Harley Davidson is an American Icon. But despite its iconic status it wasn’t doing so hot. They were up against new challenges; Its core riders were aging-out, sales were down and riding just wasn’t as popular as it once was.

We had a unique challenge to make riding relevant again for a new generation.

We started with a simple truth—when you’re on a Harley the world seems to melt away, It’s transformative. And in a world with ever increasing demands riding can deliver the physical, emotional, mental and maybe even spiritual benefits people are craving (we even have the science to back it up). With that a new philosophy was born: Full-Throttle Wellness.

We debuted with a new minimal-identity, a modern distillation of the well-known heritage logo to appeal to traditionalist and new riders alike.

Then we evolved our visual language to represent the experience of riding, from blurred landscapes to gritty depictions of the sights and sounds you experience on a ride. Enlisting the talent of acclaimed photographers, with unique points of view we create a library of contemporary images.

Our new philosophy, visual language and simplified identity system began to permeate every facet of the brand. Across film, print, digital, OOH, social, and events we evolved our tone of voice and personality to shift away from telling stories about products to stories about people.

From the bottom up everything became about Full-Throttle Wellness - a unique and radical form of self-improvement, but without the new-agey stuff.

Because at the end of the day it’s not about what the bike can do, but what the bike can do for you.

Directors: Ringan Ledwidge, Elena Petitti di Roreto, Jared Albertin.

Photographers: Christian Webber, Magdalena Wosinska, Jack Davison, Alex De Mora

There’s a global phenomenon that’s been happening since the dawn of Pringles: People getting their hands stuck in the can. The internet is full of complaints on the subject—In fact 43% of people have had their hand stuck in a Pringles can.

Knowing we couldn’t change the iconic can, we set out to change the narrative around getting stuck in it. We started by answering decade old twitter complaints, but we didn’t stop there, we dedicated an entire campaign to those who had complained, during the Super Bowl. Our film was based entirely on complaint tweets. So, while 200 million Super Bowl viewers just saw a ridiculous ad our fans saw their tweets come to life right before their eyes.

Director: Tom Kuntz

TUMI is a legacy luggage brand known for its high quality and craftsmanship. But they weren't doing so well: people only considered them as functional, not luxury and sales were down. 

Our challenge was to take them from an overlooked luggage brand into a luxury brand without losing sight of what made them so great in the first place. 

We started with a simple premise—Using a TUMI product is more than just functional but emotional—It’s the beautiful feeling you get when you know you can rely on its essential, long lasting features. And just like that, Essentially Beautiful was born. 

To launch our new brand philosophy we began by evolving their visual language into a more emotive, conceptional space and discussing their details in not just functional terms but emotional too. Enlisting the talents of  Son Heung Min (Captain of Tottenham HotSpurs and The South Korea's national team) , Lando Noris (Racing driver and Formula 1 winner) and Renee Rapp (singer-songwriter and actress) we debuted the new TUMI vision with their FW ‘23 campaign.

When someone gets sick with an illness, it affects more than just their body. It affects their mood, their outlook, and their whole life. So when science defeats an illness, it also defeats all of the surrounding doubts, the hopelessness, and the fears that come along with it.

In this film, we explore all of the things that “lose” when science “wins” in everyday lives. We see the world through the science that transforms it, using a mix of striking lensing and effects inspired by real scientific instruments.

Using a cast representative of the American landscape, real Pfizer scientists, and an artful vision of science’s point of view, this film was meticulously crafted to create an emotional, visual, and sonic connection between people’s lives and the scientific world—all celebrating how there are so many losers when science wins.

Director: Rune Milton

While many may recognize “Boost” due to its pre-paid counterpart, Boost Mobile, the company was beginning a new era of postpaid unlimited wireless done right. 

The post-paid wireless category was full of long-time power players and Boost infinite was the newest entrant in the space and needed to find a way to stand out and re-educate consumers on Boost. 

The category is full of shouting voices, pressuring viewers into confusing deals whereas Boost Infinite is refreshingly simple, easy and honest. Which led us to our new platform: A Wireless Utopia.

The ‘Wireless Utopia’ campaign launched Boost Infinite as an upgraded offering with an optimistic outlook. An approachable zen utopia that was in stark contrast to the rest of the category. While they shouted and confused we whispered and welcomed.

We developed a new identity for Boost Infinite embracing calming colour palettes (while still honouring Boost’s signature Orange), fantastical other-worldly landscapes and an aspirational, utopic brand voice.  Because with Boost Infinite you can transcend to a higher plane of wireless wonder.

After nearly 60 years of being easy, breezy and beautiful, COVERGIRL saw the market shifting around it. The culture of makeup had fundamentally changed, but few of the time-tested brands knew how to respond.

