Cornbread & Caviar

As I evolved from copywriter, to creative director, to global creative strategist, to one-stop creative shop, creative strategist and Man of the People, to screenwriter and television producer, I still love

headlines and tag lines the most of all. Not just because they won business. Not just because they won awards. But because as a kid at the VCU Brand Center I learned the value of a sharp, original, well-

crafted writing with big, immediate impact was and remains immeasurable.


That said, here are a few of my favorite OOH, wild postings, billboards, taxi tops, and even print... Yes, print.





Bud Light was launching a new brand extension. So the pitch was on.  Strategically and creatively, success would ultimately require inventing, articulating and occupying a space between high end beer and

spirits. What happened was the agency’s first pitch win and #makeitplatinum. The campaign included blog rumor seeding, sponsored hashtags, sampling events, simultaneous New Year’s Parties in major

cities, and teaser ads. But my favorite pieces were the out-of-home. Here’s a couple.

Coke Zero had a problem. Their general market “AND” campaign didn’t speak to an African American audience used to never getting everything they wanted out of everything. Used to making sacrifices all

day every day, the notion of “AND” felt like a pipe dream, if not, an outright lie. So I helped identify the real enemy and positioned COKE ZERO as a small step forward in the pursuit of “AND.”

For 35 years, the McDonald’s All American Games have been the premier showcase of High School Basketball talent in America. Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Dwight

Howard, Derrick Rose, and LeBron James, to name a few, all proud alumns. But the game, and its impact on the basketball landscape were dormant.


So, when two McDonald’s All Americans won the two most prestigious individual post-season awards in the league, we saw an opportunity. We approached them with congratulatory ads. Not only did

McDonald’s run the ads in Sports Illustrated and ESPN the Magazine. They tasked us to breathe new life in the games.


Our work in digital, Chicago Transit Authority and out-of-home in, and around, Chicago helped to sell out the games at the United Center, breaking an attendance record. It also helped secure our position as

Sports and Entertainment agency of record.