His last ad may have been his best.

It's been 4 months since Mike Hughes passed away. A few weeks before he died, he had an idea and the video here is based on the email he sent me. We love you and miss you.

Poo.

Earth University is a special place where young people from all of the globe learn sustainable practices that they then bring back to their communities. We just completed a viral campaign starring a graduate named Susanna. The making of video is amazing.

JFK lives on.

The site went live on the anniversary of his death, but the content keeps coming in. Here is a short on the Brooks Brothers Fitzgerald suit. Also, see the beautiful tribute from presidential poet Richard Blanco. The site was just shortlisted at SXSW. anidealiveson.org

The Brooks Brothers piece.

It's just wonderfilled.

The campaign for Oreo is my favorite thing of 2013 at the agency, beating out Hump Day and not counting the Emmy for Clouds. Here's the case study. Kick-ass.

What you did for me.

You gave me a career I am proud of.
You gave my family a wonderful life.
You taught me humility.
You gave me opportunity.
You never penned me in.
You never let me get away with shit.
You never let me take myself too seriously.
You let me find my way.
You let me be me.
What else does anyone need?
To know that a person like you has my back.
I can't tell you how much that has meant to me.
How could I ever find the right words?
I miss you already.
It's a void I will never ever fill.
I am a little scared, I will admit.
But I will carry on and do my best.
I know you will always be there.
I just will miss all our conversations. So many.
I know I will continue to ask for help.
I know you will be there to listen.
Keep your ears open.
I love you
(An email I sent to Mike a few months ago.)

The most shared ad of 2013.

Guess what commercial it is? Hump day for GEICO just surpassed Dove Sketches as the most viral ad of 2013. Mike, Mike, Mike Hughes is even impressed by that. Congrats to the team and our incredible client.

And the Emmy goes to.....

Crazy to think we won an Emmy for Clouds over Cuba. Still pinching myself. I think the most gratifying thing of all is that the agency is now officially making much more than ads. I knew it was always true, but the Emmy puts the Housekeeping Stamp of Approval on it. So cool. Thanks to all, but especially my partners at the top who put their faith in us: Mike, John, Rene, Beth and Matt.

Here are all the young people.

The One Club is an amazing force in the business and I'm not just saying that because I'm on the board. Mary and Kevin and crew have at the core of their mission raising the ranks of minorities in this very white business. I was happy to join Jimmy Smith and others for a day of mentoring. As usual, I felt like the one being mentored. I met so many great kids, full of talent and optimism - extremely uplifting day. Can't wait to hire more than one of these kids.

Hue & Cry.

Exciting to see our very own in-house motion graphics capability taking off. Lead by the extremely talented Magnus Hierta, this crew has done a bad ass job on Oreo, Pizza Hut, Morgan Stanley, Exxon and is starting to get bids from all over the world.

11 Lions. Are you serious?

Still hasn't sunk in. Clouds over Cuba won 11 Lions at Cannes, including three Golds. Bummed we missed out on at least one Grand Prix because the rules bar charities from winning the Big Cat. Hmmmm. Still, a great show for the team and Martin. We also were shortlisted for Geico and were a finalist for The Grand Prix for Good. Can't say enough about our partners at Tool, especially Ben, who without question made Clouds as good as it could be. Thank you. See it all here: http://cloudsovercuba.com/casestudy/  On the carpet with Brian:

Art meets commerce.

The latest for Morgan Stanley. It's amazes me still that there are people in our business who think what we do is a science. I'm glad we believe it's just not that easy. Print: Nadav. TV: Tarsem. Great write up here: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/spirit-1930s-new-deal-murals-lives-morgan-stanley-campaign-151067 Thank you, Darcy, Neel, Alon, the Rebeccas and Fritz. Your hard work turned out beautifully.

Forecast: Clouds giving way to sunshine.

Another big night at One Show Interactive for Martin and the JFK Clouds team. Clouds over Cuba won a gold and two silver pencils, while the agency finished 4th in the global rankings for work for BFG and the JFK Library. Congrats to Brian, Wade, Kirstin and Nicole. And special thanks to Ben and the Tool team. An all-round team effort. On to Cannes.

The first Ace winner.

Introducing Chidyaonga Shalita, the first winner of the The Ace Scholarship. The Ace is given to a male, minority graduating senior in the St. Paul School System who is headed to college to become a teacher. Y'onga is off to Macalester, one of the best liberal arts schools in the nation. We started the gift in honor of my late father Ace, a teacher and educator in St. Paul for over 40 years. (This blog is dedicated to him, too.) It was great to meet Y'onga, along with my mom Jan and my sisters, Mary and Ellen. And it will be fun to watch him grow into the great teacher I know he will become. Congrats.

