$7 Face Lift

$7 Face Lift
01/9/10

I have spent the past three years helping to build the Scottrade brand with NGAGE.

A lot has changed, but one thing hasn’t, and that is their $7 online trades. They held tightly to their $7 mark, but for an evolving and forward thinking company a face lift was necessary.

I took a stab at it and Scottrade now utilizes my $7 Button as their second most important and recognized brand element.

I know it’s not a big deal. I didn’t even change it much. But as of right now, this is my little spot on the national advertising couch. When I watch CNBC or peruse Yahoo Finance and see that mark, I won’t lie… it makes me blush.

I saw this banner ad the other day online. I had nothing to do with it, but I ripped it off the web because I thought it was an indirect complement. Which is really funny to me.

Sheltered Perception

Sheltered Perception
12/29/09

I recently got the chance to work on a project for the Humane Society. Given the fact that every time I walk into an animal shelter I have to be talked down from taking home every animal in the place, I was happy to help in anyway I could.

With the majority of pet buying in the United States coming from breeders, mall pet shops and unfortunately mills, animal shelters (specifically the Humane Society) are left overflowing with pets that need loving homes. They are running into a perception problem however, and many misconceptions about shelter pets are accepted as fact, and often repeated as such.

To get past this, we decided to take the problem head on, and address the most common misconceptions individually.

Here is where we landed:

French Maids. Ooo la la!

French Maids. Ooo la la!
12/29/09

Whenever Hardee’s comes out with a new monstrosity of a Thickburger, they never fail to impress. It’s not so much the burger that wows, it usually consists of a lot of meat with meat as a condiment. What wows me is that with every new burger they release, Hardee’s has an insatiable appetite to insert some sort of sexual innuendo to promote it.

The French Dip Thickburger was no different, and it didn’t take degree in advertising to know exactly who was going to star in this promotion.

French Maids. Ooo la la!

NGAGE was given the task of organizing a French Dip Tour through all of Hardee’s primary markets. Our account and PR teams chose sporting events, radio stations and concerts where our gorgeous maids could introduce themselves to guys with a french kiss (aka. a free french dip).

I helped design the tour, including a vehicle wrap, coupons, photo locator cards, segway graphics and tour videos.

Take a look at the tour:

Comfort for All

Comfort for All
12/29/09

If a couple of beauties asked you to, “change your underwear,” in line for a hot dog at a ballgame, would you do it?

Well, in the summer of 2007 hundreds of guys did, and in doing so discovered the relief and comfort of the Hanes Comfortsoft reinvention. No tags, softer waistband and breathable cotton, all while waiting in line for a hot dog.

NGAGE’s CEO Dan Curran and an amazing account team coordinated, staffed, and executed a four month national tour bringing the Hanes Comfortforce and their changing station to everything from the Daytona 500 to the MLB All-star Game.

As my first project with the company, I got my feet wet designing the vehicle that would take the girls across the country acting as a mobile billboard for the tour. I also put pixels to work for the changing station, photo locator cards, coupons, e-decoders and on the web.

Here’s a sweet collage of the work:

Big Sound

Big Sound
12/29/09

The NGAGE creative team led by David Johnson was given the responsibility of taking some of the most sophisticated sound technology in existence, and making it understandable and irresistible to PC gamers, music aficionados and movie buffs.

David started by creating a look that felt youthful, high tech and loud. With bold copy from writer Eammon Azizi, I took David’s vision and cranked it up across all media, especially the on the web.

Take a look at where we ended up:

Fun work

Martin Luther King Tribute
06/1/10

I wanted to attempt this style  in February, and being Black History Month I chose the Rev. as my muse.

His face is made up of the words of his epic Lincoln Memorial “I have a dream…” speech.

Take a look. I am having it framed as I type.

Smoking Goat Branding
04/1/10

I like beer.

Beer high in flavor, alcohol and price. I brew at home, but wouldn’t consider myself very good at this point. I’m working on it.

We have friends in Louisiana who I would consider really good. I designed some branding for their forthcoming brewery down there.

The Smoking Goat will hopefully be amazing, especially if I get some good beer out of the deal.

Have a look. Then drink a beer and have a look again. Continue this process until the logo looks awesome.

New Poster
02/4/10

This is a poster I made for my buddy Dustin.

A classic quote from him as we drove by Effingham, IL’s infamous and huge cross.

I thought it would look good in his new apartment.

Sheltered Perceptions
01/6/10

I recently got the chance to work on a project for the Humane Society. Given the fact that every time I walk into an animal shelter I have to be talked down from taking home every animal in the place, I was happy to help in anyway I could.

With the majority of pet buying in the United States coming from breeders, mall pet shops and unfortunately mills, animal shelters (specifically the Humane Society) are left overflowing with pets that need loving homes. They are running into a perception problem however, and many misconceptions about shelter pets are accepted as fact, and often repeated as such.

To get past this, we decided to take the problem head on, and address the most common misconceptions individually.

Here is where we landed:

Lauren and Dan sit’n in a tree…
01/5/10

My good friend Lauren is getting married in July, and though I am extremely jealous of her fiance Dan (don’t tell my wife), I made their save the date cards.

I use VistaPrint to print these types of things. Though the quality suffers, and the rumor is that they are destroying local community printers nationwide, for the price they can’t be beat. Check them out next time you want to customize your own holiday card or invitation.

Here’s how Lauren’s STDs turned out: