For MassMutual — one of the country’s largest mutual life insurers — we built an integrated, multi-channel campaign around a simple idea at the heart of the brand: that people look out for one another everywhere, often unseen.

We called it The Unsung. Working with MassMutual and its agency of record, we found true, overlooked stories of people helping people across the country, then used CNN’s journalistic capability to tell them at scale — an anthem broadcast film, a six-part documentary series produced with CNN’s Great Big Story, and local and regional press partnerships reaching each hero’s own community through earned and paid media.

To close the year, we flew the featured heroes to New York for a live New Year’s Eve performance in their honor, broadcast live on CNN in the final moments of the year — giving MassMutual the last word and a national stage. The response carried the campaign into one of the most-discussed Super Bowl spots of the following season.

The work is an example of how a brand studio integrates seamlessly with a regulated client and its agency partners — translating a financial institution’s brand promise into editorial-grade storytelling that earns attention rather than buying it.