Happiness
Happiness is 23 consecutive quarters of growth.
Managing all the integrated communications on over a dozen global brands helped deliver almost six years of month-over-month bottom-line growth. Hershey stock price more than tripled in this time frame. Proud of the work. Proud of the people behind the work. Proud of the results.
Keeping an icon fresh
The Hershey Bar is All-American ritual and lore. It’s entirely democratic. There’s a piece for everyone.
The trick is in not becoming dusty and nostalgic.
But rather reminding everyone the simple and pure joy of a Hershey Bar, in a modern and fresh light.
It’s all about the product
The best work always reflects and brings to life the product experience.
York Peppermint Patty has a unique flavor profile that catered to an older audience.
We developed a sexy, sensory exploration of the unique and visceral product experience – think ASMR – helping York evolve into a virtual “fashion” brand.
Kingmaking
When this campaign started, Reese’s was a distant #3 to almighty Snickers.
A polarizing combo of ingredients and physical format could be considered somewhat quaint and quirky.
We turned those brand assets into a disciplined and consistently unabashed and unapologetic POV.
Thousands of executions later, Reese’s has become far and away the #1-selling candy brand in America.
Say it with a Kiss
And say it in over 60 countries around the globe.
Communicate the holidays and situations where Kisses are relevant. Communicate the innocence and emotion the brand represents. As well as all the variants that keep this icon fresh—without ever saying a word.
This charming origin story served as Hershey’s global ambassador, sparking experiences and activations for the brand from Times Square to Tiananmen Square, theme parks and the factory itself.
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Thom Baginski, Gary Rozanski, Walter Brindak, Archie Bell, Eric Herrmann, Nate Guillard, Meg Williams, Anthony Migliaccio, Marge Lo, Jill Rothman, Ken Kitch, Adam Perloff — and way many more
Hey, you never know
Giving people permission and the license to dream is what a dollar spent on a lottery ticket really represents. The “Hey, you never know” campaign added over $1 billion annually to state coffers, making New York the largest and most profitable state lottery in the country.
If I had a million dollars
It’s okay to dream again.
This anthemic sing-along celebrating real people from all across New York State was a virtual rallying cry after 9/11 that won all kinds of awards and transcended business objectives.
Making this was literally a love letter to New York, humanity and the power of dreaming.
I pitched the Lottery business for DDB three times. And won it three times. DDB had the business for almost 12 years.
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David Angelo, Paul Spencer, Jack Mariucci, Mike Rogers, Eric Herrmann, Walter Brindak, Greg Kohs/Radical Media, Peter Sorcher
Tame the beasts
Way ahead of its time, this integrated campaign was a huge success for client GSK and HAVAS, crossing borders to be adapted for 6 different international markets.
Behavior change is a beast
Behavior change is hard.
And different for everyone.
We developed a series of OLVs that each dramatized a different and specific trigger for smokers.
For some, having a few drinks is a trigger. For others, it’s work stress.
We partnered with a different animation company for each of the ten films — to capture the personalization of each trigger.
The films were then placed to be contextually relevant for each situation.
A decade later, this kind of production approach is now the norm.
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Eric Herrmann, Sig Gross/ArnoldNYC
Awards & Recognition
I am admittedly not all that into award shows or press. Always seemed like a distraction from the real task at hand. That being said, I’ve won my share of awards including One Show Pencils, Cannes Lions, CA Awards, Art Directors Club, and Effies. I’ve also judged at most of these.
Spoiled at a young age
I won my first One Show Pencil before I even graduated from Art Center College of Design in the Student Competition for a campaign my roommate Tracy Wong and I designed.
Like Derek Jeter reaching the World Series as a Yankee, I thought that was the way it would always be. Fortunately, I went on to win and judge my share of Pencils, Lions and Effies.
I don’t like to talk about myself
But I like when other people do, as long as it’s good.
I particularly liked this piece from AdWeek that I think pretty much captures what I’m all about.
Volkswagen
I worked with Volkswagen for over 10 years. It’s where I cut my teeth working under people like Roy Grace, Tom Yobbagy, Gary Goldsmith and Mark Hughes. It’s also where I met my wife Olga, who was a project manager on the account. So pretty successful run all around.
F’ing metric system
One of my favorite memories was filming the launch of the VW Corrado sports car in the German black Forest with an all-European crew, and iconic OG Hollywood stuntman, Buzz Bundy – who was a throwback to some of the most iconic chase scenes of all-time.
We had a single Corrado prototype to work with as the car was still in production, and needed to be shipped to the Frankfurt Auto Show immediately following the shoot.
Our only directive was not to wreck the car.
That being said we did have an opening scene planned where you’d hear the car approaching a horizon line for 5 or 6 seconds before dramatically flying into frame towards the camera, clearing a foot or so of air on its jump. This was both a legal and practical directive.
Buzz said “piece of cake” and set off to work with the German-speaking crew on building a ramp with calculations of speed and angle to be precise to that foot of air — as we figured we only had a single take or two before damaging the suspension.
Last shot of the day.
