HALLMARK
When I left advertising to take a newly created position in corporate communications at Hallmark, I had no idea what I was getting into. Turned out, in addition to tons of internal communications in every medium that I can't show here due to confidentiality, I was in for all kinds of good things, like leadership training (both helping to create it, and participating in the training as a leader), talent development, working closely with the most senior levels of leadership and elevating a multimedia team by introducing tools to become more strategic and raising the bar creatively. Here are some examples of work I can share, created for a very hungry social media machine.
Hallmark likes to put a face and a name to their talented artists whenever possible, in order to personalize the experience and create the feeling that each product is crafted with care by a real person. "Ear Buds" was a peek behind the scenes of one small but mighty team in Hallmark's massive creative community. Creative credits, in addition to my creative director role, include Liz Boyer, Marthe Tamblyn, Jeff Anderson, Nick Vaughn and the Buds themselves, the sound studio at Hallmark: Josh Williams, Chris Johnson, Tracey Icenogle and Liz Otto. Here are four of many.
Ear Buds "A Little Nacho Music"
Ear Buds "Weddings Accordion to Josh"
Ear Buds "Happy 4th Y'all!"
Ear Buds "Mic Creep"
People like to blame Hallmark for making up new holidays in order to sell more cards (fun fact: they didn't make up any of them! Well, maybe one), so poking fun at that notion seemed like a good idea, especially when there are endless holidays to choose from, and we were looking for huge quantities of content we could leverage on a weekly basis. Hence, "Another Holiday (We Didn't Invent)" was born, with the creative team of Lisa Richman, Jeff Anderson, Nick Vaughn, Liz Boyer and Thomas Culton III. Our hosts were real Hallmarkers Andy Adams and Olivia Cytrynowicz. Special thank you to Andy's wardrobe of many plaid and gingham checked shirts.
Another Holiday "National Men's Grooming Day"
Another Holiday "Bacon Day"
Another Holiday "Tattoo Story Day"
Another Holiday "World Beard Day"
Hallmark already had a licensing partnership with the Duck Dynasty guys (cards, books, cups, etc.) when the PR agency pitched a social media campaign to remind people that when it comes to birthdays, texts or Facebook messages are OK but cards are better. That's science. I creative directed the "Birthday Fail" campaign, came up with additional scenarios and turned rough concepts into scripts. A cross-functional team of PR, creatives and video production types produced.
"Birthday Fail: Uncle Phil's Card"
"Birthday Fail: Uncle Si's Party"
"Birthday Fail: Telepathy"
"Birthday Fail: No Card for Jase"
I really enjoy doing real people interviews. Old people and little kids are the best - the most unpredictable, and the most honest. But regardless of age - customers, employees, senior executives, you name it - I love the authenticity of it. The challenge of drawing out their true emotions. Getting them to laugh, or cry. Pulling a narrative out of it on camera and in edit. These two videos are from Hallmark's Care Enough campaign. I creative directed both and conducted all of the interviews on Caring Kids.
Care Enough "Caring Kids"
