When your line is The Bold Look of Kohler, well, the work better live up to it. 

We looked at it as turning a plumbing company into a fashion brand. 43 print ads, 16 TV spots and 11 years later the iconic ‘As I See It’ campaign that ran in shelter publications made its mark.

Bold visual statements using well known photographers and intriguing television work brought the campaign to life so when consumers were finally in the market for a new sink, faucet or toilet they’d remember Kohler.

BUILDING THE IN-HOUSE AGENCY AT KOHLER

As Kohler transitioned from an AOR model and began building in-house agency capabilities, I challenged my teams to live up to the standards of the most creative traditional agencies. Kohler is a global company with over 27 brands including several Kitchen & Bath brands, Ann Sacks Tile, resorts, hotels, restaurants and hospitality brands, their famous golf courses and retail brands such as Kohler Chocolates.

Kohler. In Power. Since 1920. Although Kohler’s Power group is one of the world’s largest power brands and has been making engines and generators since 1920, the brand was relatively unknown. Kohler is known for plumbing after all. We created the brands first consistent global work bringing together markets that had done their own work for years. The groundwork for the launch brought to life new positioning, consistent brand guidelines and market launches around the world.

Since our granddads time men have gotten soft. Most men don’t even know how to change a tire anymore. Let alone shave with an ax.

If our forefathers could have a little chat with us they’d probably say “If you’re not going to act like a man, could you at least shave like a man?”

Barbasol Shaving Cream. It’s classic. It’s basic. It’s inexpensive. It’s manly. Let’s get back to that. And have fun doing it.

The media buy was all ESPN.

Land Rover’s are both luxury vehicles and workhorses. Marrying the two was our challenge. Creating some of the most iconic work the brand has ever done was the result.

Regarding the Range Rover work shown here specifically. By speaking to the rich history of the Land Rover brand and how the scrappy 4X4 originally designed to go anywhere had evolved into the most luxurious 4X4 on the planet, we were able to exceed all sales expectations and Land Rover had to increase production to meet demand.

The ‘Orbit’ Land Rover television work was put into the permanent exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art.

EVERY KISS BEGINS WITH KAY

When you have a tag line that talks about kissing and a pandemic comes along, you have a problem on your hands. We knew it immediately, but quickly discovered the outpouring of love that was happening though-out the nation as folks couldn’t be near their loved ones. People found a multitude of ways to express love in other ways. From meeting outside of nursing home windows to drive-by weddings to nightly celebrations of health care workers shift changes, love truly was unstoppable.

Thus, the interim LOVE IS UNSTOPPABLE campaign was born. And Kay’s sales broke records during the pandemic period. A variety of creative approaches helped that happen.

Kay Jewelers has been around a while. It all began in 1916. A lot has changed since then, but love lives on. Kay is now the leading jewelry brand in America with more than 1,000 stores. After the pandemic Kay’s long-standing line, EVERY KISS BEGINS WITH KAY, had become dated and frankly, was a little out of touch with today’s consumer. “Do I really need to kiss someone to get a gift? Ewwww…”

Our challenge was to help the brand evolve while maintaining the equity they had built over the years. We discovered that part of the tagline was much more inclusive than the line in its entirety.

So, if a kiss represents love and every kind of love is important, then Every Kiss is a platform that reaches every audience and every gift-giving occasion.

We maintained the iconic tune in our messaging but eliminated the cheesy vocals. More importantly, we were able to Celebrate Every Kiss.

Southwest Airlines always does things a little differently than the other guys.  When all the ‘BIG’ airlines started charging to check your luggage they did it again.

Bags Fly Free was a huge success gaining market share for the airline during a tough time in the industry. And all done with the usual Southwest personality.

We needed to build awareness for a $60,000 sports car in a crowded market.

Consumers for the Z4 live at the intersection of art and automotive. So we created a piece of art using the Z4 as the paint brush. That sounds easier than it was. Striking results. Beautiful work. Successful launch.

This was serious. The other airlines were charging even more to check a bag. And consumers were just taking it. That’s a crime. So we decided to call the cops…the Bag Cops.

Using a 70’s cop show feel we brought attention to the situation and continued to build market share.

The good guys were on the job.

Next up…Change Fees. Pushing a few buttons on a computer to change a flight shouldn’t cost $150 or more. That’s not right. So we took the other airlines to Fee Court.

As our nations schools removed art and music programs from curriculum there was a need to reinforce how grades improve overall when the arts are in the mix.

