DUOBRII
Get The DUO On Your Side (DTC/HCP)

Get ready to meet “The DUO,” Hal(obatesol) and Taz(arotene). The two ingredients in DUOBRII Lotion that work better together to treat moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

These campaigns shared a unified creative concept, but targeted patient and healthcare professional audiences with unique strategies and messaging. DTC: The DUO represented a moisturizing lotion that has their back, their arms and everywhere else flair-ups occur. Finally giving them a topical treatment option they can continue using until their skin is clear. HCP: The two characters demonstrated synergy and nodded to their MOA. DUOBRII provided a safe and effective topical therapy in which a steroid and a retinol combined to result in improved outcomes.

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REPATHA
Reduce Your Risk for Real-New Indication

If you have heart disease and still can’t get your LDL high cholesterol down, you’re at risk of a cardiovascular event. And that means a heart attack or stroke can strike at anytime. But many lose sight of this risk. That’s a real problem. In this campaign we rip people out of complacency by graphically showing them what it would feel like to get pulled away from what matters most—the people they love.

REPATHA
Your Path to Progress-Drug Launch

When it comes to lowering your bad cholesterol, the struggle is real. And even though you do what you can to lower your LDL, you just can't seem to get anywhere. Until now. In this campaign we show how Repatha dramatically drops your bad cholesterol and finally gets you on the right path.

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NuvaRing
SwimAlong

In order to capitalize on the overwhelming success of our Swimmers spot that achieved the highest level of brand awareness of any other spot in the history of Schering-Plough, won a Silver Clio and started a cult following on YouTube with spinoffs and reenactments, we created SwimAlong.

The commercial not only continued to build brand equity, we were able to be more relevant to a younger audience and drive more women to the doctor’s office. But perhaps the best part is, we didn’t have to reshoot the fair balance.

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Enbrel
Bridge The Gap.

Rheumatoid Arthritis is a devastating disease that can render someone practically immobile. However, because it shares the arthritis name people mistakingly associate it with the elderly and don’t realize just how painful RA can be. 

The idea behind this campaign not only won the pitch for the agency, it demonstrated how Enbrel can help those with RA get back to their lives and live better (of course I couldn’t say that with a medical legal department looking over my shoulder). As well as communicate to others and provide an understanding of how RA can separate someone from their family, their job and the things they love.

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Ad Council, US Olympic Committee and Johnson & Johnson
Don't Be An Asterisk

The problem with steroids is they work. So in order to prevent teens from using them without increasing consideration, we needed to make steroids socially unacceptable and hit them where they live. So we used an asterisk as our modern day scarlet letter.

The Don't Be An Asterisk spot launched during SuperBowl XLIII and all media drove traffic to an online, animated high school to learn more, hear from real athletes who used and got caught, and discover healthy alternatives to steroids. While the TV spot was featured on AdCritic and Creativity as one of the Top 5 creative ads of the week/month, the campaign was honored with a Silver Bell from Ad Council and the print campaign went on to win a Kelly Award for Best Print PSA.

For phase two of this multi-year campaign, we created Play Asterisk Free, a social movement that turned our anti-steroid messaging into a rallying cry.  In just three months after the video launched it went viral with a quarter of a million views boasting a click through rate of 3.17%. All social channels, including teaser videos, drove to a Facebook campaign that acquired over 4,000 new high-school student “likes” in one semester who pledged online to compete and play steroid free. 

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NAMI (National Association of Mental Illness)Think Inside OutTeen suicide is a growing epidemic and the main cause is mental health illness and the lack of understanding. In an multi-year effort to get teens to speak up, show solidarity and seek help we developed a campaign that will roll out to classrooms and campuses across the country to acknowledge the problem, educate the masses and save lives.

SonoSite
Change How Patients See You.

When branding SonoSite, hand-carried ultrasound technology, the goal was to claim the highest possible ground in the industry. Make no mistake, physicians have egos and already think of themselves as a hero in their own mind.  But I needed them to play the part in the eyes of the ones they treat.

After researching countless true stories where doctors in their respected specialties used SonoSite ultrasound technology to alter the path of care, the casting was set. “The Rehabilitator,”  a spot based on a sports medicine doctor, hit the flatscreen and kicked-off the campaign. Print and digital executions followed that led physicians to specialty sites that resembled movie landing pages to highlight these stories and go behind the scenes. 

Since its launch, the campaign received praise from doctors in all fields and many new hero stories have come in — along with a lot of orders for new devices. SonoSite revenue increased 22% from $143.8 million compared to $117.5 million in the previous year and was soon bought by Fujifilm.

