Banana Boat wanted to launch a new sunscreen for men which was a really great idea for a number of reasons; the main one being that men have higher rates of skin cancer than women but a shockingly low percentage of them report using sunscreen (insert comment about women being smarter than men here). Enter Banana Boat Triple Defense for Men, the only sunscreen specifically designed (less greasy, less girly smelling, manly black bottle) for dudes. And when you have a product that not only fills a need, but also has a well-defined benefit, creating ads for said product is both easy and fun. Okay...it's never easy and it wasn't always fun but I think these spots, directed by D.A.D.D.Y., turned out pretty good.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of California wanted to talk to consumers about their awesome health and vision coverage online. And as fascinating as these two topics are, the client was aware that
grabbing people's attention while they are busy doing other fascinating things online (like posting pictures of themselves eating a banh-mi sandwich for instance) was and is difficult. So they asked us for ways to engage people in a playful and relevant way. These rich media banners did just that, if I do say so myself.
Nestlé wanted a big platform idea to celebrate their 75th Anniversary so we came back to them with "Bake the World a Better Place" - an idea grounded in the truth that the very act of baking something for someone
brings people closer together. There was an awesome bake sale activation idea, pop-up baking schools, and a national day in celebration of the inventor of the Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie in the works but, in the end, all they did was TV. That said, in a category that exclusively features moms, grandmoms, cute kids and the occasional bunny rabbit, we got a few fresh faces in the mix and that smelled like victory to us...it made the client happy too.
I worked on the Domino's business for quite some time back in the day and got to make a lot of stuff, some of which was good stuff. It also afforded me the opportunity to work with Uncle Leo from Seinfeld...so I will always have that.
I worked with the fine folks at a small agency formerly known as Filter Advertising - now known as Laughlin Constable - to come up with a couple of promos for a couple of shows that run on the USA Network. One was for a show about a slick and successful NYC Lawyer and his protégé with a troubled past called "Suits" and the other was for a show called "Common Law" about a pair of mismatched detectives and the therapist that keeps them from killing each other. I knew little of both shows but after some binge watching in my underpants and some help from the team we came up with what you see here.
Vonage wanted to differentiate their easy-to-install, low-cost, unlimited home phone service from its nearest competitor - Magic Jack. The main point of difference being that, with Magic Jack, there are all sorts of hidden fees and extra charges but with BasicTalk, there aren't. The problem was, consumers had been lied to so often in this category that a simple spokesperson on a white background espousing all the amazing features and lack of hidden fees just wasn't going to cut through. The other problem was,
we were told we had to use a spokesperson on a white background espousing all the amazing features and lack of hidden fees. So here is what we did...
Several moons ago Smirnoff Ice ran a campaign celebrating the night and the people who love to head out into it. This spot did just that by asking people to think of the less fortunate before deciding to stay home. It was directed by Rocky Morton who did that rare thing only a few people do, he made it better.
Bud Light needed a Super Bowl spot that built upon their, "It's Only Weird If It Doesn't Work" campaign celebrating
football fans and their very superstitious ways. As luck would have it, Super Bowl XLVII took place in New Orleans, the most superstitious city in America and the perfect back-drop for this spot. We had to use Stevie Wonder in some capacity (so we did) and I tried to sneak CeeLo Green in there but ended up with Zoey Saldana instead (things could have been worse). As luck would also have it, this Super Bowl spot actually made it to the Super Bowl.