Directing is a passion of mine…

Huggies is a recent piece. Created, edited and sound designed, by yours truly. Illustrating how a simple idea can resonate. And work through the line.

The “big idea”, that’s how to create great memorable work that can be blown out through all media. It is exactly what I can offer agencies and client’s alike. Along with the production capabilities of a great director.
Element Skateboards was a labor of love. They have a cult following. Teens as well as adults love them. They spend hours trying to master the kickflip, the ollie or the pop shove-it. Finding a board that make’s that effortless is huge. I came up with the idea “Gravity is for suckers.” to illustrate that thought. That, coupled with Neil Armstrong’s out of this world voice over “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” made this a memorable piece of communication. Another recent addition.
And another recent entry was for Coney Island Breweries…
a microbrewery. The idea “ Thrill your senses”. Their brews include Beach Beer, the Merman beer and the Mermaid beer…my favorite is the Mermaid beer.
And yet another for Arthur Cantina “Tough Day” the first in a series of “Tough Day” spots for the liquor store in Little Italy in the Bronx.

These are some of the several big idea/platforms, I have generated lately. Content is king. And knowing how to create it is extremely important.

Understanding the language of film, being able to create content/platforms/big ideas, is crucial in today’s integrated, digital-centric, communications landscape.

Generating content is important and as such I created content for Forbes.com.
With the help of Director Zef Cota, and Gretchen Kelly, go to Michael Alpiner’s column on Forbes.com

Please see my “About” page for visuals of my Forbes.com column.

When Jenny Craig, the weight loss giant was headed towards chapter 11, they turned to us for help. I came up with the idea to use the “Fat Actress” star Kirstie Alley to help sell Jenny Craig to America again. There was some trepidation on the part of the client at first, they thought she might be difficult to work with, but we convinced them that Kirstie would make the perfect pitchwoman.

The “Have You Called Jenny Yet?" campaign was the first to feature a celebrity, Kirstie Alley, losing weight in “real time”, right before our eyes. That had never been done before.

We hired Mark Seliger (the famous Rolling Stone cover photographer/director) to put Kirstie’s trademark humor and regular updates on film . Month by month she announced her latest weight loss accomplishments. And she/we kept America up to date on our website’s blog. The campaign resonated with the public. Jenny Craig’s phones lit up! Millions joined…

The PR value of the campaign featuring our “Fat Actress” star was huge (see People covers). Kirstie appeared on the late night talk show circuit, Oprah and was featured on Entertainment Tonight (see ET video).

The campaign turned the company around, helping investors sell to Nestle for a huge profit.

It resurrected Kirstie’s career. And helped her launch her own line of weight loss products and even helped get her on “Dancing with the Stars”.

“Cheers” to Kirstie and Jenny Craig!
Oh yes, and we won a Gold Effie.

CD’s: Mark Kelly, Belinda Broido

Brand Refresh:

How do you take a tired old vitamin brand like Centrum, Complete from A to Zinc...and pack it full of new life and energy?

Answer: Redefine what "Complete" means, by upgrading it to "Most Complete". Enhance it with incredible CG work from Click 3X, add a healthy dose of cool music and you’ve got a successful formula.

Awareness for Centrum went up. And so did sales.

CD’S: Mark Kelly, Belinda Broido

The sporting goods store Footlocker was opening 16 new stores in NYC and wanted everyone to know. So we painted black and white stripes all over the city.

Well, not exactly. We put Footlocker’s familiar ref stripes on NYC locations. And then posed the riddle “What’s black and white and all over New York?”.

We ran the ads “blind” at first (with no logo) taking over subway cars.. Then re-ran the ads with the answer to the riddle.

The new locations were a hit and so was the campaign.

Visit Wales wanted to increase tourism.

So besides gorgeous castles, majestic cliffs, and lush rolling hills what else is Wales known for?

It’s the home of Camelot and the legendary King Arthur. And the Starz network had just finished filming “Camelot” the series.

We combined the two. Holy Grail! What a concept!

It ran on VIrgin Atlantic’s Inflight to London. Hordes of well-heeled tourists followed. Brandishing their wallets and pocketbooks.

Editor: Mark Kelly Co writer: Gretchen Kelly

Prescription Zyrtec was going “over the counter” so Johnson & Johnson wanted to get the news out.

What made Zyrtec different, and better, was that it was not only an outdoor allergy medication, it worked on indoor allergens, like dust mites too. That dual benefit inspired us to create a visual branding device that empowered the consumer with “the freedom to go anywhere.”

