With the current political administration touting the motto America First!, America was becoming increasingly insular and investors were not looking beyond our borders for new opportunities. Our goal was to counter the misconceptions that America is the only land of opportunity.

The creative idea was to juxtapose iconic American imagery and slogans with global opportunities—a cowboy in a wheat field turns out to be in mainland China, for example—then present strong and simple statistical evidence to support global investing.

We wanted to debunk the misconception that only America can be the land of opportunity, so we created disruptive messages based around iconic American imagery and tropes to draw the viewer in, then flipped that misconception on its head. We knew it would make waves in the current political climate of “America First.”

The idea was concepted at the beginning of the trade war with China. We wanted to create the tone of an iconic "American" commercial, like a truck or a beer ad. By doing that, we set the viewer up to for a more surprising misdirect. Through live action and CGI we transformed a Canadian field into both the farmlands of the American west and the fields and mountains of mainland China. By believing they were truly in America, we debunked the viewer’s misconceptions that only America can be the land of cowboys, pickup trucks and opportunity. Online banners that led to the client’s website which featured a spinning globe that showcased global opportunities on every continent.

The campaign made headlines on the first page of the business section of the Wall Street Journal, rare for financial advertising within the category. It also generated buzz and conversation around the campaign online and in social.