02.27.17

“Carpet Diem”

Don’t know about you, but when it comes to buying something I tend to procrastinate. Especially when it’s a large ticket item or something that will be around awhile. I’ll look, shop around online, visit some stores, then go home waiting for the price to drop or divine inspiration to hit finally persuading me to buy.

I recently tapped into this emotional insight (which is pretty universal by the way, so I’m not alone) while concepting a retail campaign for Carpet One. Like any large retail chain, Carpet One has a number of sales promotions throughout the year. And while Carpet One stores are managed by highly-knowledgable flooring experts with diverse product lines, they depend on these well-timed promotions to drive store traffic experiencing predictable sales spikes.

It was for just such a sale promoting carpeting, specifically the new line of Innovia carpeting, which got me to thinking about my experience with procrastination. The whole idea about waiting for something you’ve been dreaming about for months (even years) in combination with a limited time offer that lead me to leverage the commonly used exclamation – carpe diem or seize the day. With the simple addition of a “T” so was born Carpet Diem and the Seize The Day Carpet Sale. #CarpetDiem

The retail promo campaign was designed to activate across multiple channels including website, print and digital ads, POS, event, and social.

09.07.16

“#Chefisms”

In January 2015, I had the great pleasure of collaborating with a bunch of uber smart, talented people at Olson. I worked in the 1to1 group helping build and manage integrated teams across a range of client businesses. While my official title was Group Creative Director, I often functioned as a Human Algorithm of sorts leveraging data-driven insights, brand storytelling, technology and good old fashioned smart creative thinking in developing successful marketing programs that emotionally connect and engage with people.

One of those marketing programs was created for P.F. Chang’s China Bistro—a beloved Asian restaurant with a cult-like following. Sounds tasty, right? Reality check. It was a very challenging account. 

P.F. Chang’s marketing budget was woefully underfunded especially in terms of paid media. We knew this would be no picnic, yet still presented a tremendous opportunity. Diving into the deep end of the pool, holistic goggles in place, our fully integrated, multidisciplinary team was challenged to discover a fresh approach. In order to move the sales needle we needed to explore less-expensive channels that would connect and engage our target audience— Millennials—while not alienating P.F. Chang’s core group of existing customers. Yikes.

Say hello to our friends, Owned and Earned media.

Without any paid media how in the world are we supposed to make the needle move? By doing something different. Something more engaging. Something more—Millennial. What we needed was a uniquely integrated, holistic approach. A plan designed around social engagement, PR activation, and by rolling out a new loyalty program that was burning a hole through our apron.

Okay. With the connections strategy in place we still needed a big idea—one that would work across all channels with equal efficacy and passion. Well, after an intense 3 rounds of client presentations we finally arrived at the promised land.

Introducing Chef-isms.

Chef-isms came to life through the dynamic creative team of Rachel Roddy, Matt Burgess, Lisa Rickman and myself.* It’s a great idea in which to introduce the people behind P.F. Chang’s culinary art through an authentic, fun narrative. Who better to tell the stories behind the food, ingredients, inspirations and personal anecdotes than the Chefs. It’s just what the doctor ordered for connecting and engaging with Millennial Foodies who love learning about all things cuisine. And our core audience thought it pretty cool as well.

*Of course since contemporary marketing is a highly-collaborative team sport there was an extended group of talented people making up the integrated team—account folk, strategy planner, media peep, social guru, production artist, project manager, data analyst, and last, but not least, our clients.

05.11.16

“the man with cider running through his veins”

I love visual storytelling. Then again I love verbal storytelling. Okay, okay… Truly, I love the best of both—video storytelling. And apparently so do many brands. In fact, video created specifically as online content grows exponentially every year as efficacy rates for consumer engagement continue to skyrocket. Whether mobile, tablet, desktop, wearable, streamable, etc., video content is king. But you probably knew this already so let’s move on to the fun part, the viewing.

This piece of content was created for Janome, a global manufacturer of sewing machines. It, along with several other videos, is part of an omnichannel campaign “a story in every stitch.”

01.16.16

“Gets the job done”

I rediscovered this brand refresh campaign while digging through some old files. The work dates back to 2008, yet still feels fresh today. Gets The Job Done was one of several conceptual directions my creative partner, Vince Beggin, and I created in collaboration with the uber smart folks at Winsper (Boston) as part of a pitch to their client Timberland PRO. 

Most likely you’re familiar with the Timberland brand and it’s consumer apparel & gear often worn as a contemporary fashion statement. But Timberland also offers an incredible line of footwear made for professional tradesmen/women who take pride in making a living in some of the world’s toughest occupations and demanding conditions.

Idea: When there are 10 ton steel girders swaying overhead at your job, what you wear isn’t about fashion. Yet a worker’s choice of boots or shoes still says something about them. It says they’re serious, that they work hard, and care about safety, comfort and support. So when choosing footwear, they want a brand that understands them, a brand that is as hard working, authentic and durable as they are, a brand that pays homage to the workingman – and gets the job done. Timberland PRO.

10.16.15

“#PFChangsPink”

A few months back at Olson, I worked with the P.F. Chang’s integrated team in creating a campaign in the fight against breast cancer. This PR-centric activation was designed to raise awareness and funds during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

At the heart of this initiative is the iconic P.F. Chang’s Warrior Horse—a symbol of strength and protection. Each Warrior Horse has been draped with a large pink ribbon, the international symbol of breast cancer awareness.

People are encouraged to have their photo taken with the Warrior Horse and share via social media. Tagged with #PFChangsPink each photo will trigger a $1 donation. The collection of shared photos creates a digital photo mosaic of the P.F. Chang’s Warrior Horse. Housed on the pfchangs.com/info/pfchangspink landing page, diners can find and highlight their personal photo as part of the larger P.F. Chang’s Pink community.

So far so good. Since the start of the official P.F. Chang’s Breast Cancer Awareness Kickoff Event donations are on track to hit the goal of $100,000. Nice.

As the husband of my beautiful wife, Lisa, and father of my amazing 7 year-old daughter, Effie, I feel extra satisfaction in having helped collaborate on such a wonderful and worthy project.