We’re all nervously awaiting, staring at monitors as the car revs, the growl growing louder and louder as the car approaches for what seems an interminable amount of time.
The car breaches the horizon with a roar about six-feet in the air and overshoots the landing by 30 yards or so, landing so violently that the engine gets pushed up through the hood of the car.
Torn between laughter and dread, we all run to the smoking vehicle, as Buzz flings the door open, gets out and throws his helmet onto the road muttering “F*’ing metric system!”.
There would be no second take.
And quite an editing job to cut out of the jump before the car had no more than a foot of air underneath it.
Staffen Trucking LLC
For the past few years, I’ve worked primarily through my own Strategic/Creative consultancy called Staffen Trucking LLC. I do work for clients directly, agencies, Private Equity firms, and startups. I’ve been lucky enough to work for a range of clients across categories, from kitchenware to digital transformation to heavy production tools.
Platforms, not pavement
Staffen Trucking is a multi-generational family construction business dating back to 1954 in Buffalo, New York.
Roll-up-your-sleeves work ethic, strategic rigor, accountability and familial relationships are in my DNA.
Instead of trucking, I went to art school. Building brands instead of parking lots.
Cooking good
The GoodCook brand had little to no awareness and was unable to grow distribution into big-box retailers due to competition from newer brands creating desire on social channels.
Partnering with brand design agency mrs&mr, we developed a new logo, look, tone of voice, energy and platform that repositioned GoodCook as a brand dedicated to enabling everyone to feel more comfortable in the kitchen.
The invitation and democratization of ‘cooking made good’ with good products at good prices differentiates the brand in a category driven by Gordon Ramsay-like ‘cooking made intimidating’ or ‘cooking made trendy’ Instagram brands.
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Kate and Daniel Wadia/mrs&mr, Aaron Bernstein/photography, Wellcom/production, Matt Cruz
Expertise matters
Over 30% of Fortune 500 companies work with Wipro as CyberSecurity providers, but don’t even know it. A high number for a company nobody has heard of.
We used that as an insight to position Wipro as active practitioners as opposed to consultants.
Providing solutions as opposed to White Papers.
CyberSecurity by CyberSecurists represents an integrated ecosystem of messaging, an internal rallying cry, and relevant point-of-difference for Wipro’s CyberSecurity offering.
And like all good creative work should, it acts as a filter and north star for decisions like innovation and organization.
This integrated effort and positioning helped contribute to a substantial increase in YoY large-deal bookings, as well as earn Wipro the #1 Choice in the 2022 HFS Global CyberSecurity Report.
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Javier Chacin, Marjorie Oetting, Laura Langdon/Wipro, Peter Weingard/Wipro, Tolleson/Production Design
Leading with empathy
Cleco is an underdog in production tools, with solutions for automotive, agriculture, heavy truck, and aerospace manufacturing.
Their customers are assembly line engineers.
Our solution was to understand the needs, dreams, desires, and nightmares of this specific group better than the competition.
An arsenal of integrated assets spoke this language, addressing what keeps a line engineer up at night – and how Cleco could help them “tame the line”.
Better understanding and empathy for a community is a recipe for winning.
And the creation and curation of online communities is a recipe for winning today.
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Sara Bamber, Tina Mintus/KYLE Edit, Rich Matthews/Apex, Matt Mitchell/Apex
We all want out
Spending a good portion of my formative years at Chiat Day spoiled me, surrounded by brilliant and creative planners. I love when a strategic insight pours itself seamlessly into creative expression.
The outside is calling
We have never been more connected than we are today. Yet never have we felt more alone and out of touch with humanity, nature and each other.
With over a century of helping people spend time in the nature, Coleman had the license to remind us that the outside is calling us to be happy, healthy humans.
And we all need to answer that call.
This platform just flowed across any and all integrated opportunity. During Covid, we were one of the first to embrace and develop Zoom backgrounds, featuring lush scenes from nature, branded with the line “The outside is calling”.
With the brand on the verge of being delisted at key retailers, this platform worked across integrated channels to rally the brand both internally and externally to new growth and focused innovation.
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Matt Cruz, Fern Breslaw, Sara Bamber
The world is what you make it
I’ve been fortunate enough to work with many iconic brands. Doing so always reminds me that there’s reasons why they’re iconic. There’s always a great product at the core, centered around a great idea, and doggedly executed with craft, discipline and rigor.
Go big
With a Sharpie in your hand, the world can be what you make it.
Make it loud.
Make it proud.
Make your mark.
Tell your story.
Be bigger and bolder.
Be more.
More than a marker. More than a shoe. More than an athlete.
This collab between Sharpie, Nike and Lebron James’ UNINTERRUPTED Brand gave athletes another way to tell their stories and express themselves.
It's only fitting that iconic Sharpie Markers collaborated with Nike’s best-selling shoe of all-time as a vehicle for self-expression.
The limited-edition shoes sold out. 90% of American households have more than one Sharpie.
Ubiquitous & iconic.
Writ large.