Wonderful.

There's a lot to love about the new Oreo work. What I love most? It's one of our first truly global campaigns. Couldn't be prouder of the team that crafted this for almost a year, working side by side with an incredible client. Congrats, Jorge, Magnus, David, John, Heather, Steve, Matt, brig - to just name a few. I'm wonderfilled.  Here's a link to the work: http://creativity-online.com/news/oreos-new-wonderfilled-campaign-wants-to-sap-the-cynicism-out-of-your-day/241459

Simple is always the best way to go.

Too often, we get caught up in our own underwear and forget the power of a simple, truthful insight coupled with a simple, truthful execution. The new work for Colonial Williamsburg harkens back to the  good old days. Nice job, Bob, Pat and Trent.

Look out, Norman Mailer.

GEICO has been a trailblazer on so many fronts. How to buy insurance. How to sell it. How to advertise it. Basically, turning a once completely invisible product into one coveted by just about any creative in the business. Way before Mayhem, there was a Gecko turning the insurance world upside down. That little lizard has learned a lot along the way. And in keeping with the brand's zig when everyone else is zagging approach, our creative team saw an opportunity. If the Gecko can sell car insurance, certainly he can teach us about anything. Maybe he can even write about it. And so, Adam Stockton, art director, and Anne Marie Hite, copywriter, present "You're only human, a guide to life," written and illustrated by the Gecko. (With a little help from his human friends at Martin and Workman Press.) Congrats, team. Cannes? Sure. Pulitizer? Now we're talking.

The golf buddies are back.

Bubba, Hunter and Lee Westwood are back for PING in a new series of spots. A small crew spent the day cranking out four in 10 hours. And it was freezing. The guys are real pros, having fun while still delivering their lines. The acting isn't pretty but that's kinda why it works, too. See all the spots here: http://ping.com/video/videos.aspx?id=14431 Thanks for the solid: Neel, Darcy, Steve, Heather.

Good and Tough. And pretty cool.

We are famous for our ads. But what most people don't know is our staff is so much more creative than that. 500 people strong who surprise me everyday with their imagination and resourcefulness. Check out the attached post about our recent fashion show. Every idea, detail, construction, presentation - created by a Martinite. http://www.martinagency.com/blog/the_martin_fashion_show Kudos to all.

If you haven't told Mike lately....

How much you love him, here's your chance: http://wealllovemike.martinagency.com/ Thanks, Martin team, for putting this one up so fast. UX and design tweaks on the fly and coming, but a huge tribute to the big man. 

An Angry Effie finalist.

I just love this campaign for Kraft and Stove Top. Just starting to hit the award circuit. Funny idea. Funnier case study video. Nice job, Bob, Pat and Andy.

When love and hate collide with an idea.

Cool album cover design and concept for the release of Def Leppard's latest single. Came through the doors via EP John McAdorey, buddies with the band's manager. The Design Princes in the NYC office - Charles, William and Jason - nailed the winning concept. Kick-ass.

Our heart and soul.

Mike Hughes, the long time heart and soul of The Martin Agency, has been fighting lung cancer for almost a dozen years. Mike is probably the most amazing person I have ever known. An incredible leader, but more importantly, a great person. I can't even begin to list the things he's taught me. "Find joy not in the end result and the accolades but in the long, hard, messy climb getting there." Mike, you are my inspiration. You are my hero. Thank you.

Hu, Hut, Hut.

Pizza Hut has a big presence in the run-up to the Super Bowl. Andy and team created this video and it's up, calling for "hut, hut, hut" clips that, hopefully, we'll add to this and make a great UG version to run right before the big game. Henry Lu did a crack job with no money and time. And the track from Human rocks. A big step in the right direction of PH. https://www.facebook.com/PizzaHut

Blowing up Chihuly.

Dale Chihuly is here at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and we made something pretty fun to promote not only the show, but his craft, as well. Chihuly, the App. Just blow into your phone, shape, color and sculpt your art, then post on Facebook. One of my favorite things we've done all year. Thanks to Travis, Lionel, Will, David, Zack, Caroline, the Chihuly team and our awesome client, the VMFA.

Lincoln hair comes to RVA.

