The launch of Lovesac’s most innovative “couch”. When you want to sell a couch like no other, you need digital experiences like no other.

Fun behind-the-scenes fact: For any agency pitching Lovesac, do not — I repeat DO NOT — propose using the song Love Shack. The meeting will be over. Luckily, I did not do this, but I have heard the stories.

Take a look behind the scenes at a recent Mercedes production I directed. Together we brought vintage vibes to life, portraying an idyllic New England, coastal lifestyle at a Rhode Island mansion I’ll buy when I win the lottery.

Diving into the world of NFTs and crypto was interesting and exciting. Adding a whole other layer of financial security and an understanding of global financial structures was even more, but it was fun to help protect the next generation of investors and traders.

This has been magical. I set out to change the way agencies hire, to increase access, diversity, and inclusion in our industry, and to create an environment for creative exploration.

Working with govt grants and some like-minded creatives, we created this — The Creative Wild!

We required no experience, no portfolio, no resume, no education — only passion for creativity and making things.

The result was a wonderfully diverse group of content creators who have been joining expeditions to learn, make, inspire and be inspired.

Check it out — TheCreativeWild.com

Though we usually do typical digital marketing work for Freshpet, we switched it up with this adorable little project. We launched a kids book! Why, you might ask? Because the brand wanted to do something entirely different, that was not about sales, and that would give back to the community. So, not only is this a fun way to engage whole families on the journey of getting a dog but it also raised money for shelters with 100% of proceeds being donated.

What began as the mere challenge of branding, differentiating, and launching a new CPG brand only grew to new and greater challenges over the years together. But, that’s what comes with being an agency of record to an agile, disruptive lifestyle brand like ZENB. So, from going from zero awareness to an extensive content ecosystem that drove community…to positioning them as more than another snack…to expanding & localizing into global markets…to not only getting through COVID but growing and growing throughout, it was a wild, wonderful ride on ZENB.

The most interesting thing about this was global expansion. We had to create content in the US…for Japan. So, we had a translator and cultural guide to help on shoots. Things I would not have known: you can’t have anything heavy on high shelves, like a vase on the kitchen cabinet, because earthquake anxiety would set in when watching out commercials. You have to show all the fingers on people’s hands when they eat so people don’t assume yubitsume. And, you can do some really weird shit and it’s normal.

Fun fact: We had two segments on Ellen and she didn’t even yell at us once!

I came up with putting Samuel L in these commercials under pressure, in the last minute, when none of the other ideas were landing. Who else could America enjoy but also feel safe with? (SLJ, of course!) Then, just as last minute, I wrote the initial campaign commercials while on the phone with the casting director who found a lookalike for testing. It all happened within a couple hours, and then DDB and Capital One were able to bring “No BS Banking” to America with Samuel L. That was a while ago, and these motherf*ckers are still running. Fun fact: two of the first run of scripts had curse words. One made it to air. That did not make America happy! But it made me happy.

Another fun fact: before Samuel L., the actor was going to be Donald Glover, playing a character called Cashis King (get it?). He was a boxer who would show up in cash back moments. Why a boxer? Only cause the Cashis name seemed clever. The scripts were fun. Glover would have killed it. But the real reason it didn’t happen was that the Capital One execs didn’t think Donald was a star!!!! They wanted someone with more star power and thought he was too obscure. Then he became the king.

Another behind-the-scenes moment was when I proposed we offer cash back IN ADVANCE. Seemed like a new, compelling way to differentiate, so I proposed Tina Fey playing a Suga Momma. They loved it, but instead of Tina, they kept Alec Baldwin, and that did NOT work, so cash back advances died.

A staple on cheese plates around the world, Jarlsberg was faced with an aging consumer whose fond moments and traditions associated with the specialty cheese were fading, and the brand simply wasn’t translating to younger generations. They needed help re-positioning to be more relevant for today’s Millennial consumer; to tell deeper, more emotional, more relatable stories; to be reinvigorated without relying on cheesy puns. Oh crap, that was a pun, wasn’t it? Oh well. Anyways...

Despite dominant nationwide distribution, Jarlsberg consumers were nearly the same age as the brand itself, with 31% over the age of 50, and purchases were dwindling. To make things more challenging, it’d been three years since active media and a targeted marketing strategy had been in market, so consumer awareness and affinity were shrinking by the day. If a change wasn’t made quickly, that distribution advantage would soon disappear. That’s why they needed a campaign that would infuse the brand into the lives of consumers of all ages and drive sales immediately.

Through immersive in-store research followed by in-depth consumer analysis, the Digital Surgeons team drilled into the buying habits and emotional triggers of our target Older Millennial audience to develop a connected experience that would give Jarlsberg a seat at the table. We saw immediate, monumental validation of our media strategy within only two weeks.