The split visual indoor/outdoor campaign was the most successful OTC launch ever. And completely eclipsed prescription allergy drug sales.

That’s nothing to sneeze at.

CD’s: Mark Kelly, Belinda Broido

T. Rowe Price wanted to unveil their new financial products. Retirement planning, college planning and 401(K) rollovers. And they needed something to separate them from the other investment firms with similar offerings.

Most financial advertising is cold and professional.

To warm it up a little, and stand out, we featured kids. They make great storytellers. I mean, who doesn’t love kids?

They told the T. Rowe Price story better than anyone could.

Bottom line, it worked. T. Rowe’s investment managers saw a boom in new customers planning for the future.

Johns Hopkins, a leader in the world of medical breakthroughs, spent $1.1 billion dollars on two new state-of-the-art buildings. The Sheik Zayed Tower and the Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children Center. Trouble was, they had little left over to announce the news.

So they came to us to create a campaign that featured all the bells and whistles of the new buildings, but didn’t cost them an arm and a leg. We created “This is the place”.

A cost-effective, gem of a campaign that utilized a director/cameraman/photographer who shot all the creative from the principal shoot, to the print, down to the web banners.

It was a unique opportunity to launch not just two gorgeous new hospital wings, but unveil a work of art.

Johnson & Johnson had a new Sudafed PE formula called Triple Action, that was made for multiple symptoms. But they didn’t want to show the same old boring teary-eyed, nose-blowing visuals.

So we created “the Sinus Triple Threat”. A new campaign with unique, hyperbolic visuals that grabbed attention.

And share of market of course. Sudafed PE Triple Action became one of their top sellers as a result. Flying off the shelves.

No pain, no gain.

CD’s: Mark Kelly, Belinda Broido

Digital work was of course also part of the mix.

Fact #1: Woman like wearing 5 inch stiletto heels.

Fact #2: Women don’t like the pain associated with wearing 5 inch stiletto heels.

We Introduced Band-Aid’s Blister Block. Complete with warning labels. A conceptually-focused, graphically modern campaign for a somewhat stodgy, jingle-loving, old brand.

Made for woman who absolutely adore their Christian Louboutins. But don’t want the blisters that come with them.

The product flew off the shelves.

Jackie Anzaldi & Adam Noel worked very hard with us on the campaign. As well as some talented digital artists to create a fully integrated campaign. There was some Traditional TV done as well. Stuck on Band Aid work.

AD: Adam Noel

CW: Jackie Anzaldi

CD’s: Mark Kelly, Belinda Broido

Each year a half a million students drop out of high school. Operation: Graduation was a coordinated effort between The Ad Council and The US Army to reverse this trend.

We created an outdoor campaign featuring unscrupulous, uptight-looking employers encouraging kids to drop out so they can hire them for pennies. The last line of copy reveal dropouts make 42% less than graduates.

We also created a supportive parent-focused campaign, shot by Jesse Dylan, that featured a support group for parents who want to help their kids stay in school.

School posters featured humorous diagrams of parents supporting and encouraging their kids. The tagline "Don't Drop Out On Your Kids" .

Before H1N1, there was no public fear of picking up harmful germs. And no real demand for Purell Hand Sanitizer. We changed all that by grabbing attention and some headlines (see Adweek's Best Spots) with creative that featured MC Hammer's "Can't touch this" riff. We helped MC pay off his IRS bill and helped sell more hand sanitizer than Purell ever had. We did global executions for the Japanese market as well.

CO/CD: Belinda Broido

Allied Domeq was trying to increase sales of it’s Sauza Tequila Hornitos brand. There are many tequila’s out there but this one was made with 100% pure agave.

Tequila itself is know for being a little decadent. A little dangerous. The perfect foil for Hornitos’s purity.

Famed celebrity photog Sante D'Orazio helped us find the right "dangerous, late night club look" for our "Stay Pure" campaign.

The result, Allied Domeq couldn’t handle the demand for the product. They ran out of Hornitos on every liquor store shelf in the country.

We also won a gold Effie. Another round please!

CO/Writer: Steve Crane

The Whitney Museum of American Art was celebrating part two of the American Century exhibit and needed to increase attendance. We were tasked with pitching the business with that in mind.

We came up with the "See it before its history" campaign. Which underscored the urgency of the cultural event. Using pop artists and their masterpieces to visually arrest consumers, and a decidedly “less stuffy” tone of voice,

We won the account and packed the exhibit to the walls.

Steve Crane And I also won a a gold Effie for the Steichen Campaign.