In the world of advertising, it's not often we get to directly impact lives in a meaningful way. But with The SupportBelt, our team at VML did just that.
One of our Creative Directors, after going through a double mastectomy, found driving extremely painful. Inspired by her experience, she came up with an idea for a more comfortable seat belt. Together with Ford's Human Centered Design team, we created The SupportBelt. It was a two-year labor of love, involving patients, doctors, engineers and designers. We launched it during Breast Cancer Awareness month, offering it for free as our way of giving back. The response was overwhelming – and it "sold out" in just 36 hours!
• Super Bowl LVI
• Andys / Gold / Craft
• One Show / Bronze / Brand Partnerships
• One Show / Merit / Longform
• One Show / Shortlist / Cinematography
• Super Clios / 2nd Place
• Clios / Silver / Film
• Webbys / Winner / Branded Content
• Ad Age / Best Ads of 2022 / #6
• NY Festivals / Finalist (X4) / Film Craft
• Adweek / 5 Stars / 2nd Place
• AdAge / Creativity / 2nd Place
• Youtube / #4 Trending Video Worldwide
• Twitter / #4 Trending Topic Worldwide
• GMA / Top Spot
• NY Post / #1 Ad
• MediaPost / Standout Spot
• Fast Company / Best Ad
• Over 30 “Best of” Lists
The Brief:
Let the world know that the first-ever, all-electric Chevy Silverado EV is a next-generation truck, for a whole new generation of people.
The Idea:
We started with one of television’s most iconic opening title sequences, The Sopranos. Working with the show’s creator, David Chase, we replicated it shot for shot in the present day. In the original sequence, Tony Soprano drove a 1999 Chevy. In our remake, his daughter Meadow drives the all-new Chevy Silverado EV.
• The Emmys / Nominee / Commercials
• D&AD / Wood Pencil / Film
• One Show / Merit (X2) / Online Films
• One Show / Merit (X2) / Long Form TV
• One Show / Shortlist / Sound Craft
• One Show / Shortlist / Visual Effects
• AICP / Winner / Editorial
• AICP / Shortlist (X3) / Comedy & Auto
• The Webbys / Winner / People’s Voice
• LIA / Bronze / Production
• LIA / Finalist (x2) / Automotive TV
• Creativity / Ad of the Day / Editor's Pick
• CA / Award of Excellence (x2) / Television
• D Show / Silver / Moving Picture
• NY Festivals / Shortlist (X3) / TV/Cinema
There are certain ingredients in a lot of truck commercials: a man, a truck and a dog. We wanted to disrupt that formula during the Summer Olympics. And since the Chevy Multi-Flex Tailgate is a surprising truck feature, we wanted to do something surprising as well.
The spot was a huge hit and Walter became the unlikely star of the Summer Games. He was so popular in fact, that we quickly followed up with a sequel for the Winter Olympics.
• Cannes Lions / Shortlist / Media
• Cannes Lions / Shortlist / Integrated
• Cannes Lions / Shortlist / Brand
• Cannes Lions / Shortlist / Promo
• One Show / Merit / Print & Outdoor
• One Show / Merit / Installations
• One Show / Merit / Brand Entertainment
• New York Festivals / Finalist (X4)
• AICP / Shortlist (X4)
• AICE / Best Visual Effects & Animation
• Creativity / Ad of the Day / Editor's Pick
• Epica / Gold / Product Integration
• Cresta / Silver / Promotions
For 75 years, the Batmobile has been one of the world’s most iconic cars. And for each of those 75 years the Batmobile has been powered by Chevrolet engines. Problem was, nobody knew it. So, Chevy signed on as the official automotive sponsor of The LEGO Batman Movie.
The campaign was one of the best-received partner collaborations ever, and garnered some incredible statistics as it swept through the auto industry and pop culture.
To date, 387 articles about the Lego Batmobile launch have been collected with an earned estimated reach of 11,135,972. Chevrolet also saw a 51% increase in brand opinion.
