"You'll never forget the first time you hit the throttle on an electric performance boat" were the words Cam Heaps, CEO of Voltari Electric, used to describe the new Voltari Lightning. Unmatched torque happens when 100% carbon fiber unites with a continuous, first-of-its-kind, high-kW Lithium-Ion propulsion system the boating industry and water have never before seen — until now.
AGENCY: The Republik
CREATIVE PARTNER: Scott Stripling CD/CW
DESIGNER | CD: Matt Shapiro
As a soybean farmer, there’s nothing more precious than your soybean seeds. Protecting these green little money makers is more important than two-steppin’ on a Saturday night. They’re a farmer’s health, wealth, and fist-bumping happiness. Healthy soybeans mean higher yields, better performance, and increased time and efficiency. Weeds, on the other hand, have a different plan for a farmer’s future. Their agenda is to infest and disrupt, which is conveniently where SYNTINEL steps in. It’s a premier, pre-emergence soybean herbicide that protects your crop by politely killing weeds before they’re even weeds.
AGENCY: Pace
CREATIVE PARTNER: Scott Stripling CD/CW
While it's difficult to imagine any upside to an errant grocery cart smashing into your driver's side car door, the fine people at Maaco would beg to differ. For eons, Maaco has been ranked North America's #1 paint and auto body shop, but the brand was looking for a fresh coat of paint. So, we did what any good humans would do: took their iconic "Uh-Oh, Better Get Maaco" tagline, threw it one of those violent paint mixer things, and waited. What emerged was a glorious, original, and catchy earworm (shot by acclaimed music video director Joseph Kahn), reminding people that they can keep living on the upside, no matter what life throws at them and their vehicles.
AGENCY: Mythic
CREATIVE PARTNER: Scott Stripling CD/CW
DIRECTOR: Joseph Kahn
MUSIC: Duotone
There are very few product categories serendipitously conceived for things like, well, the end of the world. Bring on the global pandemics, the never-ending quarantines, and the extreme social distancing. In a broken world, ham radios will be the only reliable, long-range communication network available. So, hurry up. Buy one. Seriously. Like immediately. The time is now.
AGENCY: VGCA
CREATIVE PARTNER: Scott Stripling CD/CW
A lot of work and a lot of fun. All of the campaigns were 360s, including some larger social and digital elements, as well as broadcast TV and radio.
We ripped up the old NCEL brand and built an entirely new one from scratch. Everything from the logo, new tone of voice, a manifesto, entirely new game logos, and overall look were developed.
To celebrate their 10th anniversary we took an emotional approach to show what raising over 4 billion dollars for state education can do for North Carolinians. Basically, it does a ton.
AGENCY: MullenLowe
CREATIVE PARTNER: Matt Mason CD/CW
DESIGN: Mike Herman
They’re a team.
A team of regular Joes who manage to turn the seemingly impossible into the possible.
The fun thing is, they’ve found an unshakable, common bond in hate. But it’s a good kind of hate. The kind of hate that you feel no remorse for having. As a team, they collectively and unapologetically hate cancer.
And so do we.
AGENCY: VGCA
CREATIVE PARTNER: Scott Stripling CD/CW
Make something that speaks to the remorseless adventurer. A brand for those who enjoy playing chicken with trees, are motivated by hypothermia, and whose legacy is first tracks. It’s for those who wake up before the rooster crows and return long after the dinner bell has rung. Welcome to PEAK. A premium performance layering system for the active lifestyle pushing for more.
We developed the branding, the packaging, the marketing, the in-store presence, and all the details in between. As avid outdoors people ourselves, we love this brand, wear this brand, and hang our double-layered soft wool blend hat on this brand. How’s that for loyalty?
AGENCY: VGCA
CREATIVE PARTNER: Martin Davidson CD/CW
DESIGN: Joe Poole
Smash any preconceived notions you might have around battery-powered anything and think about this: What if you could harness the power of a gas motor into an 82-volt battery platform? What if you could make the air cleaner, the noise quieter, and yard equipment lighter? What if you could make gas pumps lonely, mixing obsolete, and fuel-scented clothing a thing of the past? This is the future. This is Greenworks, an all-electric yard equipment company committed to saving landscaping and planet Earth.
AGENCY: VGCA
CREATIVE PARTNER: Scott Stripling CD/CW
We lived, breathed, and milled lumber until we understood them. Then we rebranded Middle Tennessee Lumber Co and created an award-winning site, brand content videos, and a campaign that brought people into their wonderfully gritty world.
AGENCY: IO Studio
CREATIVE PARTNER: Matt Mason CD/CW
DESIGN/AD: David Higdon
Medicine balls are big, heavy and people much stronger than I throw them over their heads. To launch this special edition ball we worked with Trey Hardee, Olympic Decathlete. This man of men uses a Dynamax ball not only to become an elite athlete but to work through daily struggles. It’s more than just a workout for him, it’s therapy. We were able to create a campaign around this insight that included print, digital, and a site. I now need to go work out.
AGENCY: MullenLowe
CREATIVE PARTNER: Matt Mason CD/CW
These are from the earlier years but some of my favorites. We produced a wide variety of work for some of AT&T's prior company SBC & Cingular to including a web content series called AT&T Home Turf where professional athletes welcomed us into their homes. Little did they know we were bringing Deion Sanders and a script to throw them off their game.
AGENCY: GSD&M
CREATIVE PARTNER: Andrea Minze CW
In light of all the digital company Christmas cards these days, we decided to go old school with ours. And being that we’re in Nashville, it only made sense to create a fictitious record company and lay down four smooth Christmas jams, all in-house from lyrics to riffs. The album was pressed on holiday-cheery green vinyl. The creation of the album included a photo shoot of our artists and a wrapping paper record sleeve. Then we built a site to showcase our album, complete with digital record player and late-night album infomercial, circa 1992. One of our songs, “Merry Christmas, Nashville,” ended up being the highlight of Lightning 100’s Christmas radio show.
