EL POLLO LOCO

THE BRIEF: El Pollo Loco takes grilling seriously. Like, really really really seriously. And within the walls of the EPL kingdom, the most prominent and respected position . . . one that takes years to attain . . . is the job of GRILLMASTER. To salute those who have acquired this title, we created a series of posters that honored the longest tenured masters of fire.

BRIGID'S BAGS

THE BRIEF. Brigid’s Bags is a small boutique shop in Chicago that specializes in transforming old, worn-out bowling bags from the 1950s – 1980s into unique, one-of-a-kind, quality purses that double as conversation pieces. Our task was to create a poster series that told the BB story in a curious and entertaining way.

LEINENKUGEL'S

THE BRIEF: Leinenkugel’s is a legendary Midwest beer born and raised in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Known for their love of all things outdoors, the Leinenkugel family asked us to create posters to run in various outdoor publications during the summer months that tell a bit of the Leini story and support the tagline "Join Us Out Here."

MILLER LITE

THE BRIEF: Miller Lite is one of the title sponsors of the Chicagoland Speedway; a magnet of beer-soaked summer activity during the months when the temperature breaks 70. To draw the hazy gaze of like-minded warm weather warriors, Miller Lite ran a series of posters and boards at another local party place: Wrigley Field. Like an out-of-home board, the goal was to communicate the idea as quickly and succinctly as possible with fun headlines that tie in beer and racing lingo.

CITI

THE BRIEF: Citi wanted to create a print campaign for their student loan division. My only goal was to create something that didn’t feel “loanish”. So to tell a quick story and side-step all of the usual loan bumbo jumbo, we let the visuals do most of the talking.

MERCURY MARINE

THE BRIEF: When Mercury Marine launched their new 150 Four Stroke engine, there was a laundry list of items that they wanted to support. Seeing how a traditional long copy ad just wasn’t going to cut it, we created a formula using a 1-2 punch that leads with a stand-alone headline that is simultaneously weaved into the body copy. 

INTERNATIONAL TRUCKS

THE BRIEF: International Trucks has a long and storied history as the most durable and dependable long and short-haul trucks around. Born and still made in America, this family of trucks bleeds red, white and blue. Our task was to create a series of print ads and posters to introduce the newest line of International trucks.

CHICAGO WHITE SOX

THE BRIEF: Drinking and driving prevention is a subject that the Chicago White Sox and MillerCoors are passionate about. Combining forces, both entities teamed up and took out a full page in every White Sox game program to support responsible consumption and the importance of using a designated driver.

KILLIAN'S: DIGITAL

THE BRIEF: “Make the site like you’re in a pub or something. You know, real friendly.” This was the request from the brand manager at Killian’s. And this was a fun project. We simply dug into the brand’s history and created a site that invited the visitor to come on in, pull up and chair, shoot the sh*t and share a pint.

FROSTED MINI-WHEATS

THE BRIEF: “People have forgotten about Frosted Mini-Wheats.” That’s essentially the summary of the twelve-page brief created for this project. Our job was to market this classic cereal to a new generation of moms. Utilizing social media, we tapped in the insanely popular segment known as MOMMY BLOGGERS to entice health-conscious parents to join the convo, share stories, and receive free Mini-Wheats. 

DEADLIEST CATCH

THE BRIEF: Deadliest Catch is one of the highest rated docu-style shows on The Discovery Channel. Henry Weinhard’s is a working class beer that calls the Pacific Northwest home. With roots in the fishing industry, we thought “why not combine the two and create a program where winners would travel to Dutch Harbor and spend a day on board The Wizard?”. And that’s exactly what we did.

VENTRA

THE BRIEF: Ventra is the new universal payment system for the Chicago Transit Authority that was introduced in 2014. In addition to serving as a fare currency, Ventra cards also act as a credit and debit card. To support this new endeavor, I wrote all copy for the Ventra website. 

