The Concept Farm’s Fresh Ideas 365

The Concept Farm announces the honor of winning two Emmy awards from the NY Chapter – one for Cool In Your Code and the second for The American Heart Association’s PSA on stroke awareness.

The 2009 Emmys mark the fifth consecutive year the New York Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has honored The Concept Farm for its Hit TV show, Cool In Your Code and community public service work.

The Concept Farm, an independent ad agency, production company and entertainment development group, has over 40 full-time employees and was recently ranked #20 in Crain’s Top 50 Best Places To Work in NYC (it ranked number 7 among small businesses).

“We are a creative company that draws its energy, inspiration and talent from NYC, so being recognized by Crain’s was very important to us,” said Ray Mendez, a managing partner at The Concept Farm.  “Creating a television show that celebrates NYC neighborhoods and public service campaigns that help improve the lives of New Yorkers just naturally evolved as part of our business strategy. The fact that they have received such notice and critical acclaim is a big bonus.”

Since 2004, The Concept Farm has garnered an impressive and unprecedented 23 nominations and 7 big Emmy wins from the New York Chapter. This year’s Cool In Your Code Emmy award for best Advanced Media Entertainment came over three entries from Style.com and one from pbs.org.

When asked to describe the success of Cool In Your Code, Will Morrison, a managing partner at The Concept Farm, summed it up by saying: “Our partnership with NYCTV is in its fifth year and has been very successful and gratifying in many ways. We have created, produced and aired over 40 episodes of half-hour prime-time programming that New Yorkers love and sponsors want to be associated with. We are major supporters of Mayor Bloomberg’s initiatives to use high quality creative formats to communicate a positive message about New York City.”

Buoyed by its consumer appeal and Emmy success, the Cool In Your Code Brand has crossed the ocean to London and roll-out plans for other US cities and overseas markets are currently underway.

The NY Emmy Award for best community service campaign marks The Concept Farm’s second win in this category after winning the Emmy in 2004 for its bold NY Latino Film festival campaign to combat Latino stereotyping.

This year’s stroke campaign is truly one of those “only in NYC” initiatives.  Funded by a grant from John Charlsty, a New Yorker who is also a stroke survivor, the sole purpose of this particular American Heart Association campaign is make other New Yorkers aware of the signs of a stroke and encourage them to call 9-1-1.

“John donated a substantial sum of money to the NYC AHA to fund this campaign saying that he would do anything to make sure that others don’t go through what he went through,” said The Concept Farm’s managing partner Gregg Wasiak.   “John instructed us to ‘make it different and have it make a difference’ so we went in with the mindset that when it comes to saving lives, nothing is too far.”

Built around the central idea that “We’ll do anything to make New Yorkers aware of the signs of a stroke,” The Concept Farm pulled together an eclectic group of New York talent including Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, the Fordham University cheerleaders, Time Warner Cable and even the FDNY’s EMT’s to convey the message.

“The campaign broke the bank in terms of consumer responses as measured by Time Warner Cable’s interactive response metrics,” added The Concept Farm’s managing partner, Griffin Stenger.  “So we know we’re helping save lives….and now, the Emmy award?  Only in New York.”

Posted by Alexander Rea