The mission: Rebrand MSNBC and reposition them among the extremely competitive network news marketplace.  Our campaign and line, "Lean Forward," ran for 6 years and successfully kept MSNBC in the ratings battles.

The box and booklet were given to all employees on launch day.  All of the television commercials were shot and assembled by Spike Lee. My art director partner was Larry Olson.

After a year or so of running the campaign, we also created the theme/setting for MSNBC’s space at the 2012 Democratic National Convention—another landscape loaded with competitive noise.

The assignment was to help Target recruit 1000 coders, programmers and developers.  Naturally, we had to speak their language.

Starting with the URL, codewithtarget.com, we created coded message ads.  The key code icons are actually the logos of 26 tech companies whose products are used extensively by Target's digital team.

Both versions are presented here, but nothing ever ran with actual words in place.

To launch the new, 2011, Ford Explorer, we decided to rely entirely on Facebook.  No print.  No television.  We didn't even reveal the model at a single show.

What we did was uncover consumers' most-asked questions about the new vehicle and we answered them with fully-produced videos that appeared on the Explorer's Facebook page.  127 videos in all.

The launch was a smash hit, creating the largest waiting list for a vehicle in Ford's history.  The New York Times profiled the campaign and it instantly became a Yale case study.  Not to mention, we shot stuff with folks like Bret Michaels, Snoop Dog, Funkmaster Flex and two guys who hold the Youtube record for hits on their cat videos.

Created in 2002 with art director partner, Gerard Caputo, the PBS "Be More" campaign has been running successfully for more than 15 years.  The launch campaign in 2002 included the Emmy Winner For Most Outstanding Commercial, a spot called "Fish" that features the journey of an intrepid goldfish.  Directors who contributed their efforts to the amazing collection of work include Francois Girard, Alfonso Cuarón, Scott Hicks, Elias Merighe and Bronwen Hughes.  Special kudos go to Susanne Preissler and Independent Media who made it all happen.

As a founding board member of Nice Ride Minnesota, Minnesota's bike-sharing program, I helped build the entire system from the ground up, working with designers, programmers, sponsors and state review boards.  We are the only non-profit bike sharing program in the world.

Then I spent 3 years working to launch and promote our program.

One year, as spring approached, we put three Nice Ride bikes into three giant ice cubes, put them in three busy places on Twin Cities streets, and just let them melt.  The cost of the bike ice cubes was $5K.  The free media coverage was valued at more than $5MM.  It was even covered as far away as Japan in the Nikkei Marketing Journal.  

10 years after producing my last television commercial for PBS, they called me into freelance for a new product launch.  The idea was simple: they wanted to do for middle-aged folk what they do for children.  They understood middle age presents all of us with new challenges and lessons that quite often we're not prepared for.  Taking care of an elderly parent.  Going back to school to change careers.  Understanding how to truly finance a retirement.  The launch would start with a website.  The name, a new destination beyond Sesame Street, was Next Avenue.

I was honored and fortunate to be the creative director of the team that ran the launch of Dyson vacuums in the U.S.  We tried to match the simplicity of James Dyson's breakthrough invention with communications that were true and honest to the inventor's personality and way of thinking.  We were also blessed that James was an excellent performer on camera.

In less than one year, Dyson exploded to become the number one selling vacuum in America, by a long shot.

Holiday Inn had a serious problem.  They had created a sub-brand called Holiday Inn Express that had nothing to do with speed.  It was essentially a Holiday Inn, except without a restaurant, room service or large meeting rooms.  It had everything the frugal business traveler wanted and nothing he didn't.  It was...smart.  A smart place to stay on the road. Except no one really understood what the difference between the two brands was.

My art director partner, Mike Fetrow, and I created the original "Stay Smart" campaign in 1996.  Since then, it has gone on to become the longest-running, most successful ad campaign in the hotel industry.  

Over the years, nearly every creative team at Fallon was able to work on the account, creating more than 35 commercials.  The expression, used in every spot, "No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night," has become an enduring piece of pop culture.  After 14 years, the campaign was shelved, only to return 2 years later using the exact same convention.

It continues to run today.

After seeing the codewithtarget.com campaign, ESPN hunted me down and asked for help in recruiting their own collection of coders, programmers, developers and technologists.  My biggest thrill was visiting in ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut, and actually sitting at the world-famous Sportscenter desk right as they launched their new multi-million dollar stage.

