I've been fortunate to direct a couple projects the last year or so. It's something I'd like to do more of. (Join the club, right?) I love the collaboration and process. Having 15 years of experience as a writer and CD, I think I bring an understanding of agency fears and expectations - from the first call to the treatment to the pre-pro and shoot. if I could pick a strength - and I'm using the word "strength" very loosely - it would be working with talent, bringing out performance, nuance, listening for the sweet spot in the script or idea. I guess I'm just looking to shoot boards I like and with people who care.
The fierce urgency of now.
I have been spending as much time as I can volunteering for the Obama campaign here in Virginia. I'm doing whatever they ask: phone banking, canvassing, making flyers, networking, organizing events. My boss Sean is 19. 19? These kids are my heroes. The work is hard, yet I can't think of more important work than this. There is an urgency, an importance. I guess I feel a duty - as corny as that sounds - to do my part.
Bike spoke cards we produced for a bike canvass in Richmond.
Working the phone in the Virginia Obama headquarters. The posters on the wall we produced early this year and are up in offices all over the state. Check them out under the entry "After 8 long years, hope."
Sarah and I have canvassed many weekends, going door to door registering voters. The work brings us to some of the most neglected areas in the whole South.
Bike spoke cards we produced for a bike canvass in Richmond.
Working the phone in the Virginia Obama headquarters. The posters on the wall we produced early this year and are up in offices all over the state. Check them out under the entry "After 8 long years, hope."
Sarah and I have canvassed many weekends, going door to door registering voters. The work brings us to some of the most neglected areas in the whole South.
We are all connected.
Richmond is a pretty insular Southern town. But The Richmond Forum is an outstanding speaker series that attracts leaders and thinkers from around the globe. The Forum asked us to revise their outdated opening with a video that welcomes the audience. Something that sets the mood for the night and in a way, congratulates for being there. Our idea was quite simple, but not so easy to pull off on a shoestring. Thanks to huge donations from Corbis and Kyle Cooper with Prologue. Writer/Director: Joe Alexander. Producers: Steve Humble, Val Battenfeld, Holly Flaisher.
Kids say the greenest things.
Getting 450 people at an ad agency to become more green is challenging. Slowly, we're changing behaviors. We're recycling more paper and plastic. We're making less copies and more digital presentations. We just held our first Organic Market. We have new bike racks. The green kitchen is doing great. But we keep thinking: how can we persuade a pretty habitual bunch to care even more about the planet? They have enough life or death stuff to deal with - this is advertising, after all. Every year, we hold Take Our Kids Work Day at the agency. This year, we had a ton of kids participate. The theme, naturally, was "Being Green." Lightbulb!! What if the kids did our job for us? Maybe they can tap into the emotional benefits of being green. The result is posted below. Kids, well, they are fun to shoot. You expect little surprises and they happen every time. Producers: Darbi Fretwell, Norma Kwee. Writers: Norma Kwee, Joe Alexander. DP: Jim Vaile. Editor: Scott Malkie. Music: Singing Serpent. Director: Joe Alexander.
A new web home for PING.
PING GOLF has been a client since 1996. The game has seen a lot of changes since then. (We were still selling wood "woods" back then.) The great thing is, this little family-owned company in Phoenix is still the same. Honest. Brave. Passionate. And above all, innovative. Designing a brand site for them was years in the making. But we just put up phase one. I think it fits their brand to a tee. It's elegant, simple, fun and full of stuff. We are in the process of designing and executing a community area that will offer a deep, rich and engaging area for PING players to have fun. Site link at right. Creative team: Pete Samuels, Ed O'Brien, Michael Reginelli, Dave Padgett, Joe Alexander, Sandra Nam, Eric Hansen, Brodie Rich. Production: Firstborn, PING, The Martin Agency, Filmcore, HUM.
JFK wins at The Kelly Awards.
The 30 best magazine campaigns of 2007 have been selected and the "Ticket" campaign for The JFK Presidential LIbrary has been chosen as the best single page winner. Go to kellywardsgallery.org (link to the right) to view all the finalists. Pretty nice company. Art Director: Lee Dayvault. CD/Copywriter: Joe Alexander
After eight long years, hope.
