Medicine For Your Feet
Podiatrists, and the pedorthists they recommend, work to solve foot, ankle and knee pain. Often overlooked, the podiatry community presents a considerable channel for Brooks marketing. Tasked with creating a print campaign to reinforce Brooks as the go-to shoe for these specialists, I created imagery and headlines that show a more playful side to a typically dry subject. Not surprisingly, there’s a considerable lack of conceptual advertising in this category. Working around a “medicine for your feet” theme, this campaign clearly communicates Brooks superiority in therapeutic footwear in an unexpected and imaginative way. [nggallery id=15]
2009 Team Catalog
As one of my first assignments at Brooks, I knew I had to knock this one out of the park. The team department, which focuses on high school and college students, had a fairly limited budget. But this audience was seeing some great stuff from Nike and Asics, so this was not the time to put out some simple pamphlet. Conceptual photography, pull quotes from legendary runners, and beautiful production details like foil stamping and perfect binding ensured this would be a catalog student athletes would take to their coaches. Update: The 2009 Team Catalog was featured in Communication Arts, February, 2010. [nggallery id=7]
Spinster
Every September, fitness magazine and blog editors receive a ton of mail from athletic brands requesting featured content in their forthcoming holiday issues. It can be a huge endorsement, after all. The trick is getting your brand to stand out among the competition. Together with the Brooks PR team and Maloney & Fox, I created a piece sure to convince them to spin some of our products. Each component was custom-made to mimic the classic Twister game, with a Brooks twist of course. Veteran Seattle illustrator Matt Cory (of Archie McPhee fame) helped to create a look and feel that was both classic and contemporary. Our efforts paid off ...
Amp the Run
What do you do when you win sponsorship of the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series? Tell everyone you know how to get on board—that's what. This kit introduced retailers and sales associates to the Brooks 2010 marketing efforts while reinforcing the connection between running and rock 'n' roll. Designed to look like a box set, the outside features detailed foil stamping and speckled spot varnishing for texture. When opened, Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run plays through an embedded sound chip. Contents found inside the box include everything from a 7" album by a fictitious band to sunglasses and more. The reaction was unanimous. People learned, people got on board and people ...
Genuine Fact Files, Volume 1
While cutting my teeth in the production department at DDB Seattle, the creative team was granted the opportunity to take on a highly conceptual project for Microsoft. To my benefit, they needed one more designer on the team. The idea? To combat piracy, show Microsoft vendors the perils of selling illegitimate machines and software. With illustrator Charlie Griak, our team created four books focusing on specific piracy pitfalls to provide vendors with the tools to fight the good fight against piracy. In addition to giving me an opportunity to concentrate on more interesting and conceptual work, the project granted me my first industry awards: Best Awards, best ...
Genuine Fact Files, Volume 2
The second installment of this influential Microsoft campaign had the same piracy-fighting objectives but with a slightly reduced budget. We scaled back from hardcover editions to a classic comic book format, while keeping the classic style of the campaign. Working with illustrator John Phillips, we created four striking graphic novels in a handsome accordion-style briefcase. [nggallery id=13]
A Brand Cookbook
The brief: Create a kit to help retailers and sales associates learn the various marketing efforts they could utilize over the next season. The contents: print advertising, videos, in-store promotions and a variety of other materials. The tricky part: Do it in a way that's simple and organized yet expresses the playful identity of the brand. "Let's make a cookbook," I said. It took off from there with a character (Chef Manos), a very wacky photo shoot, aprons and, of course, marketing recipes to show how easy it is to create "impressive brand arrangements with ingredients at your fingertips." Bon Appétit! [nggallery id=10]
Since the Layoff
I was laid off from my job at DDB Seattle on April 28, 2008. For each of the 42 days of unemployment that followed, I created a sketch. It was a fun exercise, but I’m better with a brief. Enjoy. [nggallery id=11]
Scott Jurek Print Campaign
As one of the most successful ultramarathon runners in the world, Scott Jurek also plays a significant role in helping Brooks footwear designers create exceptional trail running shoes that can go the distance. (150-mile races are common.) In late 2008, Scott announced he would attempt to win the legendary Western States 100 for a record-breaking eighth time. We saw an opportunity to celebrate the Brooks-sponsored athlete while promoting the Cascadia 3, a shoe on which Scott had a heavy impact. A conceptual take on a straightforward campaign helped these ads stand out. In comparison to the standard “big shoe/big sweat” print adverting in this category, the honest ...