Joined the BBDO team as a concepter and copywriter for the big reveal of the new mustang. Want to know who was supposed to be in it before Idris? Buy me a bourbon and I’ll spill.

Fun story from this campaign: another writer shared his script for feedback. It opened with a helicopter shot coming over a cliff toward a Hawaiian wedding. When I asked why we needed this, he said, “So I can go to Hawaii for the shoot.” Be careful, brand teams! Copywriters love spending your money in stupid ways.

Despite years leading creative on all of Kellogg’s brands, this project I love the most. Was it the coolest augmented reality game of all time? Yes, yes it was. It also helped having Stan Lee come in to voice it over.  Did we know he was coming? No. Did it matter? No, it was Stan Lee! And he wanted to voice our game!

Fun behind-the-scenes story: We had to pitch this across Kellogg’s, Marvel, and Sony. Kellogg’s was on board fast and open to our thinking. Sony were like absentee parents — they existed but we didn’t hear from them much. But Marvel, oh boy. At one game review, after months of production, of an entirely different Spider-Man game, the client asked why we were making this game. I thought he was looking for a deep, introspective perspective on content, life, and play, or some shit. So, I did my thing, only for him to literally ask why we were making this game…when he contracted it out to another studio. Turns out, he forgot that he was under contract with another studio already, so he had to pretend he never signed with us, and that our contract wasn’t real, because we were the smaller, less threatening studio. To make it up to me, he gave me 24 hours to pitch a new game. This was that game.

Barnes and Noble launched this educational support platform, and my team launched all the content to bring it to life — from website to ads to social to emails to all the other things.

I worked with my creative partner Ness to reposition and redesign the brand experience, connecting better with the target audience (students) on an emotional level in order to create connections that drove subscriptions.

The dumbest book about writing! I wrote and published this book a few years ago and have been talking about it ever since, including workshops, conferences, and as a guest lecturer at universities. Grab it at WriteDumb.com

Stigmas. Legislation. Jargon. Distribution. Cannabis is one of the fastest-growing segments that’s continuously met with challenges that touch every aspect of modern brand building. The Flowerpod team had a groundbreaking product concept and a bold vision that could make cannabis accessible to everyone. But to do it, they needed a partner that could truly help them take idea to execution – from capital raising to finding product/market fit, to brand development, and launching in market. That’s where my company DS came in.

Through our unique Brand DNA methodology and brand studio model for working collaboratively with ambitious founders like FlowerPod’s, we were able to create a highly differentiated brand and product experience that would position HUUE™ as a first-of-it’s kind innovation capable of rallying the entire cannabis category around a new format – one that could effectively lower the barrier for entry, meet the everyday needs of high-performing individuals, and make 
the future of wellness through cannabis a reality for all.

Helping bring very expensive cars to the US, and beloved by Jon Hamm for the scripts.

Translation: Mercedes had very expensive SUVs they wanted to launch in the US, so I was brought on to write a series of commercials that Don Draper himself pointed out as good writing — sorry, Mad Men writers! Did America agree with him though? No, never got a chance, because Mercedes ended up not launching these behemoth vehicles. Oh well, we’ll see each other again, Johnny Hamms.

From digital media to in-store displays and packaging, I led the integrated team in making mom a superhero by helping her bring home some augmented reality power with the help of Kellogg's.

The coolest part was not making the game or even going to the premiere. It was going to the after-party and sitting directly next to Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer, Zachary Snyder, and Henry Cavill. I spent the entire night too scared to say anything but I did try to listen to every conversation. It was kinda boring, to be honest.

I like to say we set the stage for Mischief to do all the fun, disruptive stuff they done for EOS. Why? Because my partner Ness and I repositioned the brand to be more fun, edgy, and inspired by social media — not by fashion. Our brand book set the stage for the new campaigns and products. You’re welcome, Greg Hahn.

Additionally, as part of our consulting on the brand, we strategized and crafted a CSR/ESG plan, including the Shea Better campaign and package recycling with TerraCycle.

Way back when I was a writer/producer at MTV and I helped develop this show. It was one of the highest rated (in dial testing) shows ever for MTV, and was gonna be a career-maker. (It wasn’t.)

Helping them go beyond hummus, new Veggie Fusions Guacamole was designed to disrupt the market with the celebration of real veggies and less fat.

Located at the tech & innovation campus District, I created the Studios with Steve Walter to not just create content but community. We did this by building and utilizing the local creative community, giving more creators access to opportunity, and giving brands access to the skills and people they wouldn’t otherwise have access to.

Additionally, I took my experience in TV and sports production, and modeled new processes for creating video, photo, and audio productions — thereby decreasing time and costs. The industry needed this! Everyone based their production models on how things used to operate, not on how they could operate. This style leverages common practices of Gen Z creators, and even employs them on projects through our community building.