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Matt Cruz, Fern Breslaw, UNINTERRUPTED/Production Design
Heroes & Mentors
I am a big believer in heroes and mentors. I treasure mine. Starting my career at DDB in the lengthening shadows of the ‘Mad Men’ era, I was lucky enough to learn from and look up to ad greats like Roy Grace, Helmut Krone, Charlie Piccirillo, Tom Yobaggy and Jack Mariucci.
My mentors
I distinctly remember sneaking into Helmut Krone’s office late at night, studying what was on his drafting board, and shuffling through flat files full of comps.
It was like looking into the mind of a genius.
In retrospect, DDB was a playground for creativity.
Jack Mariucci taught me a lot about working with passion – and a lot about good wine.
Working with Marty Cooke at Chiat Day taught me that it was possible to be both incredibly creative and incredibly nice. “You’ll get more with a smile and a gun, than just a gun.”
The list goes on and on.
Bill Hamilton hired me multiple times at multiple agencies. And advised me multiple times to not accept his own offers.
Bob Kuperman taught me the ropes of leadership and the power of institutionalized creativity.
I loved Ron Lawner’s approach to building an eclectic creative team at Arnold — and managing it like Yogi Berra.
All these people helped make me.
I can only hope to do the same. Passing on bits of wisdom and attitude to people I’ve worked with.
Because so much is riding on your tires
It was an honor and a privilege to get to work on the Michelin account at DDB, and help further the ‘baby in the tire’ campaign that was begun by Jack Mariucci and Barry Greenspan. To this day, I think it’s one of the most brilliant pieces of modern creative advertising. It grabbed your attention, differentiated the brand, and commanded a premium for the product. An absolute trifecta.
Big ideas rule
When my partner at DDB Mike Rogers and I were challenged with getting the brand into the high performance tire space – a space filled with machismo and steel-belts and treads -- instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, we embraced it.
To a lot of people, their BMWs, Porsches and Vettes, were in fact, their babies.
These ads won tons of awards and sold lots of very expensive tires.
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Mike Rogers, Jack Mariucci, Terry Heffernan/Photography
Bud Light I said!
Designed specifically for the New York Metropolitan region, “Bud Light I said!” was a bar call, an integrated campaign, right for the time, and just damn funny.
Being part of culture
I think as communicators we spend too much time looking into the rearview mirror and reflecting on “what is”, as opposed to looking forward and leading culture with “what could be”.
I’ve always tried to do work that drives culture forward.
We have the opportunity and responsibility to entertain and educate on the way to selling.
I always tell my teams to “Have fun, it’ll show up on the film”.
And I believe that.
As childish and silly as using the Jerky Boys for Bud Light was, it helped put the brand at the forefront of popular culture at a time that the business needed it.
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Mike Rogers, Eric Herrmann, Johnny Brennan/Kamal Ahmed/The Jerky Boys
Don’t mess with it
Be a good listener. It’s amazing what can happen just by being a good listener. I think it’s all related to genuinely liking and respecting people and what they have to say. Great ideas can come from anywhere. Even from a focus group, if you listen well enough.
Perfect
“Don’t mess with perfect” were the words of a Reese’s lover during a focus group, that inspired us to celebrate the unabashed and unapologetic perfection of the chocolate to peanut butter ratio, the ridges, the fact that there’s two of them in each package, and the color orange.
A robust creative platform like Reese’s gives a brand a voice and license to transcend media apertures, time (18 years and running), and culture – from cannabis legalization to gay marriage, global warming and the munchies.
This campaign, which has been touched by hundreds of creatives, but originally authored by Arnold creatives Thom Baginski and Gary Rozanski, has sparked literally hundreds of integrated executions and activations, and has helped catapult Reese’s to the #1 selling candy brand in America.
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Thom Baginski, Gary Rozanski, Pete Scudese, Archie Bell
Relaunching an icon
The Clinique 3-Step Skin Care System is a dermatologist-developed, fragrance-free daily regimen designed to achieve healthy, radiant skin through a simple 3-step, twice daily process of cleansing, exfoliating, and moisturizing. It is an icon originally introduced in the ‘70. The brand had become dusty. But the attributes seemed in sync with what youn women wanted from their skin care today.
Making it new again
Working with the late Clinique CD Giovanni Russo (whom I loved), and the Arnold creative team of Kate Wadia and Kate Murphy – we reintroduced the classic Clinique 3-Step program to an entirely new generation of women, by paying respect to the equities of the brand and its past, with an eye towards freshness and the future.
This successful relaunch earned us years of digital and global expansion for the Clinique Brand, as well as other Estee Lauder assignments.
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Giovanni Russo, Kate Murphy, Kate Wadia, Anthony Migliaccio, Lynn Power
Never the best player Always the captain
I love team sports.
The camaraderie, the sharing of a common goal and mission.
I’ve always considered advertising a team sport.
And whether it’s soccer, hockey, or advertising, I’ve noticed that while never the best player on any team, I always pretty much end up being the captain.
I enjoy leading, building and inspiring. Getting the best out of people.
Surrounded by teammates better than I am.
I’m always looking for the next team to be part of.
I’m a free agent. Hit me up.
