When Hydrogen senior account manager Jacqui Campbell and her husband Ben attended World Cup ’06 in Germany, they knew they had to be at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Jacqui hitches a ride

Our 16 days in South Africa were filled with visits to three different cities: Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. Plus a trip to Zambia, and lots of adventures along the way including:

· A ride on a six ton elephant named Dan

· Going on a safari where we got to see the “Big 5” (Lion, Leopard, Rhino, Elephant and Cape Buffalo)

· Seeing one of the world’s largest waterfalls-Victoria Falls

· Visiting the African Penguins at Boulders Bay

· Riding bikes to the Cape of Good Hope

· And of course, seeing great soccer!

We were able to get tickets to see the Netherlands vs. Denmark and Spain vs. Switzerland matches, so we got to see both teams that ended up making it to the finals.

One of the things about South Africa that surprised us was how much like Eastern Washington the landscape appeared. We saw a lot more agriculture and farming then we expected. Also, we were surprised that everywhere you go there seemed to be baboons running around. You learn to be careful when opening your bag—or else a smart and quick baboon might snatch your lunch away!

Seeing the World Cup in So. Africa was a great experience—especially since we got to watch the matches with thousands of other fans. It was great fun meeting new people from all over the world who share the same passion for the game as we do.

While we didn’t fall in love with the loud vuvuzelas that were ever-present (if you watched a match on TV, you know what I’m talking about!), we certainly look forward to the next World Cup in Brazil in 2014.

And in the meantime, “go Sounders!”

Biking to Cape of Good Hope

Bringing back a pet

How do we get home

Real football

Seal Island at tip of Africa

Spain beats up on Swiss

Victoria Falls Bridge

World Cup is very big

Yankees at the pitch

Launching this week, The Polyclinic's new "Where You Come First" campaign confirms the benefits of having a health care provider that puts patients first. The physician-run Polyclinic—consisting of more than 150 primary and specialty care physicians in 14 Seattle area locations—offers a healthy dose of physician-independence that leads to better medicine, as showcased in the new work from Hydrogen.

Consisting of three 30-second TV spots, direct mail and outdoor advertising, the campaign illustrates that The Polyclinic is the right choice for people that seek and value collaboration in their family's health decisions and appreciate the relationship that physician independence delivers. The Polyclinic staff gets to know the person, not just the patient, which often leads to better diagnoses and superior outcomes.
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With the current school year rapidly coming to a close, it’s not too early to start planning for the next. Starting in May, Insight Schools, Inc. is helping parents make education decisions for the upcoming school year with a new advertising campaign demonstrating that online high school may be the ideal option for some students.

The new work includes a 30-second TV spot and direct mail. While appealing to both parents and high school students, the campaign emphasizes to parents that it is possible to see their children enjoy, and even thrive in, high school. Students seeking a personalized learning experience or students with schedules that make attending traditional high schools challenging may benefit greatly by Insight Schools’ online, accredited and tuition-free public high schools.
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World Traveler and Audubon Society Volunteer Brings Experience and Ability to Agency

Hydrogen Advertising has added Jacqui Campbell to its client management team as senior account manager. An MBA and veteran of Seattle’s marketing community, Jacqui will support agency clients Agilent Technologies, Insight Schools, eBay and Microsoft.

Jacqui’s marketing career includes working with a number of the Pacific Northwest’s best known companies and brands. Most recently as senior account executive at Wunderman, she oversaw Microsoft’s Enterprise Customer Care business, as well as Microsoft’s Software Management Asset program. Her responsibilities included campaign integration, search engine optimization (SEO) and overall budget management.
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The Greater Northwest Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society today unveils its new advertising campaign—“Is It MS?”—created by Hydrogen Advertising. The new campaign builds upon the just concluded “Why Here?” campaign, which dramatically increased awareness for this disease which is so prevalent in the region.