BOSS SNOWPLOWS: DIGITAL

THE BRIEF: Here in Austin, there’s not much use for snowplows. Other than the annual ice storm that sends the entire region into a state of Armageddon or the occasional “blizzard” that’s melted by noon, the only thing cold and slick around here is that wildcat from Arkansas trying to sell shares in an oil drilling venture. So when I got to work on Boss, it was a real treat to learn about this brand and the men and women who make them and use them. We went deep with a video series, website, posters, app and more.

TRUE VALUE DIY

THE BRIEF: Despite the looming Goliath's that are Lowe's and Home Depot, True Value Hardware continues to have a foothold in small town America. And one of the reasons they’ve lasted so long is their commitment to helping customers. So how can they reach out further to help those in remote areas? Our solution was creating online DIY instructional videos. This is not the sexiest project ever. The reason I’m posting this is because this endeavor proved to be a valuable education on writing fast, shooting fast, editing fast and posting fast. We literally created HUNDREDS of these.

BONEFISH GRILL

THE BRIEF:: The main goal for any mass email launch is to just not get deleted. I prefer to invite them in and not to cram too much stuff down their broadband connection. This weekly email campaign for Bonefish Grill highlights specials and promotions. It’s clean, simple, easy to digest and has gotten a very high click through rating. (drops mic)

COMCAST SPORTS

THE BRIEF: Comcast Sports doesn’t hold back when it comes to their love of all things Chicago sports. In fact, they’ve been known to get a little too intense when commenting on games and highlights. Scribbling lines one day for a banner ad I was working on, I came up with “We’re As Obsessed As You Are.” It stuck with me so I ran it by the client. They loved it. So I went back and wrote a bunch of spots promoting their flagship show "SportsNet Central". The campaign grew to also include all four major sports.

COORS LIGHT

THE BRIEF: Coors Light has carved out a unique and surprising niche in the hip hop community. Using some of the most highly regarded up-and-coming talent in the industry, we created a series of TV spots around the theme of reFRESH. 

STEIN GARDEN

THE BRIEF: “We don’t have a lot of money but we trust you.” Stein is a regional provider of home and garden goods in the Midwest and one of the best clients I’ve ever worked with. We shot these spots over a three-day period in rural Wisconsin and the experience trumped any big budget commercial shoot I’ve ever done in NY or LA.

MODELO

THE BRIEF:: Selfies aren’t new. Sharing pics isn’t new. So what can we do to get a little buzz in the social media world while also staying on brand. MOSAIC! Although not as easy as it might seem from a coding side, we were able to launch this campaign with much fanfare.

Millions of likes + thousands of shares = more beer sold.

TRUE VALUE GIANT PAINT STICK

THE BRIEF: Every St. Patrick's Day in Chicago, the Plumber's Union dyes the Chicago River green. Not raw sewage, dark camo green. We're talking electric green. It's impressive. And since we were starting to create promotions for True Value's Spring Paint line, we thought "Why not make a giant paint stick, drop it in the river to help stir it up, and give away free samples and painter's caps. And maybe we will get on CNN and Buzzfeed and Ads of the World and The Daily Show."

BAYER

THE BRIEF: When BBDO won the global business for Bayer, the process of bringing everyone up-to-speed and establishing effective communication and processes was gargantuan. My job on this project was to essentially take a couple thousand documents from all over the world and combine them into some sort of coherent guide. The final product is over 80 pages . . . so I selected a handful to share. This was a ton of work. It's not sexy, but we did a superb job.

ALL STATE CRU: DIGITAL/SOCIAL/PRINT

THE BRIEF: Corporate Relations University (CRU) doesn’t have a football team. But they do offer some outstanding continuing education programs for current and future employees. After digging into this project, I realized this program was actually really interesting and very cool. So we created a site and made a bunch of ads. It was a success. They still don’t have a football team.

CITI

THE BRIEF:: Citi sends a lot of direct mail. A LOT. 

ASIAN ADOBE: LOGO

THE ASK: I am not a designer. Now, Asian Adobe is a furniture gallery in Santa Fe, NM that imports antique Chinese pieces from the far reaches of China. It's also owned by my parents. They needed a logo and asked me to take a crack. Turns out the loved it. Then they took it and didn't pay me one red cent. THE END.