This past year, Steven Spielberg came to our little town and shot a big movie called Lincoln. Pretty cool stuff. A lot of friends and co-workers grew out their hair - beards, side-burns, you name it - for a shot at being an extra. Lincoln cast member. Nice thing to put on the resume. Martin art producer Anya Mills had the idea to document it all with Matthew Brady-style portraits and enlisted local photographer Adam Ewing. They put it all together for "Lincoln Hair," at The Martin Agency Gallery. The big opening was the night before the movie premiered nationwide. Good press coverage here: http://creativity-online.com/work/martin-agency-lincoln-hair-gallery/29961 Thanks to all, but especially Anya and Adam for the inspiration. Can't wait to see movie.

We did it again.

We finished the job. Obama winning Virginia again in 2012. Not the same feeling as 2008, but still something we will never forget. About a week ago, we sent out this video with the help of Magnus and his crew, Trav and Darb and the kids from SVA. Nice job. We did it.

What if?

50 years ago, the world was on the brink of nuclear war. Thanks to the diplomacy of our president, John F. Kennedy, the worst never happened. But what if? That's what our new interactive documentary  "Clouds over Cuba" explores in detail. Just go to cloudsovercuba.com. The site has already been visited by thousands around the world with an average stay of over 14 minutes - amazing. Special thanks to Tool of North America and our dear partner Ben Tricklebank, the creative force behind this and another big effort for the JFK Library, wechoosethemoon.org.

One small tweet feat.

A timely tribute to Neil Armstrong and another testament to our growing in-house digital creds. Everything done at Martin. Launched three weeks ago, we're just 30 tweets away from landing on the moon. Let's get there. Wouldn't it be cool to be the last tweet that steps on the moon? onesmalltweet.com

Dave Martin lives on.

He started The Martin Agency in 1965. He believed in the power of creativity to transform a brand. He was a big guy with a big heart. I never worked with Dave Martin, but now feel like I work for him. I work everyday at the agency with his name on the door. And my mission is the same as his was five decades ago: bring ideas to clients that jump the category and make them successful beyond their wildest ambitions. Thank you. Without your courage to hang your shingle, I wouldn't be here today.

Bell Labs. At Martin.

Been reading an incredible book "The Idea Factory: The history of Bell Labs."An amazing look at innovation and how it happened systematically for over 70 years. The phone, the transistor, the information age, solar power, satellite communication - just some of the Bell breakthroughs. Basically, every important tool we use came out of Bell.  In a recent talk to the staff, I mentioned the book and sure enough, Bell Labs is alive and well at Martin. Steve Sage's parents met at Bell in the 50s and Tommy Brichett's grandfather George Pullis worked at Bell for 40 years. Check out the poster Tommy has hanging in his living room - a retirement gift to George from Bell. Even their gifts were cool as shit.

Want a million followers?

Who wouldn't? Twitter followers are the new currency. That was the inspiration behind Twitterich, a social media experiment cooked up by two Martinites, Neel Williams and Mauricio Mazzariol. No reason to do it except to do it and see what happens. So chill out, ok? http://www.twitterich.com

Pencil love.

A special night in NYC for the Walmart team. A bronze pencil for Younger Skin for Walmart. And a silver for the Conveyor TV campaign. Fitting recognition to an incredible team effort, moving mountains for the world's biggest company. Congrats Trent, Matt, V, Deric and John. You make us proud.

Cannonball coming.

The Walmart team cleaned up at the local Addy Awards last week, winning 15 cannonballs. "Younger Skin" was the big winner, taking home Best of Show. Ok, so it's not a Lion, but you have to admit, the cannonball is a kick ass looking trophy. Good start to the award season. Congrats to the whole team. You deserve all the credit.

Robin will always be with us.

You were everything to all of us. Friend. Audience. Mentor. Teacher. Parent. You knew our ticks, habits and moods. And you always had the right thing to say. We know you are gone. But we also know you live on. In us. In how we work. In how we treat each other. Even in an app called Robin's Egg which we were so very fortunate to give you early this year. We love you. Please don't worry a second. We will look after John, Ben and Gretchen, just like you looked after us all these years.

Print. Yes, we still do it.

It's been a long time since I posted any print here. These posters were created by Brian Williams and Matt Wojtysiak using Matt's original woodcuts. Created to commemorate the big issues in JFK's first year in office in 1961.

Meet Robin's Egg.

We are so proud to announce a new app created entirely at Martin. It was inspired by a close friend, Robin, who was diagnosed with cancer a couple years ago. We missed her at the office and were looking for an easy and fun way for all of us to send our love. Watch the video and download the app in the App Store. All art, design, dev, etc. by TMA.

January in the books. Really?

Crazy start to 2012. Here's a few posts right in a row to catch up. Had the great honor to be invited to the One Club for the latest Hall of Fame induction. The highlight of the night: Steve Jobs entrance, via a stirring speech by a former boss, Lee Clow. It was great to see Duncan Milner, an old partner at Chiat/Toronto, who has lead Media Arts and Apple for years. And it was perfect to be there with John, Mike and Fabio.