Inspired by our line, "Tomorrow is the disease," we created messaging that inspired folks to get up off the couch today.  Our spot uses a rewriting of a classic song from the musical, "Annie."

Good Chemistry is a recreational cannabis retailer in Colorado–and also considered the finest marijuana growers in the world. Working with Duffy & Partners, we created a revolutionary category system to help beginners learn how to select the product that's right for them.  We built Good Chemistry's identity system.  Then we applied it across all contact points, from web, to t-shirts to in-store–including designing the retail space itself.

"Someone wants to play," was the tagline that launched a new campaign for Purina Beneful dog food in 2014.  (Interestingly I had actually named the product for Purina several years earlier while working at Fallon.)  Using the iconic green tennis ball as a connecting element, the integrated campaign featured print, television, digital and an interactive experience in a New York subway station that let people play catch with virtual dogs.

I was the creative director on the NYSE during 3 of their most tumultuous years: After 9/11, they were, as the client often reminded us, the number one target of Al Queda. They were also dealing with the move to fully electronic exchanges, which, somewhat unbelievably, meant the massive and legendary real estate they occupied made it an even bigger liability than simply as a place of attack. In the midst of this, they united with Europe’s biggest exchange. You can imagine how crystal clear and simple the brief was. (NOTE: For some reason I ended up traveling to NY alone to present this spot. To the 25 board members of the NYSE. By myself. I have feared no meeting since.)

A great concept: A less sugary juice for toddlers that could help them avoid developing a sweet tooth.  Working with designer Haley Johnson, we landed on the tagline: "Training Wheels For Healthy Eating," and the package design fell into place.  On first seeing the design, the client grabbed a color copy, ran over to Target and Target agreed to stock the product on just seeing the packaging concept alone.

The Minnesota Winner of Architectural Digest’s “Most Beautiful Coffee Shops In Every State,” 2018. Peace Coffee happened upon a space in a very dull, staid and staunch office building.  So, the concept was to give the inhabitants of said building a different take on office spaces that was more playful. The floor is lined paper, the chandelier, office desk lamps, one wall is a set of crazy file cabinets, etc.  I became so possessed by this project, I ended up even making the service countertop and customer tables.

From being a collection of disparate restaurants to a small chain representing the best of bar cuisine as well as a supporter of local neighborhoods and communities.  

For Saucony, headquartered in Boston, the Boston Marathon is everything.  They had created a lightweight racing flat called the "Kinvara" to showcase in the 2013 running of the race, which was marred by bombs going off near the finish line.  In response, we created the shoe-laced heart logo and Saucony sold them as little medals people could attached to their shoelaces, with all proceeds going to help injured runners.

A short video describing Walgreen's "Get-A-Shot, Give-A-Shot" program which we promoted by creating a digitally-powered band-aid.

The Z3 Roadster launch spot, a couple of spots from the long-running "BMW POV" campaign, two launch spots for the BMW X5–both of which ran during Superbowl 2000–two BMW Motorsports commercials and a dealer spot featuring a turtle on a treadmill.

Equinox Fitness, New York's hippest and hottest workout club went national in 2004 by attracting...well...the beautiful people...as you can see here in this 2010 campaign shot by the world-renowned fashion photographer, Ellen von Unworth.  The ads were provocative and controversial, to say the least, creating the exact kind of buzz that attracted the attention of their audience.

A new package and posters for an existing brand of a super-premium soda made with all organic ingredients.  And the owner, Lizzy, asked that she be part of the label.

Red Wing Films was a campaign already in progress when I was brought on to help.  The original films were created to remind people that Red Wing shoes and boots are made the old-fashioned way, with care and craftsmanship that never goes out of style.  From their, the series evolved into storytelling around Red Wing's efforts to connect in a deeper with the communities they serve.

Patterson Theunte is a Minneapolis law firm that specializes in fostering and protecting intellectual property.  The campaign was a freelance project created using a new tagline, "Ideas.  Owned."

After leaving Fallon in 2009, I spent one year as part of a tech start-up company called "Bite Tech."  We licensed proprietary technology for a "performance" mouthpiece to Under Armour.  The mouthpiece allowed for better breathing/air exchange and decreased cortisol levels when under stress.  I ended up fitting more the 56 Winter Olympians with the product in order to get a story out of the 2010 Vancouver Games.  These videos were online promos for some of our stories and athletes.  (We eventually did get a great story:  The gold-medal winning, U.S. men's bobsled team swore by our mouthpiece.)