• Cannes Lions / Shortlist (X3) / Posters
• CA / Advertising Annual / Television
• CA / Advertising Annual / Print (X2)
• CA / Shortlist (X4) / Print
• CLIO / Bronze / Film Craft
• CLIO / Bronze / Print Craft
• CLIO / Shortlist / Print
• CLIO / Short List / Public Service
• One Show / Finalist / Film
• One Show / Finalist / Print
• One Show / Finalist / Moving Image Craft
• One Show / Finalist / Radio
• One Show / Finalist / TV-Short Form
• One Show / Finalist / Music-Sound Craft
• One Show / Finalist / Film Under 50k
• Lurzer’s Archive / Vol 3+4 2021 / Print
• Radio Mercury Awards / Finalist (x4)
• LIA / Finalist / Radio and Audio
• D Show / Silver (X2) / Audio
• D Show / Silver (X2) / Low Budget
• D Show / Shortlist / Moving Picture
You can drive right by the Motown Museum and not see it. Why? Because it’s just a house. The recordings, the ideas, the management, all happened in a little house in Detroit. With that in mind, we created a series of posters to highlight the fact that Motown might just be a little house, but it’s a little house that changed the world.
In addition to the posters we also created social content, broadcast and outdoor. All of it fun and all of it on a shoestring budget. Thankfully we have a lot of talented friends and partners that pitched in for free.
• Cannes Lions / Shortlist / Design
• LIA / Silver / Design
• LIA / Bronze (x2) / Illustration
• D&AD / Shortlist / Book Design
• ADC / Merit / Promotions
• One Show / Merit / Illustration
• One Show / Merit / Booklets
• CA / Design Annual
• CA / Shortlist (x6) / Illustration
• CA / Winner / Metallic Campaign
Live From Detroit
They call Detroit ‘Rock City’ for a reason.
There’s no place more fundamental to rock ‘n roll than Detroit. Rock is at our very core as a hardworking metropolis known for making America move. For years now, venues like the Fillmore Detroit and St. Andrews Hall have been essential to Detroit Rock City, not for their capacity but for their hard-earned status as rock ‘n roll meccas.
The posters that James Adame and his design group created, many of which ended up in this book, aren’t just event promotions. They reflect the spiritual connection between a band and the essence of a city. Using iconic Detroit images, symbols and metaphors, the artists and designers who created these posters sought to make a penetrating, graphic statement about our city.
• Clios / Bronze / Partnerships
• One Show / Shortlist / Integrated
• One Show / Shortlist / Direct Marketing
• One Show / Shortlist / Experiential
• Creativity / Ad of the Day / Editor’s Pick
• The Webbys / Winner / Media & PR
• The Effie’s / Finalist / Digital
• LIA / Bronze / Integration: Auto
• D Show / Black D / Best of Integrated
• D Show / Silver / Experiential
• NY Festivals / Shortlist (X6) / Events & PR
During a time when everything seemed to push Americans further apart, Chevrolet – America’s favorite car company – decided to bring them together.
We looked to our past and were inspired by a classic Chevy jingle about the things Americans love: Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet. An unexpectedly delicious idea was born with the first-ever Apple Pie Hot Dog.
• The Webbys / Winner / People’s Voice
There have been hundreds of country songs written about Trucks. Specifically, Chevy trucks. Millions of people have sung along with them for decades.
But there’s never been a country song about an electric truck. It’s time that changed.
PROTECT THE FOOTBALL
The brief was simple: remind people that football can’t be trusted in the hands of a layman and that Buffalo Wild Wings is the place to watch the game this season.
INSTORE / DIGITAL
The “Protect the Football” in-store campaign aimed to carry the TV concepts into the BWW experience.
The campaign included posters, table tents and interactive displays. We even created a video game. Partnering up with Space150 we created “Protect the Football,” in which football fans avoid game day distractions to get to the nearest Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant.
The advertising was directed toward males ages 18-35, and Buffalo Wild Wings, Fallon and space150 made the game available across online and mobile platforms. This drove a 26 percent brand lift in intent to visit the restaurant for people who saw the online campaign, and a 45 percent brand lift in intent to visit the restaurant among those who saw the mobile campaign.
