Little Guys Movers and Swash Labs: Partners for 10 Years

When I think about our history with Little Guys Movers, I tend to mark each period through video. In our early days as an agency, we had a run-and-gun approach to much of what we did, mostly because it made some campaigns and ideas executable that otherwise would have been impossible.

Some of our early work for LGM was unrefined, but communicated the two vital aspects of the campaign well: the strength of our ideas when it came to storytelling and vision, and the excellence, all the way up and down, that is Little Guys Movers.

To be both fair and honest, working with Little Guys was, and still is, a big deal for me personally. So much of what I wanted my company to be was well-represented in the kind of company Little Guys had become in their first twenty years in business. They try to do the right thing, every time. They believe in the value of a good company culture, one in which their employees, from the top of the organization to the bottom, are encouraged to be whole human beings, and to pursue hobbies and dreams alike. 

The result is a past and present workforce that LOVES being associated with the company. A sense of pride and belonging. Not every job is like this one. 

The Strategy

As the agency of record for Little Guys Movers, our primary challenges are housed in the very nature of the service itself. On the perception side, most people’s historical experiences with moving (and movers) tends to be overwhelmingly negative. On the strategy side, moving is a service for which demand cannot be generated, only captured. 

In order to overcome the demand issue, we worked hard to tell an accurate story about the brand, and to describe how they go about their business. You see, selling a moving service isn’t like selling tennis shoes or carbonated drinks. I can’t show you an ad for movers that makes you stand up and say “I have to have that right now!” I have to inform you that this cool company exists, and that they are movers (and maybe you didn’t even know that cool moving companies could even exist, but now you do!) and then remind you of this from time to time. And then, later, when you DO need movers, you’ll think of the only cool movers you’ve ever encountered: Little Guys.

The other challenge was external — that the experiences most people have with moving and movers is often terrible. Moving is traumatic; either you wear yourself out to the point of exhaustion trying to do it yourself (which most people do not know how to do safely or efficiently), all the while risking injury to the few friends who offered to help you move and actually showed up. 

Or perhaps you hired movers, which means people you don’t know — often completely different people than those you spoke to while booking the job — will be in your house, touching (and possibly breaking, and sometimes losing) all of your stuff. Some moving companies are unscrupulous; some use movers who have little or no training; sometimes a completely different company than the one you hired will show up on moving day, having been subcontracted by the original organization, with little-to-no oversight. 

Because They’re the Best 

This is quite different from how Little Guys Movers operates. They provide extensive training for all movers and maintain carefully considered and consistently enforced safety protocols which protect them and the property they move. They also take damage seriously. And the people who show up on moving day are local, well-trained, full employees of the company. They explain things clearly and have a thoughtfully engineered estimating system which helps ensure there are no surprise costs.

I know this copy just sounds like I am writing new ads for Little Guys, but these details are important, and true. The experience I’m describing is what we’re selling, if we’re doing it right. The details are important because these are the market differentiators for the brand. The care, the training, the professionalism, the transparency, the commitment to doing the right thing, and — perhaps even more importantly — the commitment to not doing evil things in the service of profit. These are the things that set Little Guys apart. These are the things that make a real difference in the experiences of Little Guys customers, and in the lives of their employees. 

Video Campaigns 

Collections

So, a few years into our relationship, we made this ad: Collections. It was a bit of a departure from what LGM had done before, both before we started working together and after. If there’s one thing a case study can’t always communicate, it is when a client is brave and willing to take risks, and how valuable that is to doing good creative work for them. LGM is both brave and willing to take risks, and a hallmark of our work together is their willingness to try new things. 

Collections was less macho and more intimate than maybe any ad for a moving company I’d ever seen. It focused on the big stressor most people associate with moving: will my stuff be okay? Will the movers be careful with the things I hold most precious?

Little Guys IS that careful. They take their work very seriously, even if they never take themselves too seriously. 

Working Theory Series

Since Collections, we’ve told so many cool stories about Little Guys. As they’ve grown and changed, so have we. Telling those stories has been easy to do because they have great stories to tell. 

Sometimes those stories are about the company, and how it came to be, and the people and situations which shaped what Little Guys Movers would become. In this vein, I’m particularly fond of this goofy shoot we did about the LGM origin story. 

Several actual Little Guys joined us on this shoot, and co-founder Marcus was 100% willing to not just be in the video, but to fully commit to the bit. The binary of him telling the story and also appearing in the soap-opera-over-the-top-comedy-dramatization of it really, really worked. It isn’t often that the leaders of an organization are willing to take chances like this, and if you are an advertising creative, I sincerely hope you get the chance to work with corporate leaders like we’ve been able to team up with in our work for LGM.

We’ve also been constantly amazed by the affection that past employees have for Little Guys Movers. The shorthand saying for it is “Once a Little Guy, always a Little Guy,” and this is truer than true.

The culture at Little Guys really does make it possible for artists, musicians, and people pursuing a creative career to have a great job while they work towards their larger life goals. Danny Fulgencio is a prime example of someone working at Little Guys and then coming into their own outside of the organization as a creative professional. We’ve had the opportunity to work with Danny as a photographer on several LGM campaigns, and his understanding of the company and the experience they try to create for their customers has only ever helped produce terrific work.

2017: The 25th Anniversary

We’ve also been able to have some fun with milestones.

For any small business, making it 25 years is something of a miracle… or maybe a magic trick. In the Since 1992 campaign, we got to celebrate Little Guys’ 25th year in business by cultivating a bit of Mary Poppins energy among the movers on set. Was this done with mirrors or moving skills? Maybe both.

Way of Life

As our time together grows over the years, I think we get better at communicating what’s so good about Little Guys, whether we’re talking about hiring them or working there. I think this evolution from where we started to where we’re headed really shows in our Way Of Life campaign:

I love these spots and this campaign because it gets at one of the best things about how LGM does business: customers aren’t just customers and employees aren’t just employees. Every Little Guy is a fully formed human being, someone with valuable skills and contributions at work, and with a rich life outside of work.

Customers, too: every client is someone with needs, priorities, good and bad days. It might sound a little overwrought, but I absolutely believe that this acknowledgment of everyone’s humanity is something that sets Little Guys apart, not just from other moving companies, but from other companies in general.

I mean, when was the last time you felt like someone you were engaging for a service truly listened to you? Or really took your needs and challenges into consideration in the discharge of their duties? When’s the last time you had that experience at work?

Here’s to 10 More

I’m not kidding when I write that there’s much to learn, much to admire, and much to aspire to about Little Guys Movers as a company.  I know that case studies are supposed to have slides and infographics about performance and stats and all of that, but I sometimes find it hard to do that in a way that doesn’t seem garish or in poor taste. The work is good and the ads work and I’d like to think we’ve had a big impact on Little Guys, that we’ve helped them grow. On the aggregate, over the years, the numbers on the reports all point the right way. We’ve helped introduce Little Guys to whole new cities, states, geographical regions. I’ve never had a moment’s pause about advocating for them as hard as I can, as often as I can, to anyone that will listen. Every bit of growth for LGM seems both righteous and earned, and I’m proud to work with them.

I feel so fortunate that we have the opportunity to work with such a good company, and that they were willing to give us a chance all those years ago. Little Guys Movers keeps growing, and we do, too — and I can’t wait to see what the future holds, for both of our companies, and for our partnership.