1AmongMany

As Court TV made a shift to embrace their new prime-time identity - truTV - they came to us with a mission. The brief was simple: “Agency X is handling our branding. Agency Y is building our website. We want you to tell us what’s missing.” So we presented them with a recipe that would change the world of television forever.

Outlined in a 100-page handbook, we gave truTV an instruction manual for the creation of the first-ever “open sourced” TV network. The manual includes two primary strategic ideas, both intended to embrace the brand’s ideal of capturing truth and actuality, coupled with a new business model that would redefine the role of a TV network in today’s digital landscape. The first strategy allows truTV to bring their audience into every step of the creation process, from ideation and script-writing to casting and distribution, creating an entirely new show based on the unbelievable moments of “actuality” that truTV viewers have experienced in their everyday lives.

The second idea was born from the insight that each “character” on truTV is also a real person – they most likely have a life online just like the rest of us. So we envisioned a digital toolkit  - a socially connected search engine that would allow truTV fans to visualize, add to, and share trails of information related to their favorite show (and anything else they find online). Essentially, it’s equal parts social network, browser plugin, search engine, and SEO optimization platform. This tool would allow people to share video content, notes, links, and swap live images as well as visualize and search the “breadcrumbs” of ideas as they connect and overlap across the internet. And, in turn, it would associate all of these tagged datapoints with the truTV brand based on the trail each breadcrumb relates to, thereby building the brand’s SEO footprint. Not even Google can do that…

Want to know more? Grab the .pdf here.

As part of an interview process, I was given the following homework assignment:

Please take a look at the Bourbon category and imagine that one of the brands (pick any you like) is your client and that they are looking to create a major new product.

*Where do you think the opportunity is? (Describe how you uncovered this opportunity and why you think it’s a big opportunity for your client.)

*Write a short one-page product concept that brings the idea to life (be sure to include the consumer insight, the key benefits, and the reasons-to-believe in the concept).

My recommendation was the creation of Angel’s Share, a new bourbon from Maker’s Mark targeting women. Feel free to view my response below or download a copy here.

agency: Merkley + Partners

Our strategic specialist opened a brainstorming meeting with a lengthy introduction emphasizing the talking Mrs. Butterworth’s bottle as the heart of the brand’s essence and the best representation of the brand’s core values. The bottle “comes alive” during commercials and talks to a child who’s enjoying Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup.

Despite the intent that the meeting focus on concepting a branded online game for Nickelodean’s website, my recommendation was that the client would be better off reapportioning the substantial sum of money set aside for the game toward the creation of real talking bottles. This could easily be accomplished such that when the cap to the syrup bottle is opened, a small speaker hidden underneath the cap is triggered to sound a pre-recorded message. I also made the point that the strength of this idea lies not in emblazoning the bottles with messaging about the new feature, but rather quietly letting Mrs. B. lovers find the hidden gem on their own.

Unfortunately, this idea was never presented to the client. I was informed that, despite being the “best representation of this brand’s core values,” a talking bottle “is an exercise in package design and falls outside the pervue of our agency”.

agency: freelance

In August, 2007, an 8-foot tall Lego man mysteriously washed up on shore at a Dutch beach resort. These t-shirt designs were inspired by that incident.

agency: Tractenburg Advertising