Since its inception in 2006 Spotify has found success atop the pillars of the music streaming industry by continually influencing music culture with relevant & timely features that enhance and empower the listener to personalize the way they ingest their favorite songs and artists.
Sixteen years later they continue to sharpen the cutting edge that defines what’s possible in the music streaming space with their new feature called Blend.
Available for all users and artists, Blend is a shared playlist that combines the music you and friends listen to — updating in real time with new songs based on everyone’s listening habits. With up to 10 friends in a single blend, it’s a never-ending mix of the artists you love most.
• Clios / Bronze / Out of Home
• Clios / Bronze / Print
• Clios / Shortlist / Photography
• Cannes Lions / Shortlist (X4) / Posters
• Cannes Lions / Shortlist (X4) / Outdoor
• One Show / Merit / Art Direction
• One Show / Merit/ Newspaper
• One Show / Shortlist / Posters
• One Show / Shortlist / Photography
• One Show / Shortlist / Out of Home
• One Show / Shortlist / Design
• Andys / Gold / Idea
• LIA / Bronze / Photography
• NY Festivals / Bronze / Magazine
• NY Festivals / Finalist X2) / Art Direction
• CA / Advertising Annual / Public Service
• CA / Shortlist (X4) / Public Service
• D Show / Silver (X4) / Best of Print
• D Show / Silver / Best of Detroit
50 years ago, Marvin Gaye released one of most powerful and significant albums of all time with “What’s Going On.”
These nine posters were created for the Motown Museum to commemorate this musical masterpiece that, unfortunately, is still as relevant in 2021 as it was in 1971.
• Cannes Lions / Bronze / Print Campaign
• D&AD / Wood Pencil / Print Campaign
• One Show / Merit (X2) / Moving Craft
• One Show / Merit / Print
• ADC / Bronze / Television
• ADC / Merit / Editing
• ADC / Merit / Print
• Clios / Shortlist / Video
• Epica / Shortlist (x2) / Automotive
• Cresta / Bronze / Cinema
• LIA / Bronze / Editing
• New York Festivals / 2nd Place / Craft
Since 1918, Chevrolet has been building the most dependable trucks on the road. So, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Chevy Trucks, we wanted to remind people that what was true about our trucks in 1918 is still true today. So, we created a series of executions that bring this notion to life.
BRAND POSTERS
What is there to say? Working on the iconic Jeep brand was one of the highlights of my career so far. We could come up with as much conceptual print as we wanted, and the clients actually bought it.
• Cannes Lions / Bronze / Activation
• Cannes Lions / Shortlist (x4)
• Effie / Bronze / Auto
• One Show / Merit
• LIA / Silver / Social Media
• LIA / Bronze / Brand Content
• New York Festivals / 2nd Place / Branded
• Creativity / A-List / Shortlist
Ford was launching their all-new aluminum F-150 –a potential game changer for the industry and disaster for the steel Chevy Silverado.
To cast doubt on aluminum, 200+ Truck Guys were each invited into a room with two large metal cages– one made of steel, the other aluminum. A 700-pound grizzly bear was then released into the room, forcing guys to lock themselves in the cage they thought was stronger.
During the three-day activation, video content was gathered and seeded across social media and television. Chevy Silverado became the top trending truck of 2015 on google. Sales leapt 33.9% vs 4.8% for Ford in July alone.
• Clios / Shortlist / Film Craft
• Creativity / Ad of the Day / Editor's Pick
• LIA / Social Media Finalist
• D Show / Experiential Marketing
• Effie Finalist / Automotive
• Creativity / Ad of the Day / Editor's Pick
Ford was launching their all-new aluminum F-150 –a potential game changer for the industry and disaster for the steel Chevy Silverado.
To cast doubt on aluminum, we went to the world’s experts on powerful, heroic things–real Comic-Con fanatics– and asked what they thought of a superhero made of soft, non-magnetic metal.
