e.l.f. beauty — “So Many Dicks”

While other companies were turning their backs on DEI, e.l.f. Beauty decided to double down. They took aim at corporate boards, which are still largely white and male.

We took over NYC’s financial district with over 100 different digital assets. “So Many Dicks” became one of the most viral campaigns of the year, and got people talking about an issue that most never even thought about. 

Plus, it made real change. As part of the effort, e.l.f. sponsored a group of diverse candidates through the National Association of Corporate Directors. So far, 10% of them have been placed on real boards. 

ROLE: CD & writer

AGENCY: Oberland

COLLABORATORS: esteban izquierdo, lisa topol, carina cain, adriene vento, monica taylor & many others.

Michaels

For Michaels, the nation’s largest retailer of arts and craft supplies, holidays are a big deal. 30% of their sales come from seasonal items, or from craft supplies purchased for holidays.

So in 2024, they wanted to position Michaels as the holiday decorating authority for both Halloween and Christmas.

My team helped Michaels create a new campaign in which “holiday experts” like vampires, spooky twins, and a giant yeti head to the store to take their holiday game to the next level.

Michaels Halloween “Twins” :15

Michaels Halloween “DRAC JR” :15

Michaels HOLIDAY “UNBELIEVABLE” :15

Michaels HOLIDAY “ONE-UPPING” :15

Michaels HOLIDAY “CRAFTER” :15

We also created short spots for social media, designed to showcase Michaels’ DIY offerings.

We also made the yeti a star on TikTok. Here’s a clip of one of his behind-the-scenes posts.

Role: cD, writer, yeti-wrangler

Agency: Oberland

Production: Gifted Youth

Collaborators: Esteban Izquierdo, Lisa Topol, Monica Taylor, Bella Hardt, Alec Samuelson, Kristen Barnard, Molly RagU

ACLU “We Show Up”

The ACLU is a busy organization. They fight for immigrants’ rights, reproductive freedom, criminal justice, voting rights, free speech, LGBTQ+ rights, racial justice, and more.

But when you do so many different things, how do you talk about yourself?

We created the brand message “We Show Up” which unified ACLU’s wide-ranging activism. It came to life in a series of 8 documentaries. These were cut into short videos for YouTube and social media, each focusing on a different issue.

I traveled all over the country for this project, and was amazed at the work these people do. They truly show up every day.

Here are the :30 spots created from the documentary content, each designed to introduce one ACLU issue.

Watch the full criminal justice documentary here.

Watch the full trans rights documentary here

Watch the full free speech documentary here.

Watch the full immigrants’ rights documentary here.

Watch the full voting rights documentary here.

Watch the full reproductive rights documentary here.

The final project was especially powerful, as we interviewed Leona Tate, one of the first Black students to integrate a formerly all-White school in 1960. That’s her in the photo. Watch the full racial justice documentary here.

ROLE: CD, WRITER

AGENCY: OBERLAND

PRODUCTION: VERSUS

COLLABORATORS: Lisa Topol, Ronni Chow, Adriene Vento and Carina Cain. Directed by Damien Drake.

MakerPlace by Michaels

Michaels, the nation’s largest retailer of craft supplies, was launching an online marketplace for handmade goods. But how could they distinguish themselves from the Etsys of the world?

We focused on what makes MakerPlace unique: respect for both buyers and sellers. Buyers don’t have to look through dozens of knockoffs, and sellers are paid fairly.

My team created a musical campaign called “Respect the Handmade” featuring the iconic song “RESPECT” sung by animated handmade items. 

We followed up our launch video with “interviews” of our crafty characters.

Our “crafty characters” became the voices of the brand, distinguishing it from sites that claim to be handmade, but really aren’t. (Cough cough… Etsy).

role: Cd, writer

agency: oberland

production: nexus

collaborators: LISA TOPOL, ESTEBAN IZQUIERDO, BILL OBERLANDER, KRISTEN BARNARD.

Climate Voice

Tech companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon often have great climate intentions. But they enable bad policy by joining trade associations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which supports fossil fuels. So activist organization Climate Voice wanted to get tech employees to call out this hypocrisy.

