance space, Nuun was on the hunt to find opportunities to broaden consideration for clean hydration beyond its roots. The hydration market is chockful of incumbent sports drink brands (i.e. Gatorade) and go-to hangover cures (i.e. Liquid I.V.), and while they shouted their benefits from the top of every mountain, they all spoke to being the solution to a state of dehydration. Known was able to find an opportunity to zig when other brands zagged. This was done by championing your hydration even before you hit the start line. An evolved brand positioning, and creative brief provided the foundation and catalyst for Nuun’s New Year New You campaign. And after concept testing, we emerged with a cross-platform campaign taking on the classic trope of drinking coffee before anything. Our winning campaign concept was “But First, Nuun.” And the campaign's performance exceeded all expectations, testing better than any commercial in the Nestlé Health Sciences portfolio.

The social conversation around Grubhub's competitors is littered with "hangry" posts complaining about delayed food orders.

Grubhub: That Grubhub Feeling

Everybody knows the feeling when you’ve let hunger get to the point of anger – hangry. But what do you call it when whatever food you’ve been dreaming about finally hits your lips? No matter what fare you choose to satisfy your craving, your Grubhub order will come on time, at the lowest price…and with a particular feeling that’s been difficult to describe until now. To prove Grubhub is all about the food and satisfying the customers they serve, Known developed an entirely new lexicon of emotions as part of “that Grubhub Feeling” campaign, finally defining the polar opposites of hangry, like “Chewphoria,” “Meatitation,” and “Ensushiastic,” just to name a few.

Blindly launch campaigns? Not in today's marketing landscape. Known's data-driven testing illuminates the path to guaranteed impact, quickly.

Creative Testing

Blindly launch campaigns? Not in today's marketing landscape. Known's data-driven testing illuminates the path to guaranteed impact, quickly. Our rigorous approach unlocks your message's hidden potential, analyzing its emotional pull and optimizing for exponential impact. Ditch guesswork for data-driven knowledge – steer clear of costly misses and watch your campaign and brand blossom. Known can do this incredibly quickly and identify which concepts will perform best in market, and how to make them better.

MAX: The One to Watch

Known partnered with Warner Bros. Discovery for the 360 global launch campaign of its new streaming platform, Max. Starring some of the biggest stars on the service including Jason Momoa, Issa Rae and Chip & Joanna Gaines, the campaign celebrates Max as “The One to Watch” for all your viewing preferences and moods. The cross-platform campaign includes linear, CTV, out-of-home, digital, radio, and social platforms.


Taimi: "America The Beautiful"

Known’s creative, strategy and media teams, together with Taimi, one of the world’s largest queer dating apps, launched the brand’s first national campaign to celebrate American core values, including freedom, acceptance, inclusion, and liberty of self-expression, while uplifting LGBTQ+ communities that are under attack across America. The robust multi-platform digital, social and OOH campaign includes striking photography of queer couples, drag queens and LGBTQ+ individuals expressing themselves freely. 

The campaign features provocative photography which portrays American culture in a rainbow light, speaking directly to the target audience of the LGBTQ+ current and prospective Taimi users. The images live on billboards across America, with a message that is impossible to ignore. 

“America The Beautiful,” the patriotic song written by professor, scholar and, assumed, queer poet Katharine Lee Bates, is the main source of inspiration and reference for the campaign’s key messages. By reimagining the narrative and bringing it to life in a completely different way, and repositioning the lyrics as a queer anthem, this is a call to all Americans with a message that is impossible to ignore. The campaign's goal is to shift American culture in a way that will positively impact the LGBTQ+ community, and send shock waves that resonate well beyond it. 

To have the most impact, Known selected markets for an OOH campaign where anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and intolerance is particularly egregious along with markets that support the community: Chattanooga TN, Colorado Springs CO, Gainesville GA, Idaho Falls ID, Tampa FL, Tulsa OK, Dallas TX, New York NY, Chicago IL. 

With this campaign, Taimi owns a place in the Pride conversation that no other competitor can claim, and produces a cultural awakening for prospective Taimi users in America and beyond.

Zeam Unleashes Unprecedented Localized National Campaign.

Zeam: Always Local. Always Free. 

The CEO of Syncbak, now ZeamMedia, a leading technology company that powers platforms like the NFL, Paramount, Hulu, and others, collaborated with Known to introduce their own streaming service—Zeam—with a focus on hyper-local news, sports, events, and more. In our role as Zeam’s agency of record, we executed comprehensive consumer research to develop a unique brand strategy, a captivating visual identity, and a 360 campaign tailored for Zeam’s launch and sustained growth. The decision to activate Zeam’s national campaign at the Super Bowl, locally and addressibly, across every single US market at the same time, was a strategic one inspired by the streaming service itself. Zeam’s mission is to champion all things local, and to provide free, easy access for viewers and content creators everywhere. This is a complex plan that has never been executed at this scale. We used our technology platform, Skeptic™️, to optimize media and creative for every local market and partnered with John Stamos on a strategic social rollout that helped inspire national and local headlines across the country, meaning John Stamos is literally talking to YOU, no matter where you live.