Merry Christmas.

The wall below is outside my office at Martin. When we re-imagined our workspace and moved in a year ago, we changed much more than the desks and chairs. The new open space is the perfect metaphor for how we work now. Collaborative, free, a living canvas for all of us to easily interact with. (The impromptu mural here was started and added to by agency staff over the past week.) The space has changed how we work and best of all, what the work has become. The past year, I've seen more truly integrated work than ever. We've added talented people to an environment designed to bring out the best work of their careers. Here's to a strong 2011 and even better 2012.

Frank. The gift no one wants.

Our first "planned" viral for WM: frankthefruitcake.com. He's part fruit, part nuts, all annoying. Frank is voiced by Bobcat Goldthwait and sits on your Facebook wall just begging to hang around for the holiday. But like all fruitcakes - real and digital - he just isn't very likeable and eventually you send him away to annoy friends. Thanks to Unit9 for making Frank so, well, charming. Case study attached.

Our tribute to simplicity.

When Steve Jobs passed away, all of us Apple devotees felt a huge loss. A strangely personal loss. Most of us never meet him. But that was the power of his products. They are "personal." Like no other machines before them, they are an extension of our loves, dreams, hopes, fears. Jobs brought a simplicity and elegance to our lives through his thinking that we don't have in most every other aspect of our lives. So that's what inspired to create whatwouldstevedo.com. A simple link shortening of crowd-sourced submissions, aggregated on a Twitter feed, for things that need to be simplified. Submit your own at: wws.do

Welcome home.

Troops are coming home from Iraq and that's good news. For Veteran's Day, we created this tribute for Walmart. For me personally, even though the war was fought under false premises, the sacrifice of the troops and their families will never, ever be questioned. Thank you.

Wild about Harry.

Every few months I have lunch with Harry Jacobs, One Show Hall of Fame member and the guy who basically put Richmond and Martin on the ad map. Harry is in his eighties, but more passionate about this business than a lot of ad people I know in their twenties. Every time we get together, he talks and I listen. My favorite from this lunch: It's the early 60's. Harry's agency Cargill Wilson and Acree, a precursor to Martin, is being courted by DDB. Harry is invited to NYC to meet one on one with Bill Bernbach. Yikes. Imagine having to show your book to Bernbach with the agency purchase in the balance. Well, it worked out and Cargill was bought by DDB. I'm blessed to have Harry in my life. Who knows. Maybe I wouldn't be here if Bernbach had hated Harry's work.

11 in 2011.

"Dance" is the 11th Walmart conveyor spot to be posted on the respected site creativity.com. An amazing achievement. Congrats to the team.

They keep coming.

A couple new favorites in the "Every cart tells a story" campaign. More in the works.

50 years ago.

Class differences. Race tension. Multiple wars. Economic woes. Political battles on the left and right. 1961 looks a lot like 2011. We're looking back at how JFK handled it all in a new series for the Presidential LIbrary and Museum in Boston. Art Director: Brian Williams.

A good show.

15 finalists at The One Show this year. The encouraging thing: first time finalists in Design and Entertainment, plus multiple nominations in innovation and use of social media. That's exciting. Photo credit: Stephen Lovekin/ Getty Images for One Show.

Re-imagine, re-think, re-____________.

That's the theme of the Art Gallery within the new space at Martin. We're kicking off the first show June 22, featuring artists Robert Coover, Dalton Ghetti, Charles McGill and others. The invitations we're created in the Gallery space when a couple dozen Martinites silk-screened hundreds of pages from old art magazines to create the invites. Re-create, re-use, re-visit.

Every cart tells a story.

One of the first spots in what we hope will be a nice, long campaign for the world's biggest company. The idea was simple: Walmart has low prices on everything you need on your shopping list. What if told funny stories using the random contents of those lists? Many thanks to our huge team, but especially to the client for having a little fun.

Hit it Bubba long.

A lot of fun directing this package featuring pros Bubba Watson, Lee Westwood, Louis Oosthuizen, Marc Wilson and Hunter Mahan. Worked with DP Tami Reiker, just a beautiful shooter. Used the Alexa with a series of 70s lenses.

Cancer meets Bieber fever.

On March 1st, Usher wished Justin Bieber a happy 17th birthday by posting this re-mix music video by Mysto & Pizzi on Facebook and Twitter. Bieber re-posted the video and thanked Usher and our client, the American Cancer Society. It went to over 45 million Usher and Bieber fans and received over 40,000 Facebook 'likes' in the first five hours.

