Smut (sexually explicit romance) books are the most common use of the word “spicy” on the internet. So, when Taco Bell wanted to launch spicy chicken, we partnered with New York Times bestselling author and “Michelangelo of dirty talk” Tessa Bailey write the new offering into a legitimate smut book.
You Had Me At Spice had everything. Young love, spicy chicken, a late night Taco Bell rendezvous, and (somehow) full penetrative sex.
What it didn’t have was a launch, because Taco Bell got cold feet a week before our live date. Cowards!
Luckily for you (and me) we had already spent 7 months finishing (almost) everything. So, here it is, in (almost) all it’s glory. The campaign too spicy for spicy chicken.
The full book was 85 pages of pure chicken-fueled smut. A few of my favorite pages from each chapter can be found below, but be warned it is NSFW! The full book can be found under my bed where I read it from time to time and cry.
We got through (almost) the full mix on the launch spot before the plug was pulled. Use your imagination!
The best thing about this campaign? Every part of the Avocados From Mexico Shopping Network, from the phone line to the Memory Foam Fruit Bowl, was fully functional. So much so we ran out of everything.
TEAM: Mckailey Carson, AD
Tales From The Drain is a print and audio campaign that taps into the horror genre to tell the most terrifying tales of all- the ones that could happen in your own pipes.
FUN FACT: We hand set the print pieces with individual lead letters and now we probably all have lead poisoning!!
Creativity Online Editors Pick
Clio, Bronze - Audio
One Show, Merit - Craft Writing
AUDIO
TEAM: Mckailey Carson, AD
No fish were harmed in the making of this Sling TV.
Fun fact: I know a lot about taxidermy, now. Don’t ask if you don’t want to know.
TEAM
AD/ACD/CD/All Things: Doug Kohnen
CDS: Haley Garyet, Josh Shelton
Groupon’s goal is to get people off their asses and out experiencing cool stuff (my words, not theirs). So, while we all wanted to do something for the Super Bowl, a commercial watched on the aforementioned asses didn’t feel right. But a Super Bowl party did. Especially a Super Bowl party at a Super Bowl player’s house. So we teamed up with the biggest Super Bowl playing partier of all: Rob Gronkowski.
Fun fact: The script we shot was not the script we planned to shoot because #covid. Ask me about it. It’s a really fun story, looking back on it now, after several months and therapy.
We launched the night the Buccaneers lost the playoffs, riding the jersey-tails of the name on everyone’s social feeds: Gronk.
And kept the party going on Tik Tok by inviting the entire Gronkowski clan to help us plan the Super Bowl party of a lifetime.
Oh, and the actual party? It was fucking sweet.
Now more than ever, girls need to grow up knowing that they are equal, powerful, and capable. This lesson is just as crucial as learning to write. So, we thought, why not combine them?
FUN FACT: When we finally got a copy into Hillary Clinton's hands I cried.
ROLE:
Concepted which women and quotes to feature, wrote bios, PR materials, and book's introduction.
Cannes Lion, Gold - Design
Cannes Lion, Bronze- Product Design
Cannes Lion, Shortlist- Glass, PR, Entertainment, Grand Prix for Good
Clios, Bronze - Outdoor
TEAM:
Estefanio Holtz, Creative Director/ Art Director
Carolina Penner, Designer
Andre Bittar, Senior Copywriter
Rafaela Teixera- Designer, art director, illustrator, creator of all things
Get ready to empty your mouth holes because Sling TV has all your favorite news for just $40 a month.
Fun fact: We did the sfx ourselves
TEAM
AD/ACD/CD/All Things: Doug Kohnen
CDS: Haley Garyet, Josh Shelton
Sometimes you have an idea that’s too crazy to even make it in the deck and that’s the end of it. Unless years later your husband is a director and you live in Los Angeles where crews and actors are a-plenty and always down to spend their Saturday making something really fucked up. Then, that’s not the end of it.
I present, the first spec I’ve made since portfolio school: The Liquid Death Infinitely Recyclable Sex Doll
Liquid Death didn’t hire my husband, which is maybe what I told him might happen if he helped me make this PSA about an aluminum sex doll, but we did get a “good shit” from Andy Pearson, which I will accept.
My parents love RVing, bless their hearts, so when I heard we had won the Go Rving account I knew I wanted in on it. I started writing these spots proactively, but I didn’t base them on all the good parts of RVing because “happy campers” felt generic. Instead, I focused on all the bad parts of NOT Rving, which took me to a much more fun place. Eventually, we sold it and produced it and the only thing my mom had to say was, “Why didn’t you talk about the indoor shower?”
Radio Mercury Awards- Best In Show (Air Travel)
Radio Mercury Awards- Creative Radio Campaign by Agency (campaign)
LIA- Silver, Radio/Audio
We had a 20 email long chain about Corgi butts. UNK wanted to make his mark in the dog walking community. I can now successfully rap Walk it Out.
Which one's the lie? Or maybe they're all true...
Creativity Online Editor's Pick
Even DJ Unk loved it
TEAM:
Rachel Ngun, Art Director
Go Rving
One day in a meeting the CD on the GoRving account said that people didn’t write poems about hotels they way they did about nature. Say no more. I took two poems about nature (The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost and Trees by Joyce Kilmer) and turned them into versions about GoRving’s biggest competitors (traditional vacations), matching the beat and syllable counts exactly.
Despite that being sick as fuck, me photoshopping these terrible mockups, and recording a radio version with sympathetic coworkers, client wasn’t interested.
Sling TV Launch
After 2 months pitching and 6 months of writing the campaign launch for Sling TV, our budget got cut and everything died. Of the 97 scripts I wrote, these two were my favorites.
Ad Council: Recycling is Creating
The ad council and Keurig tasked us with creating a spot that showed how recycling one thing could create another. We had just finished color when the client told us Keurig cups actually weren’t recyclable. RIP