Known helps Just Dance 2024 take over the world.

Ubisoft: Just Dance

Ubisoft, the creators of one of most iconic video game franchises in history, is back with the latest iteration of Just Dance. The launch of Just Dance 2024 was conceived by Known as a global campaign that celebrates the infectious joy of dance. Big brand spots feature the game as the epicenter of a dance craze that spreads joy to people, dogs, and even a few hot-stepping cupcakes. The campaign also shines on social with an AR filter, Breaking News alerts, and a flying disco ball that influencers can use to "infect" eachother with the dance bug. (Because when you have access to a flying disco ball it would be criminal not to use it.) Visuals are bright. The movements are beautiful. And the whole thing is wonderfully, well, weird. Try as you might, you can't stop the daaaaaaaance.

Graduate Hotels: Generation G Stays Here

Whether you’re a grandfather revisiting your alma mater or teenager on the cusp of your college years, a Graduate Hotel is the best way to envelope yourself in school spirit. When Known became Graduate Hotels’ agency, we knew we needed to start by engaging to a broad range of traveler personas. We began with “Generation G Stays Here,” a multichannel campaign featuring multigenerational stories. Just like the hotels themselves, the campaign's style and charm, warmth and nostalgia welcomes you to a place where you can’t stay forever, but a feeling that never leaves you.

Drew Barrymore Encourages Everyone To "Stream Now. Pay Never."

Pluto TV

Known partnered with streaming service Pluto TV to launch its new global campaign. Hollywood icon Drew Barrymore stars in a series of spots that draw upon her trademark humor and charisma. She highlights the wide range of free content by reenacting scenes from different genres of Hollywood entertainment: crime, rom-com and drama. The 360 campaign includes linear, CTV, out-of-home, digital, radio, social platforms and introduces the streamer’s new tagline – Stream Now. Pay Never – which establishes the brand as a leader in the FAST category. Drew personally premiered the first spot on her daytime television show which is also an offering on Pluto TV.

Inspiration4: The first-ever all-civilian mission to space

Shift4 came to Known with a vital mission – literally. CEO Jared Isaacman, had secured all four seats on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft in what would be the first all-civilian mission to orbit the earth. As an accomplished pilot, Jared would command the crew himself, but the other three seats would be up for grabs in a nationwide contest that would ignite an unprecedented fundraising effort for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. To announce the mission and contest, Known developed a Super Bowl spot with director Bryce Dallas Howard, with VO from Academy Award-winner Octavia Spencer, and a haunting version of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” by emerging artist Celeste. The TV spot kicked off an integrated campaign across linear, paid digital / social, as well as organic social.  We ultimately helped raise nearly $250 million dollars to reach Jared’s ultimate goal: end childhood cancer.

JUST Egg: Really good eggs, from plants

We partnered with JUST Egg to create and activate a multi-channel media tactical plan for their first-ever major brand campaign. Using our data-driven approach, we provided an all-in-one media plan and identified media placements where we could help amplify their mission of sustainability without compromising on taste. We optimized total performance and helped JUST Egg find placements to target those who aren’t doing enough to combat climate change. Since their launch, JUST Egg has sold more than the equivalent of 300M eggs and has substantially boosted key consumer perceptions.

MSK: Cancer Care Can't Wait

COVID-19 changed everything. For people who were diagnosed and in treatment for cancer, it changed the way they looked at their healthcare. Fears of an immunocompromised status led to pauses in treatment. Memorial Sloan Kettering knew they needed to act fast because every month a patient delays treatment can lead to an increase in risk of death.

Our Integrated Known team and MSK partnered to craft an urgent and compelling 360°, PSA-style ad with a singular focus: to save lives. Our Cancer Care Can’t Wait campaign featured MSK staff from all departments and encouraged patients to prioritize their cancer care. Our data-driven precision marketing led to insights that allowed us to optimize over 300 assets across channels. And, by reaching audiences with the right message at the right time, we successfully returned patients to care.

Talkspace: With a little help from my therapist

Talkspace needed to stand out in a crowded conversation around mental health and drive trial of virtual therapy. Together we shifted the conversation from pain to the positive impact of therapy and the relationship between patients & their therapists. Our campaign, “A little help,” told stories about small moments of progress that add up to big, transformational life changes. Each of the commercials - including one starring World Champion swimmer Michael Phelps - was guided by insights and brought to life by intimate storytelling. Our media scientists and strategists amplified those messages by ensuring that individuals interested in video therapy sessions, voice-only sessions or asynchronous messaging saw advertising for the therapy they were most predisposed to use. And it all came at just the right time: When mental health was top of mind, and people needed a little help more than ever.

TelevisaUnivision: The TV you deserve

In 2021, Univision identified a unique opportunity to share a beloved content collection with a vast, untapped market via a premium streaming service– PrendeTV (now ViX). TV for Hispanics by Hispanics. This new AVOD showcased 50+ free channels, 100% in Spanish. Univision needed one agency to deliver on acquisition modeling, strategy and creative. Known was the perfect partner. Together, we created a multiplatform creative campaign showcasing the best of entertainment coming together with the concept “Donde Se Encuentran (Where They Meet).” We identified target audiences and engaged potential viewers on Univision’s platforms by embracing fandom. Our robust paid social and digital campaigns included 1,000+ marketing assets featuring content audiences craved. We acquired 3.5MM+ active users in the first four months, which resulted in obtaining more than 50% of our year-end goal shortly after launch.

