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Matt Checkowski says his six-year old agency, The Department of the 4th Dimension, is really a mutli-dimensional storytelling company.
In a world where marketers now have to act as programmers, Checkowski enjoys the challenge of helping marketers fill in the gaps between the shows they are promoting in a way that respects both the brands and their audiences by creating everything from short docu-series to media walls to experiences.
His team at The Department of the 4th Dimension—which can range anywhere from four to 20 people, depending on the project—help clients understand the branding and storytelling opportunities that exist in short-format video.
The agency recently has made a name for itself by creating branded documentaries for clients both inside and outside the entertainment industry, setting up environments where “real people look amazing and spectacular.”
A great example, Checkowski says, is a series called “Tastemakers” that his company produced for Intelligentsia Coffee. The entire series is in black and white, except for the coffee—the object of the series subect’s affection—which is in color.
“Of all the stuff I’ve done, we get more calls for those videos than anything else,” Checkowski says.
He says that the company focuses on design that is clean and purposeful.
“There’s very little fluff,” said Checkowski. “The graphics and the design feel very integrated with the narrative and the overall storytelling. We’re not applying storytelling to how typography animates. We’re integrating this typography as a character into the film we’re creating.”
The agency also recently worked with the University of California system and the Promise for Education crowdfunding campaign, using famous faces to encourage contributions to one of the nation’s largest public university systems.
The Department’s work for entertainment clients has included projects for USA and ESPN, among others.
Checkowski and his team produced the “Characters Welcome” network branding package for USA, which Checkowski says is a perfect example of their creative philosophy. The campaign it visually celebrates the network’s brand while embracing the storytelling that viewers discover when they tune in to USA.
For Monday Night Football, ESPN was getting ready to launch the franchise on cable when they came to TD4D. The agency helped ESPN create a live-action and network branding package that captured the spirit and excitement of the Howard Cossell years while bringing the creative into a new era.
Checkowski says that TD4D’s strength is moving seamlessly between branded documentaries, digital media walls, celebrities, content, experiences, and digital.
“We’re good at navigating around format fatigue and connecting with people,” Checkowski says. “It is all about inherently interesting content that builds the brand into a tastemaker.”
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