At a time when mass beauty desperately needed to modernize its messaging, we helped one of the world’s largest brands make a statement about what makeup really is. Because Makeup isn’t vain or superficial, in fact millions of people use it to express themselves. To transform themselves. To accent the person who they already are.

Because you are what you make up.

This insight introduced us to a whole new approach to everything. From casting commercials to photographing products, we could celebrate makeup as a powerful tool of self-creation.

We made the women of our campaign subjects, not just objects.

We introduced a diverse new cast of COVERGIRLs that included women often left out of mainstream beauty narratives—black, latinx, and older women—and honored the unique role of beauty in their live.

From there, the story was reported across the spheres of beauty and culture, announcing our vision to the public with stories that highlighted the individuality and transformation we championed. But we didn't stop there. We became the first large brand to go completely cruelty-free and petitions the rest of the industry to join us by using makeup selfies as petition signatures.

Gillette was planning its biggest launch yet for its new exfoliating razor. They typically make simple “man in the mirror” films followed by a catchy jingle but, we wanted to bring the ease and effortlessness of the product to life in our Super Bowl spot.

We eschewed the use of CGI and created everything in camera. We worked with a team of artisan’s in Prague (famously know for its film craft) to create the “Magic”. From a 6ft prosthetic face to a gravity defying closet and walls made of rubber this was Gillette’s most effortful, effortless shoot yet.

Director: Martin Krejci

Studies show that 65% of financial articles targeted at women incorrectly define them as “excessive spenders.” This misrepresentation has affected how society feels about women and money, with real implications.

So we challenged the media’s biased portrayal of women’s spending, using the media itself.

Mass Mutual partnered with The Washington Post to to expose these incorrect categorizations, using their logo’s likeness to literally spell out the lies the media publishes about women—and challenge the industry to do better.

TUMI’s audience has traditionally been male-centric and they were trying to grow their fanbase and become a unisex brand for customers that appreciate both form and function. 

Under the new Essentially Beautiful platform we launched a new range of luggage with an all female team—Actress Ka Moon Young, Supermodel Eniko Mihalik, Director C.Prinz and photographer Bibi Cornejo Borthwick (including an all female production and creative team from Grey NY) aimed at a female audience.

What do you do when you shoot an ad campaign for a summer-themed vodka and new seltzer three weeks before a global pandemic shuts down the country?

You start by re-concepting and going through an entire week of footage to tell a very different story.
Rather than abandon the original campaign, we decided to alter it to fit current circumstances. And blatantly recognize that the pandemic changed all our plans and that “staying from home sucks”. However, keeping true to Smirnoff’s celebratory brand message, we still wanted to remind viewers that they can still celebrate warm-weather moments while indoors. And that this summer that was one of the most patriotic things we could do.

In addition to television commercials, we created a series of display ads with slogans such as “Twerk From Home”, “It’s Almost Happy Hour”, and “Dye Your Own Hair, For America.” To promote the campaign, the slogan ads were also made into virtual backgrounds fans could use on video chats.

Directors: Kinopravda
DOP: Ben Mullen
Editor: Marlo Caine (MVP)

(The original star-studded, party-themed summer campaign was produced by Art Director Lena Laque-Almond and Writer Caro Hernadez.)

EDIT:
Nowadays, NFTs are nothing special. But we did it right at the start of the craze—we literally offered Beeple 50k to make this for us a few nights before he sold his first NFT for $69 Million. Obviously, he turned us down.

NFTS (ie. certified one-of-a-kind digital things you can officially own) were taking the internet by storm.

So Pringles got into the cultural conversation by doing what they do best: releasing a new flavour. Except this time, Pringles released an all-new, never-before-tasted, limited-edition flavour which only exists virtually—in the form of an NFT.

Introducing, the first virtual flavor: CryptoCrisp

This new flavour was sold on rarible.com for the price of a regular can of Pringles ($2) and sold out within the hour. Fans and art collectors alike started bidding wars driving the price up. The most recent sale was for over $4000 with one owner listing theirs for $77 million.

The news of this not-real flavor made real headlines across all different kinds of media gaining 96 million impressions in the first 24 hours. And all the real money raised by this fake flavor was donated to No Kid Hungry.

Digital Artist: Vasya Kolotusha

Zip codes began as a way to sort mail. Today, they can determine who we are. Studies show that kids born into a lower-income zip codes have less access to fresh food, healthcare and job opportunities, which means a much lower chance at upward mobility.

To highlight this discrepancy we travelled across America to find people that have benefited from the Y’s programs.

By casting real people that have only one zip code number different we demonstrated how the Y specializes its mission and commitment to levelling the playing field, no matter who you are, or where you live.

Because five random numbers shouldn’t determine your destiny.

Director: Spencer Creigh