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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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?