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Johnson & Johnson
OneTouch To Manage Your Diabetes.

J&J is always pushing out the latest and greatest in diabetes technology. So we needed a site that kept up. I led teams of CWs, ADs and designers to help develop a new UX that gave users an easy path to follow regardless of what their products were and we crafted a tone and voice that was smart, informative and friendly. We then continued the conversation on FaceBook with engaging posts and a celebrity chef contest that kept followers in-the-know and promoted living and eating healthy.

Snickers
Snacklish

The Gold-OBIE winning Snickers outdoor campaign, was one of the largest outdoor media takeovers of all time.

The branding effort not only blanketed cities all over the country, Snacklish, a language created to Snickerize any word was also created online.

With never showing a product shot or saying the candy’s name everyone instantly knew it was Snickers. What many didn’t know was the messaging itself was a metaphor for eating one.

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Michelin Tires
A Better Way Forward.

How do we prove Michelin tires are indeed, "a better way forward" in a market overrun with rubber? By going back to our roots. The Michelin Man is one of the three oldest advertising icons of all time. So to pay homage we created these collectable, throwback posters for the HydroEdge product line. Each ad highlighted a specific tire benefit. Using the historic and iconic “Bibendum” spokes character, we created retro artwork that brought back the rough and tough image of Bib and his fight against the road. Posters were used in promotional programs, conventions, sales materials and released online.

So any luck with those other other two mascots that are older than Bib? The Michelin Man, also known as Bibendum, after the designer who created him, was created in 1898. Aunt Jemima came to the breakfast table in 1889 and that Quaker Oats guy (no, not Wiford Brimley) was developed in 1877.

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CheckThatVIN Used CarBefore You Get In, Check That VIN.

In order to take autotitleinfo.com, a Department of Justice site powered by CARCO group, a research leader in background information, and make it compete with established consumer brands such as Carfax and Autocheck, the first thing we had to do was change their name to make it more consumer friendly. Once that was done, getting their name out there, with a very limited budget, was no easy task.

So we created an unbranded character, complete with fake calls-to-actions (that would be more likely to get passed around). Then seeded his videos on several user-generated sites including: YouTube, college humor, vimeo and select influencer blogs. Each video led to a unique unbranded landing page that when clicked, redirects to CheckThatVIN.com. We also created social accounts where we tapped into trending hashtags to promote our video and managed a facebook page to establish a community of used car shoppers and loyal consumers. The second video (a prequel) then dropped to reveal and confirm our character was a fraud by showing him in an older poorly-made local cable spot where he portrayed a Used Car VIN Doctor.

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Heart Valve Disease — Edwards Lifesciences
ReachForTheHeart.com

Millions are living with heart valve disease and don’t even know it. We’re changing that. By creating a multi-media campaign that urges people to reach out for loved ones, for themselves and to doctors to ask for an echocardiogram, the only sure way to diagnose. We even developed the acronym L.I.S.T.E.N. so everyone will know and no longer ignore the symptoms they need to look out for.

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AxSpa & SpA — UCB
The RHEUMuseum.com

There have been significant advances in the understanding of the pathobiology of axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA). To bring this information to light in an intriguing way and inspire 6,500 rheumatologist to reassess if patients are achieving optimal disease outcome goals we created RHEUMuseum.com. Under a charter of curiosity, rich clinical information is transformed into a one-of-a kind gallery that blends art and science together, creating an immersive, interactive experience.

Since it’s opening, specialists have been virtually exploring its halls and spending an average of three minutes on each page, taking in the exhibits that put the clinical manifestations, immunobiology, and cytokine pathways on full display—resulting in a 90% scroll depth.

This deeper understanding can hold the key to raising the standard of care and optimizing outcomes for patients.

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HPV — Abbvie
It’s Cure Time

No one likes to talk about hep C. So in order to get them talking, we created an unbranded campaign that educated and informed consumers and healthcare professionals about new treatment options. Using targeted print, editorial articles and in-office posters we were able to shed new light on this virus, and leave no doubt that the time to cure is now.

International Rescue Committee
From Harm To Home

The IRC is committed to arriving on the scene of any of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis within 72 hours to bring supplies, expertise and protection to people caught in chaos. Many of the people they help are refugees who have fled their homes due to conflict and violence.

The goal of this project was to gain awareness in New York. The simple idea of placing messages around areas where people are trying to get home or are looking for new places to live gave us an immediate emotional connection that couldn’t be ignored. City Harvest

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City Harvest Short Documentary
Sidewalks of New York.