The iconic shoe brand looked to evolve into the future while being mindful of that past, and merging content and commerce to better connect storytelling with sales. The result was a 37% average year-over-year sales growth through digital channels. And one free pair of boat shoes for me.

I look back at this and think, geez, does this certainly shout, “Look at me, I was an English major!”

If you want to knock the category monster Hidden Valley off of their mountain, you have to be disruptive. That's why we celebrated real ingredients for Sabra's ranch with Nothing Hidden -- a celebration of honesty and transparency.

Not much to this campaign. Why? Because the brief said, “Get us sued by Hidden Valley.” So, we went after them, and they came back at us…within days! So, we never even got the campaign off the ground. We were editing the commercials when it all got shut down. And they were cuuuuuute!

Fun behind-the-scenes fact: In the never-before-seen commercials, there was one wall that was bothering me. It had a yellowish tinge to it that I couldn’t get past. So, we spent thousands of dollars vinyl wrapping it, only for it not to be in any shots. Whoops, sorry, Sabra finance team!

Following a competitive agency review, Elizabeth Arden chose my team to lead creative direction and global go-to-market strategy for relaunching their iconic Eight Hour brand worldwide to younger consumers. The scope of work included redesigning the visual language, packaging, social, digital and print assets, producing activation campaigns and more.

We recognized that consumers were using their CamelBak’s color as highly personal and inspirational accessories. So, whether they were working out or studying up, their bottles were more than just hydration. They were an extension of themselves and the perfect way to add a little more color to their day.

Literally dropped Sabra Guacamole into the Super Bowl with the help of DJ Khaled who did a surprise concert in the parking lot. We were mobbed by teens and college kids. None bought any guac.

A spicy video for a spicy tequila. This is simply a taste of my obsession with manifesto writing.

Intelligent Artifacts was a startup AI (Artificial Intelligence) company creating breakthroughs in the AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) space. With the startup in their early rounds of funding, the challenge was creating a brand and experience from the ground up that communicated the complex problems their technology solves in an approachable way. First step in that was learning what any of their tech means/does. What a journey!

Through it all, I collaborated with a brilliant designer, Alex Hornak, and their founder, Sevak, to craft their brand articulation and essence in a way that would separate them from every other AI company out there, because this one actual had a product that could transform the world.

Inspired by the intersections of humanity, machinery, and the possibilities that creates, the brand made huge waves in the military space while successfully not creating a Terminator scenario. They soon got acquired and I should have tried to get some stake first.

From shopper to global promotions, and even to being illegally rented out to places like Buffalo Wild Wings to run campaigns, ABI saw wild growth under my weird creative vision.

Helping a popular Icelandic beauty brand arrive in the US, we developed their brand and digital experience, from site to social.

It was one of those weird successes where we achieved huge success for them, and then they didn’t need us anymore. That’s a lesson for you, young marketers: falter more!

Beloved in the UK but terribly outdated, Mazuma came to my team to catch their brand experience up with the world. Apparently we did such a good job they were able to immediately sell the company and go live on a beach somewhere.

Nothing flashy here, folks! I just led concepting on the Family Dollar pitch, which we won, and earned the agency over $12MM in revenue. NBD!

Tikkaway Indian Grill was a single-city success, beloved by visitors but hungry for more. They saw the potential in capitalizing on the growing popularity of national fast-casual restaurants, but needed marketing operations and a brand system that could help tell their story and scale the business for expansion into new markets. So they had us design and position the potential franchise for growth by capturing and building upon their unparalleled energy and authenticity.

Legends in the fabric industry, the Dazian team has costumed and curtained some of the greatest theaters and performances of all time. But, time caught up with them, and they needed a modern, evolved, and dynamic brand redesign to help inspire their future.

Cross-border commerce on a global scale with this innovative brand design and articulation.

Whoever mocked those up was super lazy, right?

Anyways, we helped ideate and build the crossover digital experience that made painting your home less stressful.

Honestly, I barely touched Bose, but it was fun to work on, and I occasionally jumped in to write ads to prove that I still “have it.”

Fun story though: We needed a pair of headphones for a shot, and we didn’t have the right ones. So, I ran to Best Buy and grabbed a pair. These things were like $400. We get the one shot we need, and our CCO says I can keep them for making the run. I feel bad so I turn it into a competition amongst the team. Someone says, “That’s really nice of you. That’s why karma will let you win.” I lost. But, when I get back to my desk, my phone rings (this was back when we had landlines in the office) and it was the head of accounts wanting to thank me for a job well done, and that he got me some headphones as a gift. Interesting how karma works.

Throwback posters for a celebration of classics on display at Honda.

Not just a city, a city designed by and for greatness. That's how we inspired its residents to embrace what makes it great and to take it even further.

Built to inspire the world, we took one of Hawaii's most powerful speakers and crafted his brand to go global.