YAHOO! FINANCE || “Always Be Trading” - Full Campaign

Yahoo! Finance wanted to communicate that trading stocks is not only for the desk-bound daytraders or well-heeled of Wall Street, and that anyone with a cell signal can get into the high ride and big payoff of investing. And they wanted something funny. So I decided to riff on the Glengarry legacy but with less hustler and more heart. Meet Chase, a guy whose joyfully obsessive in-app trading renders him oblivious to the chaos he leaves in his wake.

In a presentation by Google Ad analytics, “Always Be Trading” was awarded the top-performing campaign of the year for the Yahoo Finance App.

GOOGLE || “This Is Family” - 2018 Pride Campaign / Pixel Camera

Google wanted to tell the stories of real people captured by the stunning quality of the new pixel camera to show us how many different ways we can spell “family.” Family is much more than bloodline—it’s the bond we create with the humans who matter most—the people who show up no matter the circumstances, the people we choose as we show the world all the millions of ways we can love. This, and this, and this, is family.

CUROLOGY || Maria Olivia’s Curology Journey: “No Filter / Celebrate Real Skin”

I was midway through the pre-interview with Maria for a docu-style piece on her skincare journey when she brought up social media filters and how they had negatively affected her, and especially her daughters. In that moment, I tossed the questions I had prepared and decided to go all the way in on just this topic. Filters became the central theme of the creative development for the spot (which was originally focused on anti-aging) and this ad later inspired an entire organic social campaign called “Behind the Filter” that I collaborated on with our social media team). Even though we had reviewed the topics and questions many times leading up to the shoot, when it came time to re-interview her on set, it felt as if the entire camera crew and creative team were no longer in the room, and Maria and I quickly fell back into the emotional space that had started it all—just two women talking about something deeply raw, timely, and important. Our conversation resulted in a piece that examines the damage that filters are doing to our collective psyche and self-perception, most alarmingly in young girls, and shows one woman’s promise to love her real skin, to teach her daughters to love yourself for who you are, and to love your face (flaws and all), which is exactly in line with Curology’s mission.

This is the :120 master cut. We did many different cut downs and versions of this for A/B testing across paid social and the piece performed exceptionally well, driving up UA and conversions, user retention / subscription, and lowering CAC.

CUROLOGY x MARIA OLIVIA-McKEEN - “BE-YOU-TIFUL”

During the time I got to know Maria learning about her life and her journey with her skincare, we developed a lot of trust between us and she really opened up to me about the struggles of trying to fit in as a woman of color in the part of Orange County where she lives. I wanted to make a docu-style video that didn't feel like a scripted testimonial but rather an authentic portrait of a woman who has finally come home to herself. We explore themes of belonging, self-affirmation, and what it means to truly embody yourself and feel confident in your own skin, on all levels. Though this is an emotionally-driven piece, I hit Curology's most important value props of efficacy, simplicity, and social proof, all while keeping it in Maria's own words.

CUROLOGY x DEAN LIN: “Clear skin got me SHOOK”

While many of my Curology docu-style paid social ads were emotion-driven vignettes like Maria and Bell, I wanted to mix things up and make something reminiscent of Curology’s early days—the comedic brand awareness spots that made them famous, so I pitched a humor piece with Dean (an influencer and real Curology user) in mind. He and I sat down to chat and cracked each other up the whole time, and by the end of that interview I had more than enough material for several spots. I crafted a visual and VO-driven hero script using his own lines pulled from our conversation, that he later performed on camera. The end result was a light, real-deal piece that hit all our known selling points and critical timecode beats for paid social, while still being entirely, authentically Dean. We all loved it, and the numbers proved it out. This was one of the best-performing spots of the year for us and saw a marked increase in new users, but most importantly, an uptick in retention among current users (while UA is always important, Curology is dedicated to its current users as the custom formula works most successfully over months, often people will stick with and tweak their formulas for years). I later made a series of cutdowns using different openers (based on A/B testing winners) that our marketing team was able to confidently optimize/boost with ad spend for an even greater return.

VERIZON MEDIA || “Start Somewhere” - B2E, B2B, B2C Anthem video

How do you showcase, inspire, and celebrate all the employees of a company and the great products they make and all the different teams and campuses around the globe and the happy end-user, all in a two-minute video? That was the challenge posed by Verizon Media to our creative team in the build up to Build It! 2018, a company-wide B2E event to remind our employees of the value and joy their everyday innovation brings to people and the whole world. The piece was later repurposed for both B2B and B2C runs, and was a hit.

The concept I created began at the end and played the story in reverse, from the polished product in action with an engaged user all the way backwards through each team that had a hand in bringing it to life (which is all of them). The final character we meet is the first person, the (real) product developer with the idea for a novel feature, at the moment her inspiration arrives.

CUROLOGY || “Dancing Free” with Bell Coleman - BRANDED PIECE

I spent weeks getting to know Bell and wrote these words inspired directly by her life and creative spark. She added a few words to finish the piece, and composed this original choreography. We shot it in the desert at sunrise. All our Curology journeys were true to life, but Bell's vulnerability and creativity added another dimension.

CUROLOGY || Bell Coleman x Curology - PAID SOCIAL DIRECT RESPONSE

Bell and I spent months on long phone calls and diving deeply into her skin journey to get the best story possible. All lines are her own words but the script and narrative are shaped by me. The best of docu-style DR.

CUROLOGY || BELL COLEMAN - User Generated Mixtape / Experimental Success

Bell Coleman is the kind of versatile and authentic human who can lend herself and her story to many different mediums. Here, I wanted to try a different approach to the patient stories, in this case, using Bell's own self-shot Curology testimonial mixed with content from her YouTube channel that really showcases her personality and charisma. My hypothesis was that this ad would perform extremely well on paid social platforms because it looks so native and because Bell is so genuine. I decided to tell a non-linear story and focus more on her and less on the details of the skin (but of course include relevant value props and compelling before and after footage to prove out the efficacy of the product). This ad was a win all around.

CUROLOGY || Kavi Vu’s Skincare Journey “Curology in the time of Corona”

A few months ago when we were told that the pandemic was winding down, I wrote this piece as a reflective to capture the importance of accountability and commitment to self during an extremely stressful year. Based on multiple interviews and conversations with Kavi, filmed docu-style and in her own words.

NOMAD EATERY || Brand Launch “Where Food Meets Freedom”

When I first met Scott and interviewed him about his new restaurant concept, it felt like I had stepped into an episode of Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations." We hit it off quickly, bonding over our shared love of getting lost in the world, eating at street stands, and boarding a flight or a boat with no booking on the other side. I wanted to first sell the knockout food of this place, but also hoped to capture Scott's casual and welcoming vibe and the potential of NOMAD as a haven for diversity and the breaking down of walls in an increasingly divided nation. NOMAD is where we remember that we are a human family and at our core we all want the same things: community, connection, and of course, great food. (and if you look closely, you might catch my cameo as background talent ;)

This is the :30 master. We did a series of :15 cut downs for paid social highlighting different sub themes.

FIAT LUX FOUNDATION || “Sight Overnight”