We pitched them a new movie, complete with posters, character mock-ups and a theme song. We even included a convoluted origin story. It didn’t go over very well.
• Cannes Lions / Gold / Rapid Response
• Cannes Lions / Silver / PR
• Cannes Lions / Bronze / Media
• Clios / Gold / Integrated Campaign
• One Show Auto / Interactive
• One Show / Bronze / Integrated
• D&AD / Wood Pencil / PR Best Response
When a nervous Chevy Zone Manager fumbled through the World Series MVP ceremony, he described the all-new Colorado as having "technology and stuff." In seconds, his gaffe was everywhere.
But Chevy decided to embrace the phrase, quickly taking ownership of #TechnologyAndStuff to promote the new Colorado.
Overnight, we launched a social media campaign driving people to the website, ran a newspaper ad the next day - even tagged tv spots with the new catchphrase.
That decision resulted in &5 million in free media coverage, and a whopping 67.6 million impressions.
When circumstances handed Chevrolet lemons, we made lemonade. And stuff.
• D&AD / Shortlist / Casting
• D&AD / Shortlist / Production Design
• One Show / Shortlist / Print
• One Show / Shortlist / Moving Craft
• AICP / Award Winner / Color Grade
• AICP / Shortlist / Craft
• Creativity / Ad of the Day / Editor's Pick
• CA / Exhibit Ad of the Day
• CA / Award of Excellence / Print
• CA / Advertising Annual (X3)
• D Show / Black / Best of Craft
• D Show / Black / Best of Print
• D Show / Silver / Creative Use of Media
• D Show / Silver (X2) / Newspaper
• Effie / 2020 Finalist
Brand loyalties run deep in the pickup market, so Chevy believed that much of its future growth would come from new slightly younger customers to the segment.
This all-encompassing campaign was designed to goose the growth of Silverado sales by appealing to nontraditional audiences in unconventional ways.
In addition to broadcast, the campaign featured a complete suite of assets across all channels.
• CLIO / Audio Technique / Finalist
• CA / Award of Excellence
• Creativity / Ad of the Day / Editor's Pick
• D Show / Best of Innovative Media
Partnering with horror legend Sam Raimi of Evil Dead and Spiderman fame, we brought to life the safety features of the all-new 2016 Malibu and Cruze utilizing the venue and its captive audience in this theatrical release.
Using Dolby Atmos' state-of-the-art 64 speaker surround sound technology, we were able to embed voices in our trailer that appeared to come from actual audience members scattered throughout the theater.
We were also able to partnership with Emagine Theaters to give Sam Raimi's trailer its proper due with Cinema Scope film signage in theaters. It fooled quite a few moviegoers.
• AIGA / Design Merit
• Social Impact Award Winner
• Creativity / Ad of the Day / Editor's Pick
There’s no denying this country needs to drastically cut the budget. Unfortunately, children’s programs are notoriously easy targets.
The goal of this campaign from the Children’s Defense Fund was to bring the real dangers of cutting children’s programs to life. We wanted to provoke congress, taxpayers and anyone who cares about kids to mobilize and demand that these programs are protected.
To support this effort, we created “Be Careful What You Cut,” a set of three print ads, a microsite and a Facebook and Twitter embed application that allowed the public to overlay their existing profile picture with a childhood photo.
The program sought to actively involve viewers and relied heavily upon these viewers sharing information via their social media platforms, as well as alternate routes. The site also urged viewers to use our infographics for their Facebook cover photos, petition their members of Congress and send information to local media.
We were proud to do our part for the kids and be a part of Fallon’s 25 year legacy of doing powerful work for The Children’s Defense Fund.
• Clios / Silver / Partnerships
• D&AD / Shortlist / Animation / VFX
• AICP / Shortlist / Animation
• Little Black Book / Animation
• D Show / Gold / Best of Show
• D Show / Black / Best of Digital
• D Show / Silver / Integrated
• D Show / Silver / Broadcast
• The Drum / Top 10 Ad of 2019
• Shorty / Winner / Instagram Stories
• Creativity / Ad of the Day / Editor's Pick
For years, pickup trucks in the U.S. have been promoted the same way, by the same type of spokespeople. Usually they are farmers, construction workers or cowboys. But the All-New Chevy Silverado isn’t the same old truck; its technology, styling and luxury were designed for families, as well as farmers.
