Recently, our team at Basement was involved in one of the more unique experiences I've had in my career: an "Agency Shoot-out," which took place at the iMedia Entertainment Summit, in Beverly Hills.

The concept was direct enough: two agencies compete in a head-to-head pitch for a fictitious project based around the film "Casablanca." What gave it a reality-show spin was the pitch environment -- live in front of several hundred people at the Summit.

Five prestigious judges (Don Buckley, SVP, interactive marketing, Warner Bros.; Dwight Caines, EVP, Worldwide digital marketing strategy, Columbia TriStar Marketing Group; Hilary Hattenbach, VP, digital marketing, Twentieth Century Fox; Doug Neil, SVP, digital marketing, Universal Pictures; Amy Powell, SVP, interactive marketing, Paramount Pictures) were on hand to deliver critiques of each team's approach. Pretty naked stuff.

And pretty fantastic results, from both Basement and our competitors, MindComet. Thanks to a fantastic effort from my ace team at Basement, we won the pitch. Thus, I'm here to share the marketing strategy and creative thinking that brought us victory.

But before we get into what we did, let's review the challenge.