Produced, directed and shot a short documentary for City Harvest that debuted during their annual gala event. The initial viewing led to record-setting donations, tears, and was shared with partnering companies for additional fundraising efforts. The short was later featured during the previews in select cinemas across the city.

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City Harvest
Rescuing Food For New York's Hungry

After creating an award-winning print campaign for City Harvest using celebrity spokespeople showing how they “will work for food," the focus was turned to City Harvest’s most recognizable icon and strongest asset — the City Harvest Truck. 

In addition to a Truck photo shoot by celebrity photographer Timothy White, videos that were created using existing assets to minimize costs ran all over the city including, the Times Square Jumbotron, taxis, elevators and on TV. Aside from raising brand awareness of the charity by over 42%, the City Harvest truck itself is now seen throughout the five boroughs as a symbol of your donations hard at work. We also created a short documentary so people who gave can see the difference they are making. 

The campaign also successfully raised over $2.7 million to help feed New York’s hungry men, women and children.

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LUTA Sportswear
#TheLifeChangingProject

To launch the LUTA sportswear brand in the states we needed to rethink how they went to market. Born in the favelas of Brazil, one of the toughest places on earth to grow up, the LUTA mission is clear, give these young kids an outlet and a choice, so they didn't turn to gangs and drugs. LUTA did this through sales of its "life changing" sportswear to supporting their program.

To deliver this message, we created The Life Changing Project. This idea centers around a clear, "We Give Half" business model and is supported by a transparent e-commerce strategy, that shows exactly where how your money goes. We used non-traditional outdoor experiences, social media (aggregated into our site) and exclusively created content around revitalizing several New York gyms, to make the communication relevant and hit closer to home. 

Alexian Brothers Hospital
A Healthy Community Starts Here.

With Healthcare being at the front of many debates and issues, how does a small private hospital network, in a cluttered market, with competition from leading university hospitals become the community's hospital of choice?  By extending its mission of providing healthcare beyond its walls and becoming the hospital that doesn't want you sick in the first place. 

This campaign used traditional and non-traditional methods to bring this simple message to the public. We branded community events, local gathering places and sponsored healthy activities, all with the goal of keeping the community healthy. The results far exceeded expectations with a 66% increase in web traffic, 97% rise in brand awareness and an ROI of 22:1.

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Memorial Sloan Kettering
Working Together Towards a Cure.

Memorial Sloan Kettering  is one the premier Cancer Centers in the world. They have the most prominent doctors and are continuously making breakthroughs in cancer research. So people began thinking they didn't need any help, or donations. Which just wasn't true. We needed to remind people to give, and why giving to MSK matters more. Why even small donations go further. It all comes back to the reality that everyone has a personal connection to cancer and we all have to work together if we are ever going to find a cure.

Pepto Diarrhea
Treat diarrhea at its source

Few words, if any, sound poetic after “diarrhea”. That’s why we put our name in front of it. In this launch spot for a Pepto Diarrhea we specifically target one of the most common symptoms Pepto is known to treat. And use simple science to show why targeting this problem at the source is the way to go, when you have to go.

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Allegra — Social

The Social Sneezes campaign delivered moments of relief to your congested feed, with a personality and tone allergy sufferers can relate to and engage with.

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Nasacort — Social

The Stop More of What Makes You Miserable campaign pumped joy, inspiration, and 24-hour relief into your feed. Delivering timely and relatable content so you can take on your day—and your allergies.

The Wall Street Journal
Read Ambitiously.

In this campaign, 125 years of tradition meets innovation as the most-trusted news source takes its newspaper to a whole new place, your mobile devices. To execute this ambitious task of bringing The Journal to life we searched through dozens of front pages across the US, EMEA and APAC markets to stay true to the product.

WSJ.D Video
Content Creation 

Created a video to highlight columnists and promote one of the more popular news sections in an effort to increase subscriptions.

Risk & Compliance
Know What You're Getting Into.

Created a unique, brand look for a specialized product an targeted the audience of Risk and Compliant officers. Then spoke to them in a language they understand-confidence and fear.

FACTIVA
Unleash the Power of Search.

To convince research analysts, scientists and data miners that Dow Jones provides the most comprehensive search engine available we developed this idea that quickly illustrates product’s power and speed. Then dove deeper with step-by-step videos on how it works. 

