TV from the Way Back Machine

The great thing about being in advertising as long as I have is — I’ve been in advertising as long as I have. During that time, I’ve worked on some really fun stuff. The bad thing? Old videos of some of your favorite works have become so degraded you can’t really show them. But I’ll share a smattering of some of the things that still hold up. 

These are some things from my many, many years of writing. And a few projects that I led as a Creative Director.

Rachael Ray Nutrish was the first super-premium food introduced in grocery stores. What set it apart from other brands was the fact that real meat was the #1 ingredient, and every recipe was inspired by one from Rachael’s kitchen. So how do you convince people to switch to Nutrish? You let them know that this would be the food they would make (if dogs could make their own food.)

Rachael Ray Nutrish

After many years of working with Rachael, the client wanted to focus less on Rachael and more on the amazing pet parents who fed their pets Nutrish. And so, this series of spots was born. The “You are Amazing” campaign was the first campaign I led as a Creative Director.

Before there was Ainsworth Pet Nutrition (parent company of Rachael Ray Nutrish), there was DAD’s Pet Care. It was created in 1933 by George “Dad” Lang, who was trying not to go broke feeding his Springer spaniel and her litter of 11 pups. For five generations, DAD’s remained a family-run company as it evolved to have a national presence. Even with this tremendous growth, DAD’s was committed to the local Meadville community where it all began. They employed hundreds of residents at its pet food manufacturing facility, and procured most of the ingredients used in their dog and cat foods from local farmers. This was our opportunity to showcase some of those farmers.

DAD’s Pet Care

This may be one of the best-quality videos in my vault, and it’s still one of my favorite projects I’ve ever worked on. My art director and I were tasked with creating an online video for a new long-lasting treat. While we had a few really good ideas, this weird little thought popped into my head on the bus ride home. My art director loved the idea and enhanced it with a laugh track plus the animation, and the loveable lug known as Mr. Chompers was born.

The Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh

The original campaign for The Children’s Institute included the tagline, “Amazing Kids.” For this Capital Campaign, we wanted to evolve that to include the amazing place that does so much for those kids every day. This long-form video was built from existing footage, stills, stock images, and b-roll footage. It was shared with potential donors for The Children’s Institute. This video and other campaign efforts helped raise $30 million for an organization that does amazing things for children with special needs.

For the second Capital Campaign, we evolved the Campaign again to encourage donors to make an amazing difference in the lives of the children and families they serve.