Art Director

Let’s see, my favorite football club, Manchester United is sponsored by my favorite car, Chevrolet the maker of the Camaro. Yeah I can work on that.

I was asked to help put an incredible amount of work together inside of a month for the launch of chevroletfc.com.

What Do You Play For? is the theme of the campaign created my friend Greg Collins for Chevrolet's global football program. My job was to take that theme and shape dozens of videos, print and outdoor largely using imagery and footage that was being created at the time. It was like trying to score a hat trick in extra time ( for you soccer fans). But we did it! I was tempted to whip my shirt off and run around the office but decided against it.

Featuring their sponsorship of Manchester United FC and their global good works program One Football. The effort rolled out on across multiple platforms, with Youtube page takeovers, social media,  TV, Print and stadium signage.  http://www.chevroletfc.com/us/en/index.html/

Writer/Director

I got a call from my friends at Mullen PR to handle creative and production for this Capital One assignment. They were short handed and needed a ‘grown up” who could wrangle this beast and take it through production. Perfect for me.

Phase one was coming up with an idea (platform) big enough to unite all the community service programs in their Future Edge Program.

Phase two was producing and directing it. In other words what ever I came up with I had to know I could finish on time and on budget.

The name of the program, Future Edge lead me to thinking of my future and how we have to do things now that our “future self” will thank us for. So i had each person write a letter to their “future self” and read it on camera. The results were as wonderful and diverse as the people we worked with.

Art Director/Writer/Creative Director.

This was a dream gig if ever there was one. The ESPN Radio affiliate in Chicago needed to separate themselves from local competition. The difference being that ESPN covers sports everywhere, not just Chicago. To me that meant it was for pure sports fans, not just Chicago sports fans. These are people who listen to sports on all the time, in the car, at home, in the office, wherever they can. It’s the soundtrack of their lives.

They’re obsessed.

My idea was to to show their obsession by having them listen in situations where they really weren’t supposed to-:)

Creative Director/Art Director/Writer

I was asked to create content and ways to share it for SKLD Nursing Care . The term we hear is ecosystem, which I hate, but in this case it makes sense. I created a system for SKLD to have conversations with their customers and patients.

Step one were the videos which explained how SKLD is changing nursing care. I had to dig in and learn a lot about the business, which was also a great exercise in humanity. Thinking about the lives of elderly people and those who love them, you can’t help but develop empathy. After all, most of us will be in that position at one time or another.

Animation allowed us to address serious subjects without getting overly serious. It also helped define the brand in a unique way.

I wrote each piece based on a benefit of the brand; technology, staffing, philosophy, commitment etc. I like taking a complex story and breaking it into digestible messages.

My client was wonderful in letting me express these complex issues in conversational language so that everyone from a grandparent to a surgeon will understand our message.

That’s not talking down to people, that is talking with them.

Art director

I've worked on the Toyota account for a couple different agencies, creating work for both trucks and passenger cars. 

For Tacoma the most durable truck in its class, the existing campaign was Toyota Tough Club, which was great. My thought was to show examples of extreme toughness that were loosely based on the lifestyle of a pickup truck owner, someone who liked to hunt and fish and haul stuff around.

Having been ice fishing myself, I know waiting around in sub-zero temps sucks. So why not just jump in and grab that lake trout?

For the piano catchers, well, you can put anything in the back of pickup, the trick is getting it there. Sometimes I don’t know where the ideas come from.

For the Camry ad, that thing has a stereo that could power a U-2 concert. Boom!

Writer/Brand Strategist

This assignment started as writing some label copy and became much more.

I started with the premise that great whiskey is meant to be sipped and shared. Sipping gives you time to reflect and enjoy your company. In fact, it gives you time to share a great story with your friends. And to me just as people have stories, so does a whiskey. It takes years to make it, time passes, things change, so a great whiskey, like a great story is mean to be shared.

Which was perfect for Laws Whiskey House because they want people to come to their distillery, hang out and talk about whiskey. It’s as much experience as much as it a drinking occasion. I love that.

whiskey. http://www.lawswhiskeyhouse.com/

Creative Director/Art Director

Give someone you love someone they love.

That was my line to introduce giveStars, the first of its kind audio greeting card that brings fans and celebrities together. The cool thing about giveStars and what makes it unique is that the proceeds for sales go directly to the charity of choice for each celebrity.