His speech is now our speech.

Long time, no post. Up to my eyeballs in production since January. So let's catch up. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of JFK's famous "Ask not" speech, we invited the world to the podium. Go to ourJFKspeech.org to deliver a part of the speech via Twitter, FB or your webcam.

Thank you.

To Brian and Wade. Norma and Darbs. Mike and John. Anne Bev, Pete, D'Arcy, Neel, Tedd, Tom, Lee, Dean, TD, Ben and DS. To my kids and lovely wife Sarah. 2010 was a year beyond expectations. Thanks to you all. And here's to a great 2011. I am blessed.

An idea writer. R.I.P.

Ted Sorensen gave voice to JFK's ideas, visions and dreams for the future. "Ask not what your country can do for you...", "We choose to go to the moon...", "...We face a moral crisis in this country...", "It shall be the policy of this Nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation...." His words live on. Art Director: Eric Shi.

Re-inventing the birthday card.

What if Rihanna could call your best friend and wish her happy birthday? What if 25 of your family members could send grandma a personalized birthday gift from Jack Johnson with one click? Now, you can. And maybe the coolest thing is that it all started as an ad campaign. Here's to a world with less cancer and more birthdays.

The absurdity of it all.

He's lowered taxes for 95% of Americans. He saved the car and banking industries. The stock market is way up since he took office. And he passed health care reform that will benefit millions of lower and middle-class Americans. Our house was on fire and he not only saved the house, but is rebuilding it from the ground up. Yet, he is The Socialist, The Anti-Christ, The Un-American. Why? Sure, Obama has done a poor job of communicating his gains, goals and vision. But, please. This is the sad state of American politics. Reason and civility are gone, replaced by anger, fear and ignorance. God Bless America.

The latest: Usher.

The Birthday Gallery continues to fill up. We recently shot Usher at The Greenwich Hotel and more big stars are coming. So far, thousands of dollars have been raised for The American Cancer Society in their quest to create a world with more birthdays.

Here's to more birthdays.

This year, 11 million cancer survivors will celebrate a birthday. Progress. 20 years ago, the cure rate for cancer was 1 out of 3. Today, it's 2 out of 3. More progress. But this damn disease is relentless. Freaking relentlessly relentless. We have to keep fighting. The American Cancer Society has spent more money on research than anybody but the US government the last 100 years. Our campaign this year introduces The Birthday Gallery. We've asked dozens of musicians and artists to enlist their talents. So far, Justin Bieber, Jack Johnson, Devo, Eric Carle, Michael Schwab and many others have come on board with so many more to come. You can download, send, share, buy, donate the song "Happy Birthday" or wrapping paper and posters at morebirthdays.com. Please give. Thanks.

A video by Justin Bieber in the Gallery, which you can send to a friend right now.



Another from Devo, one of 15 musicians now in the gallery.



Artists took Cancer Society breakthroughs against cancer and designed wrapping paper and posters around each.

Tweet, tweet. JFK is running for president.

Right now, JFK is running for president - on Twitter. Every day, every stop, every speech is being re-broadcast as it happened 50 years ago. (Taking cues from our Moon campaign last year.) This print campaign is running in national pubs like Time, Smart Money and WSJ, driving people to the feed via QR code. Art director: Brian WIlliams. Copy: Wade Alger. Print producer: Jenny Schoenherr. Art buyer: Cindy Hicks.

Did not expect this.

We had no idea when we set out to go to the moon last year that we would end up in Cannes. What a ride. Thanks to all the amazing talent that help produce five Lions - two golds, two silver and a bronze. Congrats.

Rockin' the suburbs, downtown.

The National is an old vaudeville theater in downtown Richmond that has been converted to a popular venue for musicians touring on the east coast. Adam Stockton, a talented art director for Martin, struck up a partnership with the concert hall to create original, limited edition posters for visiting acts. We created this one for Ben Folds, one of my personal favorite artists. Read more about it here: http://www.commarts.com/exhibit/ben-folds-poster.html

The real winner.

We won two Yellow Pencils last night at D&Ad for wechoosethemoon.com, our recreation in real-time of the Apollo 11 moon landing. But the real winner was an exiled publisher from Zimbabwe. Wilf Mbanga, shown here with his creative director Damon Stapleton from TBWA/South Africa, was on hand to personally receive a Black Pencil for the Trillion Dollar campaign for The Zimbabwean newspaper. Wilf has risked his life opposing the oppressive regime of his country. It was an honor to sit next to him at the award show and hear his extraordinary stories of courage. Congratulations.