The networks that broadcast the Super Bowl set aside a few spots for local advertisers every year. So we decided to hack that by buying up spaces in five markets and running what seemed like low budget local ads by real, famous local businesses.
To launch Taco Bell's biggest product ever, we created a campaign that was pure hype. From the first press release to the final reveal, we took people along for the ride with us.
Role: creative director
Emojis. So hot right now. But weirdly, there was no taco emoji. Until now. So to celebrate its release, we created a magical Twitter machine that mashes up the taco emoji with every single other emoji—on demand. Literally. Every. Single. Emoji.
Watch people using it live here: #TacoEmojiEngine
I helped run the intern program at Deutsch. That means I got access to some weird and wonderful brains. Klusterflock was an idea borne out of that. Watch for the full launch coming soon. Flock yeah!
The best work really pisses off the competition. Sorry, Apple fanboys.
How do you sell a vegetable? Stop treating it like one and take some moves right out junk food's playbook, all while making fun of it at the same time.
To launch of the new Golf GTI, we used it to celebrate every single goal of the 2014 World Cup. Every. Single. Goal.
Let's be honest. Our love of bacon has jumped the shark. Bacon PJs? Bacon candles? Bacon lube? What about bacon you can eat? Like the Bacon Club Chalupa.
Click here to watch the Twitch experience and jump to around the 12:30 mark.
Role: creative director
This was a real infomercial that really ran on TV. Really.
Felt is an app that makes sending cards more modern. Just scribble something onto your iPhone screen, and your loved one will get a handwritten card in the mail a few days later. So instead of going the traditional route for Mother's Day, we decided to celebrate someone else for a change.
This project was a fun one to release into the world back in 2009. The love. The hate. The even more hate.
First we came up with a promo to give away a GoPro with every GTI. Then we had to come up with something to do with all those cameras before we gave them away.
Most people think they prefer Google over Bing. But most people think wrong.
In 2014, a couple of my runner friends and I launched PMR. It's a brand/training squad/racing team. Mostly it's an excuse to mess around in the mountains, make funny t-shirts and get a little famous. I design, shoot, write and post just about everything for the brand.
Check us out at:
pacificmountainrunners.com
instagram.com/pacificmountainrunners
zazzle.com/pacmtnrunners
TV isn't dead. It just runs on Hulu now too. Here are a few spots we made recently.
Netflix has thousands of TV shows and movies ready to stream 24/7/365. So, we had to remind people to Please Watch Responsibly.
Before everyone was doing putting Shazam in their spots, we invented it. And made it shoppable to boot.
I'm still damn proud of this. This is the first ad I ever made that actually worked. And I did it while I was in portfolio school. In the end, I got $10,000, a free trip to France, a Cannes Future Lion and a job out of the whole thing. All in 24 hours. Still blows my mind.
Social search is a really cool feature that search engines added a few years ago. Unfortunately Google only let you search your Google+ Circles. And, I mean, who even uses Google+ anyway, amirite??
This came towards the end of our SuperModelquin campaign. At this point, we were basically just trying to find ways to destroy them on camera.
There's no such thing as an emergency broadcast system on social media. So, we created one and called Flash Flood For Good. Ton of celebrities jumped on board like Pitbull, Kesha, Psy, Chelsea Clinton and the Biebs. And Bill Clinton even helped us launch it during his Clinton Global Initiative conference.
Here are a few other things I've done. Usually for fun. Very rarely for profit.
In this campaign, we dropped models from super high platforms, cloned Mr. T and reunited two '90s child stars. Oh, and we sold a lot of clothes.
You know what's cooler than winning awards? Inventing them. In 2011, Cannes asked us to help them relaunch the festival as the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. So we came up with an idea to use everyone's rosé-fueled brain power for good. And it was so good the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ponied up the cash. And (once again) Bill Clinton helped us launch it.
For several years I ran a blog called Accidental Dong. It was devoted to NSFW things that were actually perfectly SFW. I stopped doing it after getting tired of being sent penis-like things all day but not before getting covered in a lot of news outlets and permanently cementing "accidental dong" into internet lexicon.
Check out the old site at accidentaldong.com.
We choreographed this entire thing on the fly the day of the shoot. It must've been pretty impressive because one of our dancers married my partner a few years later.
Also, we made my favorite banner of all time, which is still really fun to play with.
When I'm not making ads, I'm running sketchy-ass mountain trails. This is my alter-ego life as an ultramarathoner. What's an ultramarathon? It's any run longer than a marathon, like 50 miles, 100 kilometers or 100 miles. Really.
Follow my adventures at ievenranthisfar.
