Gatorade’s core audience of teen athletes was missing the point of the brand slogan, Win From Within. They thought it was all about winning. Because, for decades, Gatorade celebrated the Michael Jordans of the world. We set out to change the conversation by telling real stories of everyday athletes, pulled right from our social following.
This social video series amassed more than five million views, and got teen athletes everywhere sharing their own stories of how they win from within. And suddenly, it was no longer about just winning.
Role: Concept, Creative Direction, Writing, Story Arc Development, Athlete and family interviews.
Silver Cannes Lion, One Show Bronze Pencil, Silver Clio, 2 Gold Sports Clios, Webby Awards, Communication Arts, Andy shortlist
Gatorade has millions of teen athlete followers across five social platforms. While that in itself is a huge success story, it also posed quite a challenge: How would we keep them engaged with the brand? How would we ensure they kept coming back for more? The answer: timely content that inspires and motivates.
With an ever-changing sports world, running the group that created this content was akin to running a newsroom. Here is just a small sampling of that content.
Role: Creative Director
Webby Awards, AAF National, Regional, and Local Addys
In 2018, the KC Chamber came to us with a huge problem. A staggering number of Kansas City kids lacked access to quality preschool and pre-k – setting themselves, and the city, up for a lifetime of failure.
We took action. But since we couldn’t just enroll every child in a good preschool, we turned the city into a preschool. By encouraging busy parents to see the city all around them a little differently, everyday places became opportunities for learning.
Alongside that initiative, we created an awareness campaign for the greater Kansas City community.
Role: Concept, Writer, Creative Director
Radio Mercury Awards Finalist
How do you make a giant fast-food corporation with seemingly manufactured burgers feel more real? By telling real, relatable stories that capture the humanity in all of us. Here are just a few.
Role: Writer, Creative Director
When McDonald’s needed to build their base of active app users, we were told: “Give us a campaign we can run for the next 6 months that has a million executions to avoid wear out. Also, we have close to no budget and the buy starts tomorrow.” Okay, so not those exact words, but, pretty close.
Quick concepting, scripting and a whole heapload of thoughtfulness ultimately resulted in this simple, truthful, fruitful campaign produced in like, a minute, and on a shoestring budget.
Insider info: the idea to make :15 spots was a creative call my partner and I made so that we could stretch our budget farther with TV that doubled as social videos and a wider variety of relatable scenarios.
Role: Writer, Creative Director
The Chiefs are known for their offense. But in 2019, we turned attention to their defense. Every time the Chiefs Defense got a sack, the next day Big Macs were Buy One Get One Free. And to let everyone know, we created a rallying cry memorable enough to amp up the entire Chiefs Kingdom.
This also happened to be the year The Chiefs won the Super Bowl. Coincidence? Nah.
Role: Creative Director
Bibs were given away at the stadium for fans to wave around in preparation for a sack…and the next day’s feast.
We created a stir at arrowhead with unique signage.
Helzberg Diamonds had a unique opportunity to partner with fellow Berkshire Hathaway Company, Geico for a TV buy. My partner and I concepted and wrote the spot and then joined forces with The Martin Agency to produce it.
Role: Concept, Writer
Ball canning was a dying brand because their core audience of older female canners was, well, dying off. We not only needed to position canning as cool and relevant, we needed to create a whole new population of female canners.
The solution: position canning as a means of self-expression – an open-ended question only our female target could answer.
And then, provide a resource that would help her learn to can and be with her every step of the way.
Role: Concept, Writer
AAFKC Addys
The Trolley Run, an annual 4-mile race in Kansas City, is the single most important fund-raising event for Children’s Center For the Visually Impaired, a school that teaches visually impaired children to thrive in a sighted world. However, most Kansas City residents think the Trolley Run is just a fun event that runs through their neighborhood every year.
Since the event is near and dear to my heart, I concepted this video idea and drafted a video producer, a sound engineer and a lot of running friends to help me create it. The video racked up thousands of views in a matter of days, helped break race registration records and got loads of free air time from local stations.
Role: Concept, Writer, Creative Director, Producer, Director
I spent several years of my career working on Sonic. Which meant dozens and dozens of shoots writing for and directing “those two guys in the car.” Rather than make you watch a bunch of them, here’s two for your enjoyment. And some radio. And a little outdoor too. The fact that the campaign lives on today with another agency is a huge compliment.
Role: Writer
AAF National, Regional and local Addys
Inside every creative brief, there’s an unwritten choice. You can deliver what’s being asked of you. Or you can go above and beyond to deliver something nobody even knew to ask for. If my partner and I had delivered what was being asked of us, you’d be looking at a standard banner ad right now. Well, not really. Because I wouldn’t have put that in my book.
Role: Concept, Writer, Live Message Crafter
How do you get more millennial females to eat Sonic? Put two female creatives in the same room as a millenial medial buyer. Voila.
Role: Concept, Writer
AAFKC Addys
Some rule somewhere states that holiday jewelry store ads must feature fictional model-like characters saying over-the-top romantic things while riding on horseback through a perfectly snow-covered field, setting completely unrealistic expectations for women everywhere.
Well, we broke that rule. For Helzberg, we wanted to show how jewelry is a symbol of real love between real people. So we had an idea: let’s find real, non-actory couples, separate them, turn on the camera, ask them questions about how they know they are loved, and see what happens. Okay, so we had more of a plan than just that. But what resulted was pure fun. Especially among our first couple who was close to getting engaged.
Role: Concept, Writer
Eating healthy is hard. Not just because of the constant temptation, but because coming up with ideas for healthy meals and snacks is intense and time-consuming, and dear god, you’re starving and need to eat now!
We pulled Kashi, a brand everyone associates with healthy breakfast, out of the healthy breakfast category and into the healthy eating category by providing quick, shareable recipe ideas that incorporate Kashi into every day part. These simple social videos garnered hundreds of thousands of views, likes, shares and healthy meals.
And we established the Kashi food blog, where healthy eating inspiration could be served up in daily doses. Below are links to just a few posts I researched and wrote, for your reading (and eating) enjoyment.
Role: Concept, Creative Director, Writer
Just a small sampling of the dozens of additional TV spots I’ve created over the years.
Ideas are my jam. But headlines are my butter. Or toast. Knife, maybe? Basically, you can’t have a great headline without a great idea. And a great idea without a great line, well, that’s just plain ol’ jelly in a jar. But, I’ll stop with the metaphors now and just let this sampling of lines do the talking.
So it's long-form you want? I can do that. I’ve written loads of collateral material, website copy, emails, and blog posts. But if I'd have put all that on here, you'd be here forever, and things would just get awkward between us. So if you’d like to see more examples of my long-form writing, drop me a note. I’m happy to load you up with reading material.
