IHG Hotels & Resorts

Hello!

Hi Lindsey and Jennifer! Wanted to share with you here some work samples and a quick overview of Trade School, an integrated ad agency and production company based in Atlanta. We hope to have the opportunity to meet with you in the new year and learn more about each other. Until then, wishing you a wonderful Holiday season!

Trade School quick facts.


2020

Year Founded

120

Number Of Employees

100%

Employee-Owned


 Headquartered In Atlanta

Non-SAG

Built for what’s next.

After six years as Social Agency of Record for one of the world’s largest retailers, The Home Depot, we recognized the need for a different model to help clients scale the creation of effective, audience-based content to meet modern digital demands. So in 2020, we spun off from full-service ad agency 22squared to build Trade School.

Trade School combines the strategic rigor and creativity of an agency, with the speed and flexibility of in-house production. This offers clients a new alternative to the traditional agency model to accelerate content creation without compromising on quality.


 

We often work as an extension of clients’ in-house teams, as today’s content volume demands typically outpace internal capacity. We can take on full campaigns from strategy and creative through to final production, or integrate into existing client workflows to provide seamless collaboration on shared campaigns. In either case, our flexible model helps clients augment their staff quickly and efficiently with specialty skill sets and omni-channel expertise across comms, creative, and production.

Our services.


 
 

We’ve built a simplified, integrated model around three core disciplines:


Strategy

Content Strategy

Influencer Marketing

Data & Measurement Strategy

MarTech Consultation

Creative

Full-Funnel Campaigns

Social Content

Editorial & Email

Episodic Video

Production

Live Action

Video Editorial

Motion Graphics

Dynamic Creative

 

Our latest reel.


Work examples.

With strategy, creative and production working under one roof, we partner with clients to ensure data-driven ideas come to life efficiently, and with the highest level of craft and quality.

 

THE HOME DEPOT

How To Undo

You can find a how-to video for almost anything you want to learn. But what if you mess up while you’re trying that new project? It’s basically impossible to find anything to help you fix your mistakes.

We showed people how to fix the most common mistakes made when taking on a DIY project with our How To Undo content series.

Our Influencer team selected Mike Montgomery from Modern Builds as our partner for the series, leveraging his approachable and humorous personality to bring the content to life. We wrote, directed, and produced a 10-episode season, shot in just 10 days at Trade School Studios (during a global pandemic), that turned boring how-to’s into something people would tune in for.

Together with Mike, we broadened the way that The Home Depot connects with their audience, leveraging Mike’s expertise and influence, as well as the show’s unique tone, to bring a whole new range of viewers to the series. 

 

 

THE HOME DEPOT

You’ve Never Been More Ready

For this campaign, we developed a creative concept that was tailored to multiple audience segments, and executed one massive production to capture assets that could be scaled across all audiences and channels.

The Challenge: With more and more people renovating their homes during the pandemic, The Home Depot wanted to showcase their ability to support and encourage all kinds of homeowners across their full remodeling journey. But every remodeler is as unique as the remodel itself. As such, we needed to create a cohesive body of work that felt personalized and relevant to each remodeler, whether they leaned DIYer, Do-it-for-me, or somewhere in between.

With a 5 day production, the result was over 270 pieces of content, including 17 Videos, with personalized messaging across 6 unique bath and kitchen remodeler personas, touching on each phase of the remodeler journey. 

 
 

FEDEX

Respect The Hustle

There’s a story behind every FedEx small business partner — stories of grit and sacrifice. We created a YouTube series to tell those stories, highlighting the defining attributes that make small business owners special. The series was shot on-location in each founder’s city with a nimble Trade School production crew.

 

 

INFLUENCER MARKETING

Uncontained

Trade School also has an Influencer Marketing team of 12 people, who managed more than 250 influencer partnerships this year. We create custom and scalable programs—ranging from Influencer-led UGC campaigns to fully scripted, agency-produced episodic series.

Here’s one example of an experiential Influencer activation called Tiny Home. We helped build and then create a tour of Influencer Ben Uyeda's Joshua Tree container home, which became an epic interactive shopping experience featuring nearly a thousand products from The Home Depot.

 
 

Templates and Automation

One of Trade School’s unique offerings is our Dynamic capability which helps clients scale digital content creation efficiently and accelerate speed to market. We’ve built a specialized team and custom workflow to achieve this high volume production, and leverage MarTech tools (like RevJet), animation, design systems, and adaptable templates. Here’s a look at how we’ve built a visual design system and Dynamic framework for The Home Depot to scale content creation across their digital and social platforms.

 
 

SWEETWATER BREWING

Craft at Scale

Outdoor Guides take us places and show us things we’d never be able to experience on our own. Yet they have little monetary support during times of trouble such as injury or natural disaster. So in their honor, we partnered with Sweetwater to develop Guide Beer, a brand that would donate 11% of profits to guides in need.

We concepted and created the name, brand identity, packaging design, creative campaign, and interactive experience.

 
 

Thank you!


Christy Cross, Head of Growth

Phone: (404) 993-6169

Email: christy.cross@tradeschool.works