WSJ+
Video Content Creation 

Produced a video to introduce the WSJplus Loyalty Program. The nature of the video allows content to be changed on the fly to showcase the value of our subscription and WSJ offerings to select-target audiences. 

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YAPITAL
Building a global e-payment solution

As a society we are not only driven to change, but change for the better. Some focus on their inner being while others achieve their goals through messaging and action. Whether it's a better way to live or a smarter way to pay one thing holds true, change is good. Yapital was a payment solution created and launched for the Otto Group of Companies, so they could save millions in credit card fees.

To start, we teased the idea of "a better way to pay" in the market with a change the exchange campaign to build excitement around our evolution in epayment. We then launched the product and brand online with the idea of paying fast, easy and safe the Yapital way.

Optimum
You're Optimum, Or You're Not.

Optimum, one of the leading cable companies in New York, was losing their brand war to Verizon, and most of their communications were retail driven. So they came to us with the task of reinvigorating their messaging. We started by tweaking their existing tagline, changing "it's optimum, or it's not" to "you're optimum, or you're not" effectively shifting the conversation about us to our customers. The campaign focused on all the amazing possibilities their services offer and we owned this space by creating a unique vocabulary that illustrates how they empower their users.

TV spots highlighted these services and out of home peaked attention by covering billboards and homes with content. We even placed wifi-enabled kiosks in maternity wards and home improvement stores to allow for sharing and project planning.

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Qwest Communications
Get More ______ Into Your Life.

To promote the Qwest Bundle of DirecTV, DSL and Digital Voice the “passion-points” campaign was developed. Instead of creating a conventional retail push, messaging led with a brand idea and leveraged a passion-point as a way to start the conversation.

The launch included the NFL Sunday Ticket and morefootball.com powered by Qwest. It was their first online community, heavily targeting the four major Qwest football markets (Denver, Seattle, Arizona and Minnesota) where competition from cable companies was the strongest and we packed it with exclusive and user-generated content from tailgating street teams. We followed the idea up with a brand-led, technology-driven bundle for the holidays.

The campaign was a touchdown and helped turned a $12 million dollar account into an $18 million dollar one after its run.

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Verizon
It's Powerful Stuff.

This campaign was Verizon Online's first brand campaign. We never claimed we were faster. We didn't say we were better. We simply said, and showed, our product was 'powerful' with visual solutions. And people took notice.

The award-winning campaign rose brand awareness 26%, increased call volume by over 60% and helped grow the entire account for the agency.

My partner, Ron ‘CAS’taldo and I founded a Creative and Strategic Consultancy called, “RUCAS.” Here’s what followed:

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Moving Stories — Original Content Series

Everyone’s story of why and where they move is different. Yet, it's something we all eventually go through and can relate to in life.

In this series we uncover stories of men, women, couples and families moving. In doing so, we tap into all the uncertainties, celebrations, hopes, stresses and fears that are part of their journey.

Synopsis: “Moving Stories” grasps the raw emotion that comes with the act of moving through shared and relatable stories. it helps viewers understand and learn from shared experiences and a community built around curated content and added resources.

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Launched RUB BBQ in Las Vegas

When RUB BBQ, one of USA Today’s top 10 BBQ restaurants, came to us with the tall order of becoming a relevant dining experience in a crowded Las Vegas market we rolled up our sleeves and dug in. Developing a strategy and creative concept that separated them from the competition by promoting the very thing that makes them unique—their low and slow cooking technique. 

By serving up a recipe for creative executions that was based around the time it took to properly smoke its meats and paring it with targeted messaging that played into specific media locations, RUB BBQ, fast town, slow cooking was born. 

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Fido’s Fences

Anytime your love of advertising shakes paws with your passion for pets it’s a win. Here, RUCAS partnered with a local Fido’s Fences to create a traditional ad campaign that not only got their business noticed, it trained pet owners to come.

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The HotShot DIY Video Series

Developed a “Be Your Own Exterminator” series for YouTube to educate people on their line of bug and insect products and how to use them.

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Majestic Steel B2B Rebrand

When the nation’s leading provider of sheet steel and related products comes in for fresh spin on their marketing, you get excited. Then you learn a lot about steel. Their efficiency and quality standards set them apart from all other distributers and the sheer volume of product delivered is staggering. This family owned business wanted to define their brand with a campaign that would get attention. We developed the idea that Majestic Steel is steel’s happy place, and the place to go for all things steel.

Being such a male dominated industry, we appealed to the audience by using humor and everyday guy language to redefine how the brand communicates with its b2b customers in print, outdoor and online with a fresh tone and a steel-side chat.