Super simple brief, right? 

We framed the issue as a game, and with help from longtime climate activist Bill McKibben, we made a complicated issue urgent and even kind of fun.

Don’t feel like watching the video? I get it. This is the vibe: 

It was such a pleasure to meet and direct Bill. He was willing to do silly stuff, and even let me take a picture.

The campaign resulted in thousands of petition signatures and 5.4M views via coverage in the Washington Post. 

ROLE: CD, WRITER, DIRECTOR

AGENCY: OBERLAND

PRODUCTION: PARODY

COLLABORATORS: Arnau bosc, esteban izquierdo, & emma ryan

DIETZ NUTS

Dietz & Watson is a meat & cheese company based in Philadelphia. For the 2019 Super Bowl, we helped them launch a new product. They’re savory meat bites, but based on a joke from Dr. Dre’s 1992 album “The Chronic” we named them “Dietz Nuts.”

We created a spot featuring Craig Robinson and his brother Chris. The ad was featured on several “Best of the Super Bowl” lists. Dietz Nuts are now the company’s best-selling snack.

Brady “Gunboxing”

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence wanted help to end “family fire,” injury or death caused by an improperly stored gun in the home.

Playing off the online trend unboxing we created gunboxing, a video format in which someone shows how to safely store a gun by placing it in a safe.

Featuring influential athletes, the campaign bridged the gap between gun owners and safety advocates, taking a non-judgmental approach to gun storage.

Created with Lisa Topol, Bill Oberlander and the rest of the team at OBERLAND. Directed by Damien Drake.

Created with Todd Taylor, Steve O’Connell and Steve Red

Reyka Vodka

Reyka is a small-batch vodka from Iceland, with a small marketing budget. To help grow its US presence, my team and I created a surreal Icelandic world populated by puffins, narwhals, and a bearded weirdo. Reyka Vodka is now available across the country. For some reason it’s very popular in Portland.

Our “spokesman” is a real Icelander named Fridrik Ingvar Ingimundarson. He has no acting experience.

ADOPT A PUFFIN

Iceland is home to Atlantic Puffins, which are endangered. So in 2019 we encouraged vodka drinkers to “Adopt a Puffin” which provided Audubon’s Project Puffin with money and lots of people with puffin swag.

OTHER DUMB STUFF

I love this client so much. One April Fool’s Day, we introduced vodka flavored like things Icelanders enjoy.

Created with Todd Taylor, Dave Wiest, MICHELLE MABEN and many others.

The Shit Show

WaterAid provides clean water, toilets, and hygiene education to communities around the world. In 2015, my team at co:collective created a social campaign around a cultural icon: the poop emoji.

We built an app that let anyone share a customized poop emoji to raise awareness of sanitation issues. Dozens of social media celebrities joined the campaign. Then we opened an art gallery of poop-themed art as an additional fundraiser.

Created with Caitlin Bradley, Mary Turpin, Mike Hasinoff and Tania Staykova.

Yes, Virginia

In 1897 an eight-year-old girl named Virginia wrote to The New York Sun with a question.

"Is there a Santa Claus?" 

The answer became one of the most famous editorials in history, and inspired a long-running campaign for Macy’s. I wrote the script for and helped produce a 30 minute animated special called “Yes, Virginia.”

The special airs annually on CBS and is available on DVD and Netflix.

YES VIRGINIA STORYBOOK

After the success of the Yes, Virginia tv special, Harper Collins asked if we'd be interested in doing a picture book. 

I wrote the text and the talented James Bernardin illustrated. The book is available in bookstores nationwide.

PARADE BALLOON

In 2010, Virginia became a float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

It's a weird feeling to see your character float down Broadway next to Shrek and Kermit the Frog.

Created with Matt MacDonald, Wayne Best, Kate Schwerin, Kallan Kagan, Robin Feldman, and lots of other magical people.

YouTube Beacons

Remember when everyone thought YouTube was just animal videos?