It was time for a new spokesperson.
So we partnered with Warner Brothers®and LEGO to not only integrate Silverado into the new LEGO movie, but we also enlisted its main characters, Emmet and Wyldstyle, as our new animated spokespeople.
It was an innovative way to breathe a breath of fresh air into a stale category, while appealing to both traditional truck buyers as well as a whole new audience.
• Cannes Lions / Shortlist / Media
• Cannes Lions / Shortlist / Auto
• One Show Auto / Shortlist / Broadcast
• Creativity / Ad of the Day / Editor’s Pick
How do you promote a truck with built-in 4G LTE Wi-Fi during the most-watched TV event of the year? You make 100 million people think their cable is going out right before the kick-off of Super Bowl XLIX.
The Chevrolet “Blackout” spot was more than a typical ad. It was a calculated piece of showmanship, relying on trickery, timing and surprise. The risky approach worked. The press widely reported that Chevrolet wasn’t running any Super Bowl XLIX ads. So, when our spot ran pregame, viewers were totally caught off guard. Rather than go for the highest default viewership, we opted for a media buy that made the most contextual sense. In doing so, we generated more buzz than any other automaker during the Super Bowl.
• D Show
• Creativity / Ad of the Day / Editor's Pick
The midsize truck market had been in decline. But with an ‘all-new from the ground’ up Chevy Colorado, we hoped to reverse this trend and inject some momentum into the category.
To do this, we had to remind people that there’s something special about a guy with a truck, as opposed to a guy who merely drives a car or an SUV. It was our belief that “people feel differently about a guy with a truck.” So, with these films, we simply set out to prove it.
FOCUS GROUP
Can a truck change how people feel about a guy? Can a truck make you more handsome? More rugged? Cooler? We asked real people to find out the answer.
TRUCK GUY DEODORANT
Truck guys have a certain mystique. An essence. What if you could bottle it? Would people buy it? We created a fictitious brand of deodorant and put it on real store shelves to see for ourselves.
TRUCK UP YOUR PROFILE
Can owning a truck make you more desirable? More dateable? We recruited a real, ordinary guy, gave him a truck and put it to the test.
• Graphis / Photography Annual
WHAT FAST FEELS LIKE
Speedform Shoe Launch
To make the spacesuits that originally took us to the moon, NASA had to get creative. They went to the least likely resource you could imagine: a bra maker. They wanted to leverage the best possible understanding of fit and movement in the world.
So when it came to designing their latest running shoe, Under Armour, inspired by NASA, set out to do the same..
Working with Tony Kaye and a budget of under 50k, we had to be pretty creative ourselves.
Drawing makes you see things clearer, and clearer and clearer still, until your eyes ache.
– David Hockney
I have always loved to draw. Here are a few things that made my eyes ache.
• Lürzer's Archive
• Caddy / Silver / Print Campaign
• IAAA / Silver / Print Campaign
After a 30 year absence, Pontiac relaunched the iconic GTO. Unfortunately, it was in the form of a rebadged, third-generation Holden Monaro from Australia. Its styling was frequently derided by critics as being too "conservative" and "anonymous." It was our job to give it some much needed attitude.
Effie / Finalist / Social Good
Play is in our DNA—a need as important as food, medicine and shelter. It’s an intrinsic part of our lives, regardless of geography or culture, and through play we become stronger individuals, build better communities and create a more positive future.
Chevrolet, in partnership with Man UTD and One World Futbol Project, sought to bring “play” to the parts of the world that needed it most. We went to places like Johannesburg, South Africa, the inner city of Chicago, Illinois and Bandung, Indonesia, a city ravaged by poverty, drug abuse and HIV. The makeshift balls made of rags and debris were a reflection of that.