We knew that with people like Fergie and George Clooney on board, the fans would come so everything was about giving these portraits and voices an amazing platform. I designed the cards and photography style with a sense of elegance befitting the charities involved and then got into how we describe ourselves in video and really any other other channel.

Art Director/Writer

Sometimes the idea is sitting right there bigger than a Buick, just waiting for you. Being able to see that and know what to do with it is the hard part. But is there any beer in Beer Nuts?The Beer Nuts client said that question came up a lot which we thought was hilarious. So we decided to just turn it around and show people who thought there was beer in beer Nuts. From there, well, just don’t have too many.

Creative Director/Director/Photographer

Being a car guy I knew that DIY’ers in general and car people in particular pride themselves on their knowledge and their ability to just go do stuff that ordinary folks have to pay for.

Our campaign Garage Wisdom capitalized on that common sense approach to getting the job done. With Fram's status as a category leader they have the street-cred to make that statement and make fun of those who don’t.

We also used Fram's presence at automotive events such as the Street Machine Nationals and Lucas Oil motocross races with engagements such as the Name That Ride to engage fans in a fun way and enhance their relationship with the Fram brand.

Art Director/Video Director

Did I mention that my dad and grand dad were long-haul truck drivers?

Well, I like trucks. And Navistar is one of the largest truck makers in the world with products in every segment from defense to waste management, building and selling trucks on 5 continents. And for the Mid America Truck Show they wanted to have a dominating presence.  So we designed an experience that lead prospective customers and investors through their story, from their history with International Trucks and McCormick Tractors into their future as a high-tech innovator in the industry. The experience took place in an enormous installation, one large enough to display massive trucks, defense vehicles and engines, plus dozens of pieces of video content and stills as well as design of all the signage.

I've worked as both art director and writer on McDonald's projects in the US as well as New Zealand and the Czech Republic. And if there's one word I'd use to describe the brand in all those diverse places it would be humanity.  There is a warmth to McDonald's relationship with their customers that just seems to come through in all the work.

It's a free concert, if you can hike 2,000 vertical feet to get to it.

What better way for Merrell to highlight the benefits of outdoor activity and fitness than to offer a concert that only the fit can enjoy.

You might say it's free, but you have to pay for it.

Writer/art director

Creative Director/Art director

Millions of kids quit playing sports by age 13. The reason? Their parents take all the fun out of it for them. By continually putting pressure on them to win, by embarrassing them at games, by riding the refs, you name it. Parents seem to forget that playing sports is about the kids and about having fun. So we developed a guerrilla campaign of posters placed around sports facilities that remind parents to lighten up. This was backed up by a video which was shared out via the millions of folks who follow Frosted Flakes.

Creative Director/Art Director

Freedom Airlines is low-cost carrier based in New Zealand. We developed a cross-media campaign touting their everyday low fares and convenience in a cheeky tone of voice which is really perfect for the Australia and New Zealand market. The campaign was comprised of digital, broadcast, outdoor, and airport signage.

Director/Cameraman

Cruzan is, simply put, the best rum money can buy.  It's made according to a family tradition of craftsmanship that stretches back to the 18th century. These films tell that story using imagery from the Cruzan distillery and from the beautiful island of St Croix itself along with interviews with the family.

Creative Director/art director

The "Love Your Beer" campaign positioned Miller Lite as the light beer men take seriously. This is supported in the fuller taste profile compared to other light beers. After all, a man shouldn't just "like" his beer. He needs to love it.

Art Director

Right Guard wanted to promote a new product Right Guard Power Strip which is aimed at active young men. They also wanted to tout their relationship with the NBA and star player Chris Paul. But there wasn't time or money to use him in a spot. So we did the next best thing. Kinda.

Art director/writer

While digging through the research we came upon a statistic; 80% of skin damage happens before age 18.

Done.

Art director

Sky TV are the number one source for sports coverage in New Zealand.  And rugby is the number one sport. Sky centered their Father's Day Promotion around this fact and as an incentive, every new order came with the commemorative hard cover book of New Zealand rugby, Century in Black. Much better than a bottle of Bloke aftershave.

Art Director

This campaign, "It Hits Home" was picked up in local talk radio due to its hard hitting subject matter.  Some felt it was too graphic and scary others felt it really addressed their own experiences.  We were delighted because the work instigated a discussion about people's lives that was much bigger than advertising. And at the end of the day, that's what we are here to do.  The work was also recognized in British Design and Art Direction as well as Archive Magazine.