GCD/AD
PBS North Carolina serves the state of North Carolina. So, it stands to reason they’re all about producing content that makes you think their state. NC Impact is a series that acts as a catalyst for worthwhile conversations as it dives deep into the issues that matter most to our communities. But it doesn’t stop there. Because good conversation ultimately leads to undeniable action.
AGENCY: VGCA
CREATIVE PARTNER: Scott Stripling CD/CW
Located in the heart of Winston-Salem's oldest neighborhood lies, Chatham. This farm turned new development was in need of a brand and collateral that reflected the elegance of the future while respecting the heritage that will remain. The vision is to establish a brand that projects a place that is exceptional yet understated.
For us it was simple, the heritage fencing that wove throughout the property was the thread that tied it all together. This rustic emblem aligned with a classic font, such as Goudy Old Style, was a perfect match. From there we continued to use more inspiration from the property including a pair of old barn doors with a classic chevron pattern.
For the property vision book, it was essential to paint the picture of a living experience unlike any other. Complete with hardwood veneer and linen fabric on the cover sleeve, having a tactile experience was important. When flipping through the pages we wanted potential buyers to understand that they are getting a unique opportunity to buy in an awesome landscape. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did develop it.
CD/Designer/AD
Let’s face it, getting a unique gift for Dad is near impossible, especially for Father’s Day. Finding an original and personal gift for the man who claims to have everything he needs in life is a massive undertaking. Obviously, themed ties are off the table. Golf accessories have reached a ridiculous level worthy of Rodney Dangerfield. And yes, one man CAN have too many grill tools. So what is a person to do for the man who sacrifices so much? A gift that will fuel dad’s mojo. It seemed our only choice was to invent something. So we did. An original, personal and manly gift for dad on Father’s Day. Made out of motor oil. After all, what’s manlier than motor oil?
AGENCY: MullenLowe
CREATIVE PARTNER: Matt Mason CD/CW
DESIGN: Mike Herman
Results:
In only eight days, we received over 650 submissions and over 18,000 page views with a 3.5-minute view time. Our concept video was watched over 100,000 times on YouTube and the campaign gathered nearly 900,000 social impressions. Our 1.94% engagement rate embarrassed the industry average of 0.58% and our 1.35% click-through rate down right shamed the industry average of 0.297%. Not too mention, over a hundred really happy dads on Father’s Day.
What started out as an idea for a small little beer joint, quickly developed into the first beer garden in Winston-Salem. The Southside was to be inspired by the great Wes Anderson and all the color palates, clean design and even the purposeful balanced layout of the space.
We took into consideration how Wes lines up his shots and how signage, beer taps and barstools were to have deliberate organization. What you see is our take on clean colorful design with great inspiration. Feel free to stop by and enjoy a cold one.
AGENCY: VGCA
We ran the National Guard.com account for over two years. In that time we trimmed over 5,000 pages and launched two brand spanking new streemlined websites and completely repositioned the entire National Guard as “The Keepers of the Dream.” We were responsible for creating and maintaining all content for the entire site including strategy, original photography and video, email campaigns and copy content.
We also worked with GX Magazine the National Guard’s award winning Maxim meets Men’s Health magazine. To promote their cyber warfare edition we build a GX.com website takeover that made it appear they’ve just been hacked and their hard drive will imminently be erased in a matter of seconds as a countdown appears. Eventually, the messaging reveals the joke and it points the reader to the cyber warfare article in that month’s edition. Scroll down to see how it was a great test of controled chaos to make a point.
GCD/AD
Hunger is a bully. Let’s all give hunger the big middle finger. We did with our work for Second Harvest Food Bank. We created an integrated campaign for their year-end hunger drive. Our campaign increased donations to help hungry families by 70 percent.
GCD/AD
We entered a contest as part of D.C. Ad Week to create a campaign for D.C. Beer, a locally focused craft beer website. The winner’s work runs. We won. We got to produce a TV spot, billboards and some collateral. And we got to do it all with zero budget. All in-house and an all-around good time.
GCD/AD
Whisper Creek, a.k.a. Tennessee Sipping Cream, is a cream liqueur that’s southern in constitution. Unlike other cream liqueurs it’s based on small batch, charcoal mellowed Tennessee whiskey. It’s pretty good (rocks, three cubes, swirl twice). Soberly, we designed and built 100 promotional pieces consisting of a shipping crate with mini pry bar and the Whisper Creek Sipping Times monthly newspaper. It was great a satirical Onion-esque read.
GCD/AD
Fourteen elite National Guard Soldiers entered a punishing five-day competition to see who’s the best of the best. We created buzz about the competition then covered the crap out of it. We developed a 360 campaign with everything from a microsite with real time updates to a “What kind of Warrior are You?” Facebook app. The actual coverage of the event produced 30+ online content films, a documentary, thousands of uploads and was almost as grueling as the competition. Our campaign was runner up for an Effie. Damn Boy Scouts.
GCD/AD
Veteran unemployment is a huge problem. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce created a program called Hiring Our Heroes to combat the issue. The Chamber partnered with us to build, a first of it's kind, web application that translates a veteran's military experience into a comprehensive civilian resume.
We then created a print campaign called "Over Qualitfied" to educate employers on the benefits of hiring a veteran. Our campaign confronts the conflict that veterans aren’t qualified employees. By not shying away from the stereotypes, the campaign acknowledges the falsehoods and then clobbers them with a giant hammer.
GCD/AD