At each destination Chevrolet distributed the One World Futbol, an almost indestructible soccer ball immune to the harshest landscapes. We also delivered equipment and held classes and lessons, not just on soccer skills but also on “life”−equipping the kids with the tools and knowledge that would benefit them on and off the pitch. Finally, we left behind an improved infrastructure. A new pitch and facilities that would serve the community’s appetite for play long after we were gone.
When we decided to leave Detroit a few years back, we wanted a site that played off of our Detroit heritage but didn’t look like any other portfolio out there. Riffing on one of our favorite B-movies, we created ESCAPE FROM DETROIT to house our work and create a fun, immersive flash experience for the viewer. We were really proud of it and the end result was a job at Fallon in Minneapolis.
• Creativity - Editor’s Pick of the Day
With the all-new 2017 Malibu, Chevrolet wanted to take the mid-size car category that people merely liked and turn it into one they could love. As part of this effort, we worked with Facebook to launch their “love” button, showing people online how to finally express something more than “like.” This aired on Facebook the moment the “love” button went live, editorializing it, and showing people how to use it.
The results? 100 million impressions in 48 hours and nearly 27 million views. After two weeks, 211 million impressions and 54 million views. And best of all, most of the free PR around the Facebook "reactions" launch also mentioned Chevrolet.
Thanks to the dominance of the Japanese Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, the American-made Chevy Malibu was basically being ignored in the mid-size car market. We used that simple truth to get some much-needed attention for a brand new Malibu that was about to debut. It was the start of the biggest ad campaign in General Motors’ history. More importantly, the Malibu went on to be a sales success for the first time in years.
It’s expected that you show your product shiny and brand-new. But what use is a brand new pickup truck? Without a scratch, dent, or faded paint, it was just for show. “Scars” is an effort to sell new trucks, by telling the real-world stories of beat up, well-worn, used trucks.
Every story here is unscripted. We interviewed dozens of Chevy Silverado owners, and filmed them with their trucks, giving us the story behind every scratch, dent and ding. The idea being that a Silverado isn’t a Silverado, until its lived a life doing the hard work it was designed to do.
• CA / Award of Excellence / Print
When we played with toy cars as kids, we imagined them not as toys but as real world, full-sized, cars. That’s the insight behind this ad for the Camaro Hotwheels edition. We filmed a small-scale Hotwheels Camaro with all the glitz, glam, and clichéd camera moves of a full-sized car commercial, before match-cutting to the full sized Camaro. In your mind the toy was real. Now it is.
• New York Festivals / Finalist / Design
• New York Festivals / Finalist / Outdoor
• New York Festivals / Finalist / Installations
• D Show / Best of Show / Out of Home
• D Show / Winner / Innovative Media
This year, we threw the Camaro the biggest and baddest 50th Birthday party a car could dream of.
At the center of it all was a massive, original piece of art paying homage not only to the celebrated vehicle, but to the people, politics, music and fashion that were so influential in the Chevrolet Camaro's fifty, vibrant years.
Commonwealth McCann collaborated with artist collective I LOVE DUST to create the masterwork. After over three months of planning and seven days of slinging ink and paint on canvas, the 10' x 60' mural hit the road, touring The Camaro 50th Rally, Woodward Dream Cruise on its way to the 2016 SEMA Show in Las Vegas. Tens of thousands of fans were able to see the art in person and even more were able to interact with the story digitally at camarofity.com
• FWA / Mobile App of the Day
Built entirely in Unity and available in iOS and Android, the Camaro SIX customizer app allows users to choose their base model and select different exterior and interior elements based on thousands of real life combination options. Once customizations are complete, the user’s unique Camaro can be saved to their phone or shared across social networks.
The customizer function of the app also includes a VR function for Google Cardboard that takes users right into the interior of the Camaro. An accompanying interactive catalogue allows users to explore the new changes to the model in greater detail.
The app needed a powerful introduction, something visually stunning that set the look and tone for the experience. We partnered with Aardman Nathan Love to create a fully CG intro video, highlighting the different aspects of Camaro’s new design.
