The first spot I directed for MASN, the regional sports cable network, has won two Gold Awards in the Baltimore Addys. It now heads to the Regional and National sections. (It also picked up a Bronze in the Richmond Show.) The spot was created by Elevation in Richmond and done through The MVP Group at the Martin Agency. Writer: Aaron Dotson. Art director: Frank Gilliam. Producer: Melanie Cox CD/Director: Joe Alexander Production Co: Trademark Films, FLA/LA
The anti-ad school.
Nancy Rice, One Show Hall of Fame member, has a pretty novel thing going in Minneapolis. She is teaching the advertising craft to undergraduates at MCAD. Basically, these kids are getting world-class mentoring from great professionals - minus the 30k it costs to go to more celebrated ad graduate schools. We created these posters for Nancy with the idea being how you think and craft an execution can sometimes be even more important than the idea itself. In my opinion, at least, kids in the graduate schools spend so much time "power-pointing" their ideas with planners, account people, etc. that they never learn finishing skills. Art director: Daniela Montanez CD: Joe Alexander
Putting ideas to good use.
Printouts. Ink. Packaging. Toxic materials. Waste. Ad agencies leave an incredibly large carbon footprint. About a year ago, a group of us at the agency set out to reduce our emissions. The first thing: implement single-stream recycling at every desk. Cans, bottles, plastic, paper, newsprint, etc. all in one container. Now, we pick up trash on odd days only. The result has been a reduction in our waste and more recycled materials. Of course, we had to create some great posters to tell everybody about our new program. Art director: Jenny Lui. Writer: Rex McGubbin. CD: Joe Alexander
More than a book about an ad agency.
Mike Hughes is the President and ECD at The Martin Agency. He is my boss. He is a 2-time lung cancer survivor. A couple years ago, Mike gave a stirring commencement address at a college graduation. The topic was "work, life and balance in this crazy business called advertising." I read it and thought it could be much more. With the help of David Grindon, a young AD at Martin, we re-tooled the words for a broader audience, added some great photos and design, and created "Welcome to the beautifully imperfect company." We have given it to all of our employees. And every new hire will receive a copy. But what I love most? It's now on sale at Hennessy & Ingalls in LA. We hope to make it available to a wider auidience soon. I will keep you posted.
Brown. The new green?
UPS is an amazing company. I've been lucky enough to have worked on the account now for a couple years and have written all of the Whiteboard TV spots with the star and my partner, Andy Azula. What I find most amazing about UPS is their relentless pursuit of efficiency. Here's a spot that illustrates just how far they'll go to reduce their operational carbon footprint. See all the latest spots at ups.com/whiteboard
The good news.
The news hasn't been very good lately. Meaning, not many newspapers, editors, reporters and networks have been doing enough to uphold their constitutional "watchdog" responsibilities. Gossip is not news. Maybe the Newseum, now open in D.C. can help rekindle our love for reasoned, skeptical and objective reporting of the news. Writer: Kevin Dunleavy. Art Director: Amy Elkin, Mark Brye, David Grindon CD: Joe Alexander
Play the ball as it lies.
In January, we shot a series of "letters" for PING Golf. The letters were submitted by PING players all around the world. We shot 12 of the letters in various locations around the PING campus in Phoenix. We used Tour players and employees on camera reading the letters. What I like most about them is they show just how much golfers LOVE the game of golf. You can see more at pinggolf.com/stories. Art director: Dave Padgett, Michael Reginelli. Producer: Darbi Fretwell, Sandra Nam. Director/Writer/CD: Joe Alexander
A greener shoot.
We recently shot a TV campaign about earth-friendly products sold at Wal-Mart. I think the work is nice. But I think we're most proud of the production of the commercials. We tried to reduce the carbon footprint of the shoot as much as possible. Attached is behind-the-scenes look. I know. I know. Wal-Mart. The big bad wolf. Don't judge too quickly. They are capable of much good, too. Writer: Lee Remias. Art director: Ron Villacirillo. Producers: Katie Chirgotis, Dan Kaplan CD: Joe Alexander
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