THE CAMPAIGN
To break through the over saturation of all of the candy brands in October, we disrupted the traditional commercial block with four adrenaline-raising two-minute horror films. The films debuted in marquee programs on FOX like American Horror Story and The MLB playoffs.
The Mars films, Skittles’ “Floor 9.5”, M&Ms’ “The Road”, Starburst’s “The Replacement”, and Snicker’s “Live Bait” were created by up and coming horror directors. We created the brief for the filmmakers, curated the pitches, developed the scripts and produced the films.
THE RESULTS
The films drove astronomical increases in social chatter, had the highest ad retention of any ad in October ’17 and Mars achieved the largest Halloween sales gain in 5 years, growing 1.8 share points.
Cannes Lions Entertainment Lion, Bronze, 2018
Official selection of CANNE SERIES, Cannes International Series Festival, 2018
“Best of the Best” in Short-Form Fiction by the Brand Film Festival, 2018
“Best Original Film/Video” in Branded Entertainment by the Creative Media Awards, 2018
The spot earned 23 Million YouTube views, sparked a conversation in culture and a new word in our vernacular.
Samsung takes pity on "wall huggers" – people who are always searching for power outlets to charge their cell phones. Samsung owners, on the other hand, are free to roam the halls, get coffee and even change the batteries on their phones – if need be.
Airport Campaign
To bring this insight to life in the real world, we created custom decals and partnered with JFK, O'Hare, and other major airports to create an entirely new media placement: electrical outlets.
“Glam Squad” takes a comedic look at what it means to be in the inner, INNER circle in Hollywood. In this short-form series, meet the beauty team behind glamorous actress Emma Wexler. Her hair stylist, make-up artist and fashion stylist are the best in the business and Emma’s crazy confidants as she struggles with the highs and lows of a budding career in Hollywood. This female "entourage" goes everywhere Emma goes, and the weird and sometimes wicked trouble they get into makes for a riotous good time.
Press in Variety
Press in Adweek
This year Hulu kicked-off its biggest “Huluween”celebration yet. Viewers headed to Hulu’s personalized, Halloween-themed hub for a bone-chilling selection of popular Halloween TV episodes and movies. The curated experience also brought viewers exclusive, new content throughout the month, including HULUWEEN FILM FEST.
We created these spooky short films from up-and-coming filmmakers. the short films – “The Gillymuck,” “The Box,” “Horrifying Sounds,” “The Hug,” “Carved,” “Urn,” “Lippy” and“The Rizzle” – premiered within the Huluween experience and on Hulu’s social channels. Throughout the month of October, the filmmaker with the highest levels of viewer engagement and the highest scores from a panel of expert judges won $10,000 towards production of their feature length film.
School takes a lot. A lot of courage, spirit and determination. Our Target Back-to-School campaign showed how self-expression found at Target was the superpower that helped kids conquer school. All the music was created using real elementary school musicians.
THE BACKGROUND
Our team discovers and invests in the development of stories we believe have potential for breakthrough entertainment as well as an opportunity for brands to amplify their messaging. Team Rubicon and it’s incredible mission is one of those narratives. They are a non-profit group that unites the skills and experiences of military veterans with first responders to rapidly deploy emergency response teams to communities affected by natural disasters, as well as giving veterans a new sense of purpose.
In the summer of 2017, we started shooting a Team Rubicon documentary with Kief Davidson, Oscar-nominated director of The Ivory Game. We greenlit the project three weeks before Hurricane Harvey hit, and we were there alongside the veteran volunteers for their journey and some incredibly emotional moments. At the time, we did not have a brand partner attached, but two months later and only a few weeks before the MLB World Series. T-Mobile announced their new campaign focused on Hurricane Relief.
THE CAMPAIGN
T-Mobile, already on the ground aiding in recovery efforts, we saw an opportunity to use its MLB platform on FOX during the playoffs to raise money and awareness for long term hurricane recovery efforts. #HR4HR was born and executed only days before the MLB Postseason with a simple premise—T-Mobile would donate $10,000 for every home run hit throughout the playoffs, plus an additional dollar every time fans tweeted the hashtag. One of the charities that would benefit from the fundraising was – Team Rubicon.
We shared our early rough-cuts of the Team Rubicon footage with our T-Mobile partners and they were on board. We created mini- docs that ran during commercial breaks with our emotional footage and CTAs for fans to tweet #HR4HR from home. On-air commentary from FOX SPORTS talent further amplified the message and focus on Team Rubicon’s mission.
THE RESULTS
#HR4HR made hurricane recovery part of the in-game action and T-Mobile doubled down on their pledge during the World Series by donating $20,000 for every home run and $2 for every hashtag use. The campaign added to the entertainment value of every game, giving fans a reason to participate in a second screen experience throughout the playoffs. Overall we raised more than $3M for Team Rubicon, garnered 2B social impressions, and 770K tweets from fans. The campaign lead to a commitment from T-Mobile to spend more than 30% of their total marketing spend in 2018 on cause oriented marketing.