Finally, it looks like Obama will survive Hilary and begin his campaign against John McCain. What a blessing to have a leader of his grace, vision and intelligence at this time in history. I have been lucky enough to have worked on the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum for the last 12 years. I've read close to a 100 books about JFK. I understand the man and Obama possesses many of the same attributes. Optimism. Grace. Reason. He is also coming along at a very similar nexus in our history. The world is ready for change. We need a leader that inspires us to be better people, parents, students, leaders and citizens. January 20, 2009 will be an exciting day in our planet's history. AD: Lee Dayvault. CW/CD: Joe Alexander
Saving the planet on a budget.
It's not easy. Just Google Wal-Mart and let the bashing begin. Making commercials for a brand like this is not for every creative. Some just can't get past the reputation. But I'm an optimist. I don't see a bad company. I see a force for positive change. So I jumped at the chance to work on the Earth Month campaign. It's not One Show gold. But I think it moves the ball forward for the brand and helps move the conversation from "I hate Wal-Mart" to "I didn't know Wal-Mart did that." Read a review here: www.brandweek.com/bw/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003798259 Art Director: Ron Villacarillo. Writer: Lee Remias. producers: Dan Kaplan, Katie Chirgotis CD: Joe Alexander.
Lucky to be there.
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
We choose to have faith.
After eight years of the worst leadership in the history of the nation, we saw an opening. No, JFK can't run for President, althought that would be sweet. But, maybe we can begin to remind this generation that THIS is what presidential leadership is all about. Inspiring us. Leading us. Making sure that we know the difference between right and wrong. Helping the less fortunate. Instilling in us a sense of national purpose that is based on the Constitution, not a few powerful white, male, rich hawks. These ads have begun running in national magazines - check out the December Advocate. Art Director: Lee Dayvault. Writer: Joe Alexander.
A more perfect union?
We started doing work for AMPU a little over a year ago http://www.rethinkbias.org/. The organization is dedicated to ending bias and creating more tolerance through education. Since 9/11, there has obviously been a considerable amount of profiling aimed and Islam and the Muslim culture in general, We used the old miss-direct in the campaign. We discovered that when the average person saw Arabic type, they felt threatened. The words and phrases we show are actually everyday Western vernacular. The response to the posters has been predictably polarizing. Many Richmonders thought the city was under attack, mistaking the type for subversive messages. Others found them powerful and right on. FOX News even got into the act, featuring the campaign on Hannity and Comes. We will continue to do more for AMPU this year. The hope is to do more print and banners, possibly some TV. It's the kind of work we love to do - work that makes a difference and enters the conversation. The campaign was created at The Martin Agency. Art Director: Mark Brye. Writer: Cedric Giese. Creative Director: Joe Alexander.
A bag of hope.
The innocent plastic bag isn't as innocent as you might think. Billions are used each year and many end up in landfills and waterways. It is estimated that a plastic bag will take a million years to decompose. Humans are finally taking notice. San Franciso recently banned plastic bags. Many stores are now charging customers to use their bags. Actions like this grabbed the interest of small group of women who serve on the conservation committee with the James River Garden Club here in Richmond. Chamie Valentine and Aurelia Lewis have made it their mission to ban plastic bags in the city. The first step? Design a reusable shopping bag. They enlisted the talent of Sarah Rowland, a local graphic designer, who designed a cotton canvas bag, elegant and utilitarian at the same time. The James River Garden Club's anti-plastic bag is made by Enviro-Tote Inc. of New Hampshire. The material is 80 percent recycled cotton and 20 percent recycled soda bottles. Cost: 1 for $8 or 2 for $15 Info: (804) 285-1158.
Had enough?
What can we do to help return respect to the oval office in 2008? Well, for an ad guy like me - you make ads. We created these posters to highlight all that has gone wrong the last 8 years and pose a simple question: "Had enough?" The posters were inspired by a similar campaign created by Rich Silverstein for the Huffington Post. Thanks, Rich, for letting us jump on your coat tails. Art director: Lee Dayvault, David Grindon. Writer: Joe Alexander
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