This is not a list of my best ten ads, but rather some of my favorite moments, outtakes, tributes, and responses from too many years in advertising.
When you look back at all of the ridiculous roles David Hasselhoff has played, it’s kind of amazing that he would break character during our Red Alert 3 shoot, particularly with such a sobering, candid response. This remains one of the proudest moments of my career.
Sometime in the Fall of 2021, after Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk had launched their manned spacecraft into orbit and back, a young copywriter named Lucy quipped on the Salesforce Creative Slack that Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff “should have a press conference to announce he’s NOT going to space.”
Well, that joke got around and within two weeks, Matthew McConaughey hadn’t only agreed to star in a spot communicating this thought, he was in a shared google doc with the rest of us. Now, I don’t want to imply I wrote this spot. I did not. However, I did write this three word tweet that accompanied it when it first went live.
I want to point out that I would have punctuated it differently than the content manager did, however. Email me and I will tell you how this English major would have done it.
It’s rare, but every once in awhile you work on something that is just so mind-bogglingly outside your realm of daily life that it changes you.
For Pride Week 2023, lululemon wanted to highlight a member of the LGBTQIA+ Community that their social initiatives had helped. But this isn’t a story of “help.” In this case, the brand’s donations to the nonprofit Rainbow Railroad literally saved this person’s life. I helped Young Hero develop, direct, and produce this shoot where Bintang Maraj told his story of escaping an unsafe situation and relocating to New York City. It’s a story of bravery, resilience, and transformation that continues today. I know I’m supposed to deal with words but I really lack the appropriate combination to express just how inspiring Bintang is.
Doing justice to this story was one of the most important jobs I’ll ever work on.
The Dead Space 2 campaign reached the pinnacle of criticism, and cultural relevance, with an appearance in the February 7, 2010 "Approval Matrix." I'd say it was placed perfectly.
I wrote a number of television spots for EA’s epic sci-fi video game Mass Effect 2. Years later, I discovered that someone had taken a line I had written and put it on a t-shirt. To me, this honor was at least on par with the 2008 Regional Addys I won at Gumas Advertising.
Sorry fans, the shirts are now sold out.
Every once in awhile, some of your interests just magically intersect in the same place. In this once-in-a-career instance, it was sneakers, basketball, and sandwiches. At the Sabrina Ionescu bodega experience, I worked with a local food truck to create three subs named after the WNBA star’s game.
The menu was as follows:
The Coast to Coast – chipotle sauce (inspired by west coast taquerias) with turkey pastrami (inspired by kosher delis)
The Triple Double – three types of veggies, three types of cheese, three layers of sandwich
Extra Saucy – a classic Chopped Cheese with extra hot sauce
Cutest thing I’ve ever worked on. Loved working in Asia.
It’s not every day that a campaign you’ve worked on is accused of housing subliminal references to the occult, but hey, there’s a first time for everything.
Please note two things about the above excerpt: one, the last two words. Secondly, this is only about half of this blogger’s observations. If you’re curious, read it in its entirety here and judge for yourself. I’d say only about 40-80% of it is true.
I co-wrote this spot featuring one of the most dominant, transformative players in NBA history. LeBron James is also in it.
About 12,000 years ago, I was a young copywriting intern at the BBDO office in Prague. Working in the Czech Republic was a wonderful experience, full of gothic architecture, seven story dance clubs, dark beers for every meal, and goulash for every other meal. It was also an interesting place to learn the ropes at a major ad agency.
On our second to last day of work, we were briefed for a pro bono project for a Czech youth center - essentially a non-judgmental place for teenagers to hang out, be themselves, and stay out of trouble. In what’s become my preferred modus operandi, I locked myself in a room and just churned out as many scripts as I could and turned them in. About two months later, my CD emailed me the final cut with a short thank you. I still remember the thrill of seeing my own idea come to life, and it’s still a buzz that motivates me to make cool work.
Also, I think everyone should share their first spot because lol