NotThatRock

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To answer your question: Nope.

I’m not related to Kid Rock. Or Chris Rock. Or Dwayne The Rock Johnson. I’ve never driven a Chevy, especially like a rock. I’ve never been to Fraggle Rock or that weird rock from Close Encounters. I don’t listen to soft rock, hard rock or glam rock (sorry, Bowie). I don’t even have a boat to rock.

You thought I was going to say that I do ROCK at advertising stuff, though, didn’t you?
Don’t worry, I’d never put you through that.

 
 
 
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Recognized by:

Adage Editor’s Pick

Entertainment Tonight #1 Must-See Celeb Sighting

People Magazine

And, also, this guy:

“As the resident opinionated grumpy old white guy, I regularly write to advertising agency creative directors to tell them how terrible their advertising campaigns are. It's a passion of mine, and while it gets me nowhere it does make me feel better while helping to fill up my Sunday afternoons. For the first time ever, I am writing to tell someone how great their ad campaign is. Mike's Amazing, both the billboards and the TV spots are nothing short of genius. Thank you for being the first advertising agency in a freakin' long time to finally get it right.”

For Year Two of “when it’s on, it’s on,” we took the fight against food faux pas to the most iconic northeast dining establishments: the diner, a place known for its absolute lawlessness, from late-night munchers to run-amok toddlers. Then, we got the most opinionated diner of all time to put them in their place: Jason Alexander. But not just one Jason Alexander. An entire diner full of them.

Because when it’s on, it’s really, really on.

We also learned that Jason is a classically trained juggler. Who knew?

 
 
 
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Recognized by:

Adage, Top 40 Ads of the Year

D&AD, Yellow Pencil, Writing for Advertising

D&AD, Wood Pencil, Editing

Andy Awards, Non-profit Craft

AICP, Spoken Word

Webby, Short Form Health & Wellness

Clio, Bronze, Public Service Copywriting

Clio, Shortlist, Direction

Clio, Shortlist, Casting

Clio Health, Gold, Direction

Clio Health, Silver, Under 5 Minutes

Clio Health, Silver, Casting & Performance

British Arrows, Gold, Direction

British Arrows, Silver, Editing

Shots, Silver, Casting

Shots, Silver, Concept over 2 minutes

Shots, Silver, Direction over 3 minutes

Shots, Bronze, Charity

Shots, Shortlist, Editing over 3 minutes

Anthem Awards, Gold, Health Film

Anthem Awards, Silver, Special Projects

One Show, Merit, Film for Good

One Show, Merit, Use of Drama

One Show, Merit, Health & Wellness Film

One Show, Merit, Health & Wellness Writing

Cannes, Shortlist, Nonprofit Film

Cannes, Shortlist, Film Craft Script

Cannes, Shortlist, Nonprofit Health

Vimeo, Editor’s Pick

I could tell you all about how we interviewed hundreds of people in recovery to build a script rooted in truth. And how we worked with a cast and crew built on first-hand experience with mental health and substance use disorders. But it’s probably more interesting to just watch the case study.

And because I designed this website so poorly, I now have to bore you with a bunch of BTS and social media gifs to fill up some space. Enjoy. Or just keep scrolling. That’s fine, too.

 
 
 
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Recognized by:

NiceKicks

Hypebeast

Tablet

Lifehacker

Newsweek

Bleacher Report

And all these other people,
who shared it so hard it showed up on my CCO’s FYP.

If you follow certain sneakerheads, or extremely online geniuses like Brain Moore or Chris Baker, or Hypebeast or Newsweek or Bleacher Report, you may have seen this little tribute to late-stage capitalism. And then probably moved onto whatever was memeing next.

 
 
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Recognized by:

Adage, Editor’s Pick

Cowboys & Indians Magazine

And a bunch of other publications I don’t care about nearly as much as Cowboys & Indians Magazine

People

Forbes

Food & Wine

USA Today

NBC

Good Housekeeping

In his first advertising appearance in over 30 years, Kevin Costner just wants to know what a collab is. What I really wanted to know was: are they dead, yet? According to some internet conspirators, this campaign served as a subtle troll against Meghan Markle. I one day hope to be as maniacal as the internet believes I can be.

 
 
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Recognized by:

+66% First time purchasers

+68% Registrations per state

And still no effie.

Some campaigns are designed to pick up shiny objects in countries that don’t believe in rosé but will serve you a hell of a lot of it anyway. Some campaigns are designed to remind us that this job is supposed to be fun. With that in mind, you should totally check out the director’s cut.

 
 
 
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When a #vanlife influencer went missing in a national park in 2021, the nation went apeshit. Which, oddly never happened for the 5,200 indigenous women who went missing that same year.

To call out the inequity in the press, we got a 2012 Ford Transit Connect—just like Gabby Petito’s—and worked with a famed Bushwick street artist to make the faces of missing indigenous women’s just as famous as hers*.

*Well, we would have if we had $5,000. The van would have traveled from the artist’s art collective in Detroit, through the national park system, to Miami’s Art Basel, picking up “earned media” all along the way.

 

 
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Recognized by:

Effies, Bronze, David vs Goliath

WARC, Shortlist, Instant Impact

 

After the debut of “when it’s on, it’s on”—a tribute to the competitive nature of the Mike himself—mayo is up 458% and mustard is up 875%. So I guess advertising does work.

Well, at least it works for some people…

 
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Recognized by

Nobody, but the head of strategy did say a sentence beginning with “if the client doesn’t buy this…”

They didn’t.

It was a “competitive brief”. Can you blame me?

 

Oh hey. You made it to the bottom.

that’s cool.

guess you probably want to know more?