Leviathan’s Reputation Soars Worldwide as Specialized Creative Agency Reinventing Design, Digital Media, and Interaction
Close Cooperation Between Management, Reps and DWA Maximized Stellar Opportunities, Positioned Company as Legitimate Rockstar
See also: Visual Timeline & PR Case Study
A key component of cross-discipline design and innovation consultancy Envoy Group, 
Leviathan is a specialized creative agency working at the nexus of design, digital media, and interaction. By bringing phenomenal narrative content and emerging technologies into physical environments, Leviathan transforms ideas into exceptional experiences for brands and creative collaborators worldwide. Established in 2010, Leviathan’s innovation has been recognized by top-tier publications including Communication Arts, The Creators Project, Fast Company, Forbes, The Verge, Vox and Wired, among many others.
Executive Summary
Leviathan opened in Chicago in 2010, and before that first year ended, the company principals had enlisted DWA as their firm’s PR agency of record. These key players brought together a great deal of experience, and many past relationships were already factoring into new business developments for the studio, which was making serious headway in the fields of animation and motion design. Beginning with strategic promotion of top-shelf project works and their underlying networks, Leviathan was soon on a highly original path, adding all-star talents and earning global accolades for its innovative applications of emerging technologies like projection mapping and Kinect-hacking in service of top entertainers, brands and agencies. DWA continued to serve the agency through January, 2019.
Challenge
Beginning early in 2011, DWA was charged with planning, designing, developing and executing a strategic, cost-effective ongoing public and media relations campaign to support Leviathan’s greatest project and business achievements, while also extending relations with key clients, vendors, business contacts and fans worldwide.
Approach
Leviathan’s CEO Chad Hutson and Chief Creative Officer Jason White are both extremely bright professionals with considerable strengths spanning management, production, animation, technology, experiential design, creativity and customer service at the highest levels. These complementary talents have learned to attract and pursue projects that inspire and challenge them, and to operate a business intelligently, with ambitious goals for long-term success. Fans of using sustained high-level PR approaches to design and lead marketing plans, these leaders graciously attuned their day-to-day workflows to prioritize and emphasize smart media relations efforts. As a result, topical news releases and inside scoops were actively managed and distributed to targeted media contacts around the world on a regular basis. Both men’s interests in speaking engagements also weighed-into campaign activities, which regularly identified, pursued and promoted involvement in industry outings. Through those efforts, Leviathan used PR to address its sales and marketing priorities while proactively conveying its story and even subtly shapeshifting over time in response to industry dynamics. All the while, the company also maintained a stellar roster of staff talents, freelancers and business partners.
Results – Highlights
- Throughout the campaign, news of the company’s project achievements regularly reached around the world, as one major project built on another, and Leviathan’s self-directed arts, cultural and innovative ventures attracted new legions to its expanding fanbase.
- Among Leviathan’s most high-profile were Amon Tobin’s “ISAM Live” – which earned the FITC Best Animation Award, honors in the Communication Arts Interactive Annual and was shortlisted in the AICP Next Awards – along with other buzz-worthy feats for musical artists Mikky Ekko, Drake and Skrillex… and major brands including Airbus, BMW, HP, Kolher, Jabil, McDonald’s, Samsung, Scion, The North Face and Vizio, to name but a few.
- At the 46th WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival, Leviathan’s original short film “Lilith” was honored with the Platinum Remi Award for Visual/Special Effects.
- Since 2012, Leviathan’s works appeared in prominent media outlets including Ars Technica, Art of the Title, Billboard, Choi’s Gallery, Communication Arts, Computer Arts, Creative Review, Creativity, Dexigner, Digital Arts, Etapes, Fast Company, Forbes, Gizmodo, Graphis, Motionographer, shots, Stash, The Creators Project, The Verge, Vox and Wired, among many others.
- To this day, Chad Hutson and Jason White continue raising the company’s profile by presenting at leading industry conferences around the world including Autodesk University (Las Vegas), FITC (Amsterdam, Chicago, NYC, Toronto, Tokyo), HPX Digital (Halifax), Collider (NYC), Pause (Melbourne Australia), North by Northeast (Toronto), SXSW (Austin).
- Leviathan’s 2017 acquisition by ENVOY Group added stability and led to success at even higher levels.
About The Darnell Works Agency
With its proven expertise in developing highly successful marketing, PR, and media strategies, The Darnell Works Agency is the go-to PR firm for bold business leaders and their organizations. Offering unmatched writing talent and inside-media expertise, agency principal Roger Darnell sets his clients apart atop their industries. Already central to billions of positive media impressions worldwide, the agency’s collaborations with leading business executives and media luminaries continue soaring to new heights.
