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John W. Carey
John Carey is a nationally recognized personal injury attorney with extensive experience in the field of medical malpractice. John was selected as one of Minnesota's Top 10 Super Lawyers in a state with more than 22,000 lawyers.
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News from Sieben, Grose, Von Holtum & Carey, LTD.
A Minneapolis personal injury law firm is putting a little levity in its TV ads.
By DAVID PHELPS, Star Tribune
It began in downtown Hopkins, where Tish Reynolds and her associates video-taped random street-side interviews with everyday folks.
They wanted to get the public's views about personal-injury law firms in general and specifically about the law firm of Sieben, Grose, Von Holtum & Carey, a 50-year institution in Minneapolis.
"It was surprising to find out how little the public knew about them," said Reynolds, head of the Reynolds Group. "It was an eye-opener."
Thus began the rebranding of the firm whose lead partner, Harry Sieben, was once speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives.
Most personal-injury firms feature a talking head to advertise their businesses, but Reynolds and the Sieben lawyers decided not to go that way. Instead, they turned to animation, done by Gasket Studios of Minneapolis.
One advertisement shows a car driving over a banana peel, and then follows the skid marks as it slips and slides over pavement and up and down a wall, tires squealing, before crashing, followed by a plaintive "ohhhhh" from the driver. Another involves a UFO attempting to lift a car and its passengers with a beam of light before dropping it back to the ground hard enough to pop the trunk and hood and crinkle the side panels. There also are ads with an oversize bowling ball and a wad of gum.
At the end of each spot, a voice-over says, "With over 50 years of helping injured people, we've seen it all."
Managing partner Jim Carey said the firm knew it was walking a fine line using humor to deal with accidents and injuries, but focus groups indicated that the new approach had great appeal, especially to the 20- to 40-year-old demographic.
"This is an innovative way to express a serious message," Carey said. "It's great to get away from talking heads."
In recent years, the centerpiece of the firm's advertising has been the phrase, "KnowYour Rights," and in recent years it featured mainly ad copy with a shot of a lawyer interacting with a client at the end of the spot.
Reynolds, a seasoned ad agency executive, said she took to the streets of Hopkins last summer to see what consumers knew about lawyers in general and personal-injury lawyers specifically.
"If you have a mass-market office, you need to know what the masses are thinking," Reynolds said. "Consumers are confused from TV [advertising] about who does what."
Reynolds also said that consumers want to be entertained when they watch television, "and talking lawyers don't entertain them."
Four commercial spots were produced and began running April 1. They will run throughout the year.
Asked how he'll know if the ads are successful, Carey said, "If the phone rings." So far, it's too early to tell.