THE IDEA
We created CHASING GENIUS based on the belief that transformational ideas can come from anywhere. From anyone. This ground-breaking digital platform which launched in May 2017 is designed to inspire, ignite, and enable the genius inside each of us turning ideas into catalysts for change in the world. The focus for the CHASING GENIUS kick-off challenge, sponsored by Glaxo Smith Kline, is to crowdsource solutions around the following critical issue areas:
1. SUSTAINABLE PLANET: HOW CAN WE REDUCE OUR IMPACT ON THE PLANET?
2. GLOBAL HEALTH: HOW CAN WE HELP PEOPLE LIVE HEALTHIER LIVES?
3. FEEDING 9 BILLION: HOW DO WE FEED A PLANET APPROACHING 9 BILLION PEOPLE?
Consumers submit 1-minute videos describing their CHASING GENIUS ideas. To incentivize participation, four winners will receive $25,000 to further their ideas.
These shirt films kicked off the challenge and inspired next-generation change-makers to enter the contest.
Through the CHASING GENIUS Council, we enlisted the support of experts, influencers, and storytellers to help us spread the word and in their own social media channels and ours.
THE RESULTS
The CHASING GENIUS kick-off Challenge, a high bar by any consumer engagement standard, outperformed all past challenges of its kind by Nat Geo, generating 3,000 submissions and seeding a community of 25,000 people who have an appetite for change.
SHORTY AWARD, ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY
Having a baby is an adventure. From mom’s first all-nighter to baby’s first belly roll, each moment brings something new to discover. During this joyful (and crazy!) journey called parenthood, Target is by Mom and Dad’s side, equipped with all the tools they need as they chart their course.
Target’s baby campaign celebrates those magical, everyday family moments. “The Adventure Begins Here” is Target’s first bilingual baby spot, connecting with more families than ever before.
Milk Music has one thing that no other streaming service has: an intuitive dial that lets you discover new music without a lot of effort. We brought that dial to life with some stellar musicians.
25.7 Million YouTube Views
AdAge Most Viral Video 2014
The first Samsung Galaxy GS5 available in Gold. So Fancy.
For the Target 'Dream Big. Save Bigger' Holiday campaign we were inspired by what people already love about Target – it helps them have the life they dream of for an affordable price. Our films brought those holiday dreams to life in big ways.
During Holiday 2013, our How-To-Wow Content Series broke down the coolest ways to give the hottest kids' gifts. Over 30 pieces of film and print content were hosted on Pinterest.
Our challenge was to motivate shopping in a season when Target moms are more likely to be at the beach than behind a shopping cart. We invited them to Summer Up – to amplify their summer fun – through a disruptive campaign bolstered by an always-on content strategy that gave moms daily inspiration and ideas for fun. We even earned Oprah's attention.
EIFFIE 2014
ADWEEK'S TOP SUMMER ADS 2013
OPRAH LOVE
We created over 100 pieces of original content on multiple channels. We sprinkled #SummerUp-ness through blogs, Instagram, Vine,and Facebook, all aggregated onto Pinterest over the course of three months. These bite-sized Ups include DIY ideas, giveaways, digital delights, artist collaborations, recipes by famous chefs, summer style tips, and a beach ball photo opp.
Song Download
We created an anthem that acted as the soundtrack to our campaign and became the song of summer. Viewers could download "Ula Ula" via their mobile phones. Oprah gave us some love on Twitter.
Digital Games
We launched three sites to Summer Up even when you are stuck in the office (1) You could stare at a glass of refreshing lemonade with equally refreshing backgrounds. (2) You could lick some delicious popsicles with a digital tongue. (3) You could stack corgis on the beach to create the ultimate corgi beach tower.
The Deals Duet are a quirky singing-and-saving duo that appears at moments when guests are making their most important gift-giving decisions. They sing the soundtrack to the Super Bowl of shopping – Black Friday.
MASHABLE'S MOST MEMORABLE MARKETING CAMPAIGNS OF 2012
For Target's Back-to-School campaign we partnered with the most influential voices in kid style – real kids.
And we chose a place where moms were naturally posting pictures of their kids' Back-to-School style – Instagram.
For 5 days, we made Styleagrams in real-time as moms shared pictures of their kids. We created bespoke Instagram videos celebrating kids' unique styles. We responded to every submission -- with a personalized comment or a like. All videos were shot within the Instagram app with sound effects and music created in real time. Below are some of my favorite Styleagrams.
WEBBY 2013
The 'My Kind of Holiday' campaign celebrated and inspired the holiday traditions of modern families. We created over 350 pieces of content, including eighteen films, that dominated the six weeks before Christmas. It was Target's most successful social campaign, #MyKindOfHoliday was used over 55,000 times, leading to over 292 million social impressions. Five times more than all of our competitors combinations combined.
Dave Sardy, a three-time GRAMMY winner, was our music collaborator for the campaign. The lyrics are all inspired by modern holiday traditions.
Packaging design for Peruvian Chocolatier, Death by Xoko.