Print was the medium for this campaign that drove consumers to a website where they could ‘Ask for More’.

You. The road. One.

The 1 Series is not a watered down entry level vehicle. It's everything BMW stands for distilled into a smaller package. It's pure BMW.

The 1 Series. Pure BMW.

It had never been done before.

One day.

Four cities.

2650 miles.

A coast-to-coast rock & roll concert streamed live on Facebook engaging Southwest Airlines’ on-line audience.

A bit of a different approach for a motor oil. Drivers put their cars to the test in different ways every single day.

One oil can handle them all.

Pennzoil also owned other automotive products such as Gumout, Classic Wax and Fix-A-Flat. Several examples included here.

It’s tough to quit smoking.

Really, really tough.

Relating to how people actually feel when they try is the first step to success. Giving them the tools that actually help them to succeed is the second.

There are three little words that will help you avoid endless meetings, office politics, pay cuts, demotions, pointless morale-building exercises, overthink, group think, non-think, buzzwords, time-sucks, mind-sucks, and soul-sucks and you’ll probably get a raise.

You’ll definitely get more done. And you even get to keep your sanity.

A business campaign for Southwest Airlines, social posts along with paid media would drive customers to the Just Stay Gone website where they could get to know our characters, see them make their case and purchase tickets to always be out of the office.   

Three simple words.

Just stay gone.

BMW has always stood for performance and engineering. They also build a very, very safe vehicle.

This integrated campaign highlights their safety performance through life's ultimate crash tests.

The Legacy Foundation’s mission is to eliminate tobacco use and help those who already smoke learn how to quit.

To that end we followed one New Yorker "live" for 30 days as he attempted to quit the smoking habit.

30 days. 30 ads. 30 videos.

Concepted. Approved. Edited and produced each day – all in real time.

New Yorkers followed Bob through daily newspaper, radio and out-of-home ads, which drove them to the Bob Quits website where the daily video and blog lived.

A hugely successful campaign and even though we were prepared for a different outcome, yes…Bob did quit.

We knew that once you owned a Lennox system, you’d know what perfect felt like.

But showing what perfect felt like wouldn’t be easy. It’s air after all.

Fortunately, we weren’t just innovative in how we created the perfect system; we were also innovative in how we shared our promise in a way that no one else has been able to. This led us to the world’s art community where art illustrates ideas that are often hard to visualize. It’s a mix we understood completely. Because even Lennox's left-brained people think right-brained. And as innovators, they too are artists.

By partnering with the art community, we had the tools to express to the world what that "perfect" means.

A huge digital ecosystem using #lennoxartproject is currently in the works including partnerships with artists, social, events, exhibits and working with Habit for Humanity.

The people in Denver felt abandoned by their local air carrier.

Their favorite airline had been bought out and the new company made a lot of promises they didn’t keep. United had a big presence but it was a big, cold carrier from Chicago. 

Southwest had been committed to Denver for a long time. Our opportunity was to become Denver’s ‘go-to’ airline.

What better way than to just ask them?

“Healthcare.” It’s a politically charged word. When you mention “healthcare” in public it makes people wince.

As a system, healthcare is broken.

It’s become too complex, too dogmatic and too difficult for most people to fully understand. So what if we stopped using this word? What if we started calling “healthcare” “Humancare”? It’s a brave thing to do. But it might help us bring some humanity to a topic that’s become heartless.

In the days that followed September 11, 2001 we all wanted to do something to help.

But we all felt helpless.

We had flown to Maryland (near the Pentagon) for a meeting that day. Afterward, as we began to drive back across the country, the idea for ‘I am an American’ was born. Our friends jumped in and filmed in cities all around the country. Sony donated the music. And we had it on air a week later. No small feat at a time when all air travel was shut down.

It’s a good story. But more importantly, this work reminded the country that our nations motto is E pluribus unum - "Out of many, one.” Our founding fathers, once again, provided the right message at the right time.

I understand this spot is included in the 9/11 museum but have not confirmed it.

The first hydrogen car.

The 3 Series Convertible.

The M Series.

Work from across several different BMW models.

Southwest Airlines has always done fun, memorable work to build their brand and their business.

Here are a few of my favorites from the past whose ideas still hold up.

Enjoy.

RC Cola.

Rock the Vote.

Pebble Beach.

Rolling Stone.

Kohler...etc.

Some personal favorites from the past.