–> See the whole campaign

The “Is It MS?” campaign features strikingly beautiful images of the human body, both of men and women. The work demonstrates that while a person may look fine physically, multiple sclerosis (MS) may still be subtly affecting their lives with unpredictable symptoms. The core message is that if someone is experiencing any of a variety of symptoms—fatigue, dizziness and numbness, for example—that person or someone who knows them can call the National MS Society to learn more.
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N3300-Series and 6060-Series eLoads Print Ad

Development of sophisticated green technologies requires advanced testing products, such as those from Agilent’s Electronic Measurement Group. New print and banner ads from Hydrogen Advertising communicate to engineers that Agilent offers solutions capable of delivering real-world emulation of solar rays. Agilent solar-simulation products are used to design and manufacture solar arrays, fuel cells, inverters and other devices that enable companies to develop green technologies.
The new print and banner ads, currently running in green tech publications, online newsletters and engineering Web sites, feature the following Agilent products:

• • E4360 Series Solar Array Simulators;
• • N3300-Series and 6060-Series eLoads (electronic load testers); and
• • B1505 SMU Power Analyzers.

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When Hydrogen accounting manager Meredith Walker moved to Seattle from Alabama with her husband Joseph about three years ago, the idea of climbing a mountain—let alone Mt. Rainier—was just about the furthest thing from her mind.

But after months of weekday lunchtime training on a StairMaster, and weekends hiking and climbing smaller peaks such as Mt. Si, Meredith found herself atop 14,411-foot Mt. Rainier on a perfectly clear July 27th, together with Joseph, six other climbing mates and four guides.

“You know, it was a lot easier making the actual Mt. Rainier climb than it was training for the climb,” Meredith said. “Our guides set a leisurely pace up the mountain, which felt a lot easier than keeping up with Joseph and the guys on our weekend training climbs.”

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SEATTLE – October 13, 2009 – In support of the launch of Agilent’s newest signal analyzers, Hydrogen Advertising has launched new vertical-market print ads for the company. The PXA and CXA signal analyzers, the newest additions to Agilent’s industry-leading X-Series signal analyzers, are supported by new print ads initially reaching engineers in design and manufacturing in the aerospace and defense industries and general-purpose electronics manufacturing, respectively.

The new print ads appear in vertical-market publications around the globe. The key objective is to raise awareness and generate leads for the new X-Series signal analyzers, which are designed to evolve with customers as their engineering and testing needs change, keeping test assets current and extending instrument longevity.

“Hydrogen continues to do an outstanding job identifying the key messages that our highly technical, BtoB customers need to hear to make informed purchasing decisions,” said Barbara Asbury, EMG advertising manager, Agilent Technologies. Read the rest of this entry »

New Ad Campaign Scheduled for 2010

Hydrogen Advertising has partnered with the Greater Washington Chapter of the National MS Society to handle creative duties for the organization on a pro bono basis. The agency will build upon the success of the National MS Society’s recent “Why Here?” campaign, helping further regional awareness and understanding of this debilitating disease.

The new campaign, scheduled to be unveiled in early 2010, will support the National MS Society’s ongoing community affinity and fundraising goals, resulting in innovative programs to meet the needs of people with MS as well as their families. Collaborative development of the overall campaign strategy, messaging and creative concepts has already begun.

“Hydrogen really ‘gets’ us—our culture, our mission and our personality,” said Patricia Shepherd-Barnes, president, Greater Washington Chapter of the National MS Society. “We’re very confident the Hydrogen team will build upon our recent marketing successes and take them to the next level.”

“MS has affected a great many people in the Northwest including friends and relatives of people at Hydrogen,” said Tom Scherer, co-founder and executive creative director, Hydrogen Advertising. “We want to do our part, and creating an ad campaign that opens new eyes to the nature of MS and encourages people to seek more information seemed like the perfect place to start.”

This spring (also known the “gloom of lingering winter” in Seattle) I was fortunate enough to be invited to judge two industry award shows (in sunnier climes): The American Advertising Federation in Boise and the AAF in Salt Lake City.

I was joined by esteemed colleagues from both coasts and the hinterland to share five days, bad coffee and several thousand highly solicited opinions.

Once the smoke had cleared, I have to say we were all humbled by some really wonderful work. The best married smart strategy with truly fresh ideas put into the market in ways we haven’t seen before. Emphasis on the latter. Creative use (or misuse) of media was the standout attention getter. I returned enthused, excited and ready break some media rules.