While working at co:collective, I helped create the YouTube "Beacons" campaign. Our goal was to show the real YouTube: a place where creators and fans come together to do amazing things. 

The campaign put YouTube on the map as a legit content platform.

We made a ton of fun stuff.

Here are a few selected videos from the campaigns:

And here’s the obligatory case study.

Emotional Support Dogs

Nobody likes losing. Especially during the Super Bowl.

But there’s nothing so sad, a hot dog can’t make it better.

In February 2022, my team helped Dietz & Watson launch “Emotional Support Dogs.” If your team lost the big game, all you had to do was tweet #DietzSupportDogs and we delivered a warm, comforting hot dog right to your door.

The Cincinnati Bengals lost to the LA Rams, and we delivered thousands of hot dogs to fans around the country.

Created with the teams at Dietz & Watson, Fooji, and RTO+P

"Your First Time"

You never forget your first time at the polls.

For Barack Obama's 2012 campaign, we needed to get young, first-time voters into the voting booth.

Naturally, we turned to sex. We created a video starring Lena Dunham. It was viewed 2.5 million times during the campaign.

#3 commercial of 2012
-Time Magazine

"[It] appears to have won the presidential election."
-LA Times

It also pissed a lot of people off.

Print Campaign

We also create a print campaign for colleges. We didn’t let up with the sex jokes.

Spurred on by these efforts, the Obama campaign got 1.25 million more youth votes than it did in 2008.

Fun fact! The tagline for this campaign was originally "Swipe Your V-Card" but Obama wasn't into it.

Dot-to-Dot Poster

We also created this poster that featured each of Obama’s campaign promises as a dot in a portrait. As promises were kept, you could cross off the dots.

Created with the very sexy Nathan Phillips.

THE BALVENIE

The Balvenie is a single-malt scotch whisky. Its brand is all about craft — taking time to do things right, even if it’s harder, or takes years.

Anthony Bourdain also believed in craft. He lent his insatiable curiosity to the Balvenie for a long-running content series called “Raw Craft.” In each episode, Tony visited expert craftsmen and women to learn their trade and share a dram of whisky.

When Bourdain died suddenly in 2018, we created a tribute ad, which ran during the final episodes of “Parts Unknown.”

Created with Todd Taylor, Steve O’Connell & Steve Red. 

Created with Steve O’Connell, Steve Red, Todd Taylor, and a ton of other talented people.

Keggy the Keg

Dartmouth College doesn't have a proper mascot. First there was the un-PC "Dartmouth Indian" and then the overly-PC "Big Green," but since 1970, nothing has stuck.

In 2001, my friend Nic and I decided to create a mascot that wasn't racist or sexist, yet entirely unacceptable. Dartmouth has a reputation for hard drinking, so booze was the logical choice.

We created "Keggy the Keg" and snuck him into the homecoming game. To this day, Keggy remains Dartmouth's "official unofficial" mascot. He’s also my only credit on Wikipedia.

Created with Nic Duquette and the staff of the Dartmouth Jack O’Lantern

THE GABAGHOUL

Sometimes ideas appear where you least expect them. Philly-based meat and cheese company Dietz & Watson asked, “What should we do on social media in October?”

We created the Gabaghoul, a ghastly gourmand with a Halloween cooking show. The character was played by Vincent Pastore, aka Big Pussy from The Sopranos.

The campaign was picked up by film and culture sites across the Internet, and even inspired fan art. AdAge named it one of its “Best Halloween Campaigns” which makes me happier than any other award I’ve won.

Vinnie was a lot of fun to work with. Here are a few outtakes.

Created with the wonderful creeps at RTO+P

Lord of the Rings: Quarantine Edition

During quarantine, some people baked bread. Others grew plants. I recreated all of The Lord of the Rings using LEGOs and random objects.

I posted the videos on Instagram, and they became a viral hit in the world of Tolkien fandom. But with COVID-19 raging, I wanted to do my part to help out. So I made the project a fundraiser for Partners in Health, a nonprofit organization that provides healthcare to vulnerable communities.

Strangers from all around the world donated to help fight COVID (and the forces of Mordor).