Fall in love with the problem, not the solution
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Fall in love with the problem, not the solution 〰️
Great work doesn’t come from knowing the difference between wrong and right; it’s the product knowing the difference between almost right and rightest.
My approach to strategy starts with identifying the rightest problem to solve, then surfacing the rightest truths to tell.
That usually comes from listening. Lots of it. To the unmet, often unstated needs of the audience. To the product magic that can be hiding in plain sight. Separating signal from noise, looking past the obvious, and always breaking work down to its simplest, most singular form.
mens wearhouse
How does your dad’s suit store shake a new generation of guys out of their narrow, dated perceptions of the brand and get more of them into the store more often, for more occasions than just weddings and prom?
By speaking to regular guys—the ones sweating through their button-downs, overthinking dress codes, or just trying to get it right. The ones who stare into their closet thinking, “What the fck do I wear to this fcking thing?”* Men’s Wearhouse is the solution for that. Results: Marketing-driven sales increased 40.3% YoY while media spend decreased -7.8%. ROAS up 52.2% YoY. Purchase intent +5pt lift in key demo A18-24.
la clippers
A rally cry for underdogs, this story contrasted the Clippers' gritty, hard-working identity with the pure star wattage of LA's glitzier, Hollywood-hyped NBA team. It celebrates a growing movement, built on civic pride, the pure love of basketball, and the resilient spirit of the city itself.
It takes inspiration from the hard-fought and harder-won progress the real L.A. creates every day, and highlights the Clippers’ influence on culture, connection to the community, and grit on the court.The campaign drove triple-digit-ticket sales increases, but more importantly, resulted in a lunch where owner of that cross-town rival asked the owner of the Clipper's to kill the campaign.
pokemon:
super bowL
Imagine a world where anyone - at any age - can be a master. That’s Pokémon: a game that empowers adults and kids alike to be their best.
With the global franchise's 20th anniversary on the horizon we needed to kick off a year of celebration by getting every fan excited, including the ones who started it all. With 400 million impressions, 30 million views, and voted the YouTube ad of the Super Bowl and one of CBS’s Top 10 Super Bowl spot of all time, it was a fan favorite.whole foods:
love local
"Love Local" addressed the growing concern of many Whole Foods shoppers that the company was becoming a goliath; a more expensive version of the national grocery chains it once railed against.
After spending time in the field with Whole Foods foragers, and seeing firsthand how personal their relationships were with local suppliers, it became clear that this was a love story. We just had to shine a light on the real family farmers, craft producers, and small businesses behind the products on the shelves.right guard
Reviving icon by turning the brand name into the dividing line for the whole category.
Right Guard has a lot of equity among older men. But in an era where new DTC entrants and legacy players have been trying to out shout, out-spend, and out-silly-goose each other with hijinks from the likes of Megan Fox, Sydney Sweeney, and Marshawn Lynch, the brand was invisible to guys under 50.
To close that gap, Right Guard needed a deliberately simple and ownable idea that puts the product, name, and efficacy message at the center, and plainspoken humor to make the comparison easy to understand and hard to forget.
Results: Reversed a sales decline with growth of +10.4%, brand favorability grew 9.8 points, grew TikTok followers by 44%.
liquid death:
greatest hates
Liquid Death gets a lot of hate mail from some pretty conservative corners of the hate-verse. So we took those voices and wrote a death metal album to them.
When the first volume sold out, we made a second. Set to that classic punk sound of yesteryear, featuring musicians from bands like The Lawrence Arms, Rise Against, Alkaline Trio, The Bombpops, and Anti-Flag. Both albums are entirely too real and can be found on Liquid Death’s webshop for purchase on vinyl.
pabst blue ribbon:
the tallest boy
For PBR’s 175th anniversary we were tasked with creating a bunch of fun projects to keep Pabst’s name in the social conversation.
PBR is known for tallboys, so we made the biggest can out there. 175 ounces for 175 years. Besides becoming a cult hit for PBR fans, it outperformed any social initiative they’ve done by 20x.
hardee’s:
biscuit holes
Sometimes, you don’t need a brief. It just writes itself.hormel:
vote bacon dog
Let's face it -- elections are painful. Audiences have to endure the never-ending mudslinging, rhetoric, and perhaps worst of all, political advertising.
So we added some levity to the occasion with a tongue-in-cheek campaign to name the Bacon Wrapped Hot Dog the Official Hot Dog of Los Angeles. Using mock-political propaganda, and matching each online "vote" with a donation to local food banks, we put Farmer John in the center of the election conversation.
zevia
How does a soda brand with nothing artificial compete in a category built on it?
By reminding people that soda without fake anything might be confusing to machines—but it makes perfect sense to humans.
Zevia offers an alternative that contains no artificial ingredients or artificial sweeteners. Only the good stuff that your soda-loving body deserves, none of the chemicals and artificial ingredients from Big Soda that work eerily well at removing rust and corrosion from machine parts.
Results: Net sales attributed to campaign +21% YoY. In the first 60 days: +600% high-intent search, +44.1% view rate, +39.6% engagement, +30% brand search.
the north face:
she moves mountains
She Moves Mountains challenged the outdated norms of the explorer as a man on a mountaintop to inspire a new generation of women with aspirational yet relatable stories of powerful female role models moving their own mountains.
It made exploration more inclusive by bringing the brand’s purpose to life for women, and more accessible by expanding the definition beyond the mountain.