Diamond in a Cornfield

The Onion

2009-11-11T13:45:00.000-08:00

These print ads for The Onion were liberating. I was able to get as snarky as I wanted and uncage my inner "mean girl." They also won a Silver Pencil, which was a nice added bonus. The talented Mike Lear wrote some other headlines in this campaign, and there's one I always think of every time I look at these: "Hell is gonna be so cool." See you there, buddy.

(CD: Mike Lear, AD: Kevin Thoem)

Walmart Fall Beauty TV

2009-11-11T11:43:00.000-08:00

These are a few 15 second beauty spots we did for Walmart this fall. It was nice to step outside of the traditional beauty ad and do something more real and a little funny. So many companies are reluctant to do funny advertising for women, and I think that's a real mistake. Women have a sense of humor too, people!

(ACD: Anne Marie Hite, AD: Amy Elkin)

CreditReport.com

2009-11-11T11:13:00.000-08:00

In the recent economic downturn, a lot of people have found themselves in a tough spot, especially when it comes to their credit score. This campaign lets those people know that having a bad score doesn't make you a bad person. CreditReport.com is a tool to help people get back on track. I haven't done a lot of visual effects before, so this was a great experience to work on and see that side of production. We worked with Smoke & Mirrors who were excellent, and the Snorri Bros directed. There are two spots in the campaign. I'll post the second as soon as it begins running.

(AD: Tara Gorman, CD: Steve Sage)

Moen Faucets

2009-11-10T12:09:00.000-08:00

Kohler faucets are known for their beauty and artistic design. Delta faucets are known for the innovations. Moen wanted to own the idea that they are the faucet you can depend on. And with a lifetime guarantee, they really are. We wanted to give Moen a little edge with a slightly dark, slightly sarcastic campaign built on the idea that there is nothing in life you can depend on like a Moen. I wrote these little stories about people who are let down by somebody in their lives, but at least their Moen faucet will always be there. This was such a fun campaign to work on. I love the subtlety and the way it hints at a bigger story. I think it's honest and funny and even a little mean all at once. Unfortunately, although Moen loved this campaign they chose to go with another that would appeal to an international audience as well.

(Click to enlarge)

We also created a cool outdoor board that would prompt people to text in what is undependable in their lives. Those submissions would then scroll through on the board.

(CD: Brian Collins, ACDs: Amy Elkin, Anne Marie Hite, AD: Jenny Liu)

Be Wedgie-Free! (with Hanes)

2009-11-10T11:38:00.000-08:00

If you had told me when I was 11 years old and cringing every time my mom said the word "bra" that I would have a job writing commercials about undergarments, I would never have believed you. But working on the wedgie-free campaign was a great experience. We really got to tap into a truth that people normally don't talk about. We created a fully blown out campaign with a lot of moving parts (TV, print, online, a microsite, guest appearances, etc.). This compilation video seemed the best way to show it all quickly.

We also made a wedgie-dance video to an original song, "Shake it Out" with Sarah Chalke. She really got into it, and it got a lot of good press.

And then, just because my favorite part of a DVD is always the bloopers...

(CD: Rob Schapiro, AD: Amy Elkin, Director: Zach Braff)

The TLC Book

2009-11-10T11:36:00.000-08:00

The TLC Life Lessons campaign was so popular that they wanted to create a book. Yes, a whole book. My partner and I tackled this huge project and created "Rub some dirt on it? Life lessions from people who learned the hard way." We combined lessons collected from the public with funny games and guides we created. In the end, we had to write a lot of the lessons ourselves (since the submissions weren't always the funniest or most original), but we had a lot of fun doing it. Here are a few excerpted pages.

(click to enlarge)

(CD: Sean Riley, AD: Matt Wojtysiak)

Walmart Spring Beauty

2009-11-10T08:44:00.000-08:00

Walmart's Spring Beauty campaign was the launch of the line "Create your beautiful." These spots were meant to show all different kinds of women, doing the same kinds of beauty routines in their own ways. Viewers really loved the song, "How Lovely" from Bye Bye Birdie, which was rerecorded with a more modern voice.

(ACD: Anne Marie Hite, AD: Daniela Montanez)

Gifts In Kind International

2009-11-10T08:29:00.000-08:00

Gifts in Kind International is a really cool non-profit group that takes donations of products instead of money, and transports them to the people who need them. The ads speak to large corporations about the benefits they can get from donating. It was a fine line to walk between talking about the monetary advantages, while also touting the charitable aspects.

(CD: John Adams, AD: Matt Wojtysiak)

Miller Genuine Draft

2009-11-10T07:08:00.000-08:00

The campaign for Miller Genuine Draft centered around the idea that it's a more richly flavored beer than the beer people chug down in their twenties. Now that they are older and more mature, they can appreciate a better tasting beer. The spots show people moving on from their old beer drinking paraphernalia.

And this version didn't exactly air (another version of it did), but it's so much funnier with this song, I think:

There's also a really great radio spot with Edward Norton for this campaign, but I can't figure out how to post an mp3. Technology, why do you torment me so?

(CD: Rob Schapiro, AD: Kevin Ragland)

Cruzan Rum

2009-11-10T06:55:00.000-08:00

The main ad campaign for Cruzan Rum was created by a very talented team at Martin, Raymond McKinney and Ty Harper. I was very excited to work on the below the line part of the campaign for bars and liquor stores (and not only for the free rum!). Here, I've shown a case card, the jacket of a recipe booklet, and a napkin.

(CDS: Raymond McKinney, Ty Harper, AD:Matt Wojtysiak)

Walmart Brands You Love print

2009-11-09T13:29:00.000-08:00

This is some spec work we created for Walmart, leveraging their 200 million customers. The campaign line was "Brands You Love for Less," and these ads brought that idea to life by asking customers to submit their own pictures. These submitted photos would demonstrate how the customers truly loved the brands and how they were a part of their lives.

(AD: Matt Wojtysiak)