In early 2022, Univision again reached out to Known, requesting we create two videos for the network’s Upfront event. We had previously collaborated on 2021’s Upfront sizzle reel. Using Univision’s tagline “Grow With Us," the work to follow formed a toolkit of elements for a variety of campaigns for the network. In the wake of Univision’s March 2022 merger with Televisa, Mexico’s largest broadcast TV company, we pivoted and included the company’s new logo and look in all materials. Two months later, we delivered a robust B2B campaign for the TelevisaUnivision Upfront event.

Vivint: Smart security. Professionally installed.

Known activated the Skeptic™ OS to better understand where Vivint currently sat within the competitive landscape. Our strategists conducted qualitative and quantitative research to identify the differentiated white space for Vivint’s brand and highlight a unique value proposition to inform stand-out creative and media targeting. We also developed a statistical model for selecting Vivint brand ambassadors most likely to persuade our target audiences; Snoop Dogg with a special appearance from viral TikTok star Nathan Apodaca (who longboarded to Fleetwood Mac as @doggface208).

With this intelligence and strategic direction defined, Known then partnered with Vivint to design and execute their first-ever brand marketing campaign. This included a shoot for TV and print advertising. The one-day shoot yielded 4 spots, a VO session with Snoop for a fully animated spot to be used later in the campaign as well as stills to be used across all platforms.

All those assets (stills and video) were then delivered and highlighted by a sophisticated and highly targeted media plan that has helped realize the company’s aggressive growth ambitions.

Equipped with key insights, we created an integrated global campaign to acquire 50K Devs into the Rapyd community. Knowing outer-space fascinated our audience, we partnered with space icon, William Shatner. Shatner invited developers and brainiacs alike to try their hand at a series of custom-made brain-busting puzzles for a chance to win a ticket to space - we called it Hack The Galaxy. 

Rapyd: Hack the Galaxy

) found themselves in a muddied fintech landscape invaded by a profusion of companies tapping into the potential of embedded finance. This flooding of the market with new players obscured the uniqueness of Rapyd’s value proposition, products, and services. Known was asked to construct a differentiating brand platform that appealed to SMBs, Mid-market, and Enterprise organizations, as well as the Developer audience. The mission was simple but incredibly challenging - set the brand apart in the marketplace. To do so, Known created a brand belief system that helped Rapyd see themselves as they are: bold mavericks. This became the foundation for what was to come.

Developers are the lifeblood of a tech-enabled platform like Rapyd. As such, Rapyd needed to activate and drive Devs to engage with the brand - initially, by joining their online community. Known did this by activating the brand idea, “Build Bold.” Thanks to qualitative research, we identified levers that motivate this audience - Devs love solving challenges in and outside of their profession, they want to give back and help other developers grow, and finally, going to outer-space was a childhood dream of many.

Equipped with these insights, we created an integrated global campaign to acquire 50K Devs into their community. Knowing outer-space fascinated our audience, we partnered with space icon, William Shatner. Shatner invited developers and brainiacs alike to try their hand at a series of custom-made brain-busting puzzles for a chance to win a ticket to space - we called it Hack The Galaxy.

And the results were explosive – over just 2 months, “hackthegalaxy” and “Rapyd community” were searched over 40k times on Google alone. Oh, and the developer sign-up goal? We reached 51,000 in half the allotted time.

How do you create thought leadership that changes the mind of a CIO or CEO? You do it by anchoring it in insights and data that matter to their role and business. Amazon Web Services (AWS) was looking to show the power of AWS, and how to communicate its advantage to decision makers. By leveraging innovative research techniques, Known helped AWS quantify the business value of cloud services, then identify the best practices that help CIOs and CEOs to achieve that value. The output is featured in a global marketing campaign by AWS, and will serve as a guide for organizations for years to come as their use of cloud services expands and matures. 

AWS: How do you change the mind of a C-suite buyer?

How do you create thought leadership that changes the mind of a CIO or CEO? You do it by anchoring it in insights and data that matter to their role and business. Amazon Web Services (AWS) was looking to show the power of AWS, and how to communicate its advantage to decision makers. By leveraging innovative research techniques, Known helped AWS quantify the business value of cloud services, then identify the best practices that help CIOs and CEOs to achieve that value. The output is featured in a global marketing campaign by AWS, and will serve as a guide for organizations for years to come as their use of cloud services expands and matures.

In order to drive preference among conflicted carnivores, we positioned the brand from “farm to table” to a “performance” product that offered similar nutritional value (and the same great taste) as traditional meat products.

Beyond Meat: Go Beyond

In order to drive preference among conflicted carnivores, we positioned the brand from “farm to table” to a “performance” product that offered similar nutritional value (and the same great taste) as traditional meat products. The “Go Beyond” campaign associated Beyond Meat with an aspirational mindset, promoting a thriving lifestyle. 