April 15, 2024 FactSet Says No to Boring B2B Advertising

Created with VSA and Thinking Machine, its new campaign, “Not Just the Facts,” is a smart departure from category norms.

Norwalk, CT – FactSet, a global financial digital platform and enterprise solutions provider, has unveiled a new campaign that demonstrates how, when it comes to the facts, context is everything.

Titled “Not Just The Facts,” the campaign shows what happens when members of the investment community are pelted with increasingly absurd and irrelevant facts. The ending reminds viewers that getting just facts—without context or personalization—is useless.

“The premise is comedic, but the point it makes is 100% true: The investment community is overwhelmed with information,” said FactSet CMO Jenifer Brooks. “FactSet provides our clients with industry-leading breadth and depth of data through an intelligent platform that ensures they’re getting not just the facts, but also the context they need to make the most of these facts.”

For more than 40 years, FactSet has been creating flexible, open data and technology solutions that help investors make crucial decisions; today, FactSet serves over 206,000 investment professionals worldwide. Building on this momentum, FactSet was ready to come out with a strong, differentiating point of view to build awareness of its offerings.

“The best way to stand out is to do something really memorable and different, and FactSet really embraced that with this campaign,” said Kim Mickenberg, Associate Partner and Executive Creative Director at VSA. “There’s a misconception that B2B advertising has to be less interesting and emotional than consumer-facing ads, but the truth is that B2B buyers are people, too—and people love to laugh.”

The spots were directed by Thinking Machine’s Docter Twins, who worked closely with the broader team to ensure an excellent shoot.

“You know it’s a special project when the entire crew is enjoying each take just as much as the agency and client,” said Matthew Docter.

“We got involved early on because Kim’s scripts were so good, and we couldn’t have asked for a more creative collaboration,” Jason Docter added. “The teamwork on set kept us nimble and enabled us to capture a lot in a single shoot day.”

“From the start, we were inspired by FactSet’s story, the clarity of their point of view, and their willingness to do something really different in the space,” said Mickenberg. “We couldn’t be prouder of our partnership with FactSet and our collaboration with Thinking Machine, and we couldn’t be more excited about the work.”

The campaign is rolling out across digital, streaming, and CTV this week.

VSA Credits:
Kim Mickenberg: Associate Partner | Executive Creative Director
John Sheehan: Account Lead
Josh Berta: Associate Partner | Executive Creative Director
Jessica Sochol: Associate Partner | Strategy
Rebecca McNerney: Associate Director | Strategy
Jessica Brown: Associate Creative Director | Copy
Megan Schulist: Creative Director
Sarah Trent: Associate Director | Design
Tarek El-Mofty: Associate Partner | Executive Director, Production
Bryan Haney: Director, Motion Production
Thomas Horne: Director, Editorial and Animation
Nate Pence: Motion Editor
Kara Denniston: Project Manager
Maria Erdmann: Senior Copy Editor
Briana Lockett Van Andel: Business Manager
Ronald Crecco: Music Composer

Production Company: Thinking Machine
Docter Twins: Director (Jason Docter & Matthew Docter)
Alon Simcha: Executive Producer
Alexandra Byer: Line Producer
Kip Bogdahn: Director of Photography
Ursula Barker: Art Director
Lauren Charkow: Casting Director

About FactSet
FactSet (NYSE:FDS | NASDAQ:FDS) helps the financial community to see more, think bigger, and work better. Our digital platform and enterprise solutions deliver financial data, analytics, and open technology to nearly 8,000 global clients, including over 206,000 individual users. Clients across the buy-side and sell-side as well as wealth managers, private equity firms, and corporations achieve more every day with our comprehensive and connected content, flexible next-generation workflow solutions, and client-centric specialized support. As a member of the S&P 500, we are committed to sustainable growth and have been recognized amongst the Best Places to Work in 2023 by Glassdoor as a Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award winner. Learn more at www.factset.com and follow us on X and LinkedIn.

About VSA
VSA’s purpose is to design for a better human experience. As a strategy and creative agency, we blend consumer insights and data with human-centered design to activate meaningful, motivating and measurable experiences in an increasingly noisy world. With offices in Chicago and New York, VSA offers a full range of integrated capabilities—branding, advertising, data science and technology—all under one roof. VSA is also a proud member of Meet The People, an international family of unified and independent agencies. For more than 40 years, we have delivered solutions for business and creative leaders at some of the world’s most respected brands and forward-thinking organizations, including Google, Nike and IBM. https://vsapartners.com/

About Thinking Machine
Thinking Machine is a Los Angeles–based commercial production company specializing in creative storytelling. thinkingmachine.tv

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