Like many brands in the outdoor category, Vasque understood that to be considered a serious player, it was important to have a presence in "OUTSIDE" magazine.  Unlike many other brands, Vasque also understood that most ads in "OUTSIDE" magazine featured a photo of someone on a mountaintop.  We used illustrations and off-beat, poetic copy to stand out.  The tagline we developed, "Find out what's within," also served as a lead-in to their website where Vasque owners told their own stories of self-discovery.

Working with designer Haley Johnson and client Blue Q, we created an all-natural brand from scratch based on the main theme line:  "No fake crap."  Products ranged from bath and body to lip balms to tins of candy.

As creative director for Nuveen Investments for 13 years, I worked on a huge variety of campaigns.  This one emphasized legacy creation while also giving a nod to their logo.

Immediately after the irrational exuberance of the 90's, the world was hit a bigger financial crisis and conservative thinking–smart, inventive, cutting-edge conservative thinking became the rule of the day.  Nuveen print ads adjusted accordingly. Sounds, easy, huh? Well, before these ads were produced, the Grade AAAA creative team who worked on this; art director, Scott O’Leary and writer, Dean Buckhorn, came up with nearly 20 different campaigns before the client chose this one. I remain forever grateful for their faith and resilience.

After 10 years of doing great work for Nuveen Investments, they chose to sponsor some beat-up, old hallways at Wrigley Field that led to the skyboxes.  We chose to celebrate the Cubs and the "infinite" love Cubs' fans have and always will have for their beloved team.  We updated the look of the inner hallways by mounting beautifully printed posters in thick, rough hewn frames and made a few hundred dollars look like a million bucks.  The Cubs still lost, though.

"Green means go!"  National had developed a system for renting cars that allowed customers to literally go from their airplane seat directly to their car seat.  Speed was the operative word.  And because National could move so fast, we made commercials that moved fast, too.

Ergodyne Worksmart made helpful items that you could add to your desk to make working at a computer less stressful on your body and more comfortable, more healthy.

A Kelly Award Finalist campaign.

The headline on the separate poster may be difficult to read.  It says:  

"Ergodyne Worksmart back cushions and wrist rests make it easy to work long hours in front of your computer.  Take it from the guy who wrote this poster."

Citi's "Live richly," campaign was well in swing when art director, Steve Driggs and I went and shot some stuff on our iPhones which we then proposed to Citi who loved them and ran them as part of their massive effort to let people know they understood there's more to life than money.

As a writer and creative director on BMW for 10 years, I was fortunate to work on hundreds of BMW projects.  Highlights included the launch of the Z3 Roadster, the launch X5 SAV and supporting BMW Motorsports–both their Formula 1 Racing as well as stock and MPower vehicles.  I did a small amount of writing in support of BMW Films, but I bow to David Carter and Joe Sweet as creators of that idea.

Just stuff I've done from all over the place that I like.

When Ameritech was solidifying its position in the Midwest as everyone's phone company, they discovered that people were frequently confusing them with AT&T.  So, this campaign was created to end that confusion.  (Note:  It's my own whiny, nasally, Midwestern voice you hear in four of these spots.)

One of many Jim Beam Brands Fallon had the opportunity to work on over the years, Jubilaeum was invented by us, from the ground up, to do battle with the rising premium vodkas of the day.  Duffy Design created an outrageously expensive, 3-sided bottle.  And our final formula, based on an aquavit, was as deadly as paint remover.

A brilliant idea by the guy who is now the CEO of Fallon, Mike Buchner. Mike was the account director on Nikon at the time and he noticed that in NBA programs they always had one full-page of a great NBA player shot. So, Mike suggested we buy the single page next to it and tell a story about the photographer who shot the featured athlete.

In essence, we paid for one page for ads that looked like spreads.

A Kelly Award finalist campaign.

MoveOn.org asked for help in creating messaging that would support the efforts of Democrats coming into the election year, 2004.

The once-failed bank, bailed out by the FDIC, regrouped and relaunched as a business only bank.  Less than 4 years later, the bank was bought by Bank of America, making millionaires of the clients who believed in our "un-bank-like" ads.

These ads are from the fourth year of the campaign.

A local frame shop.  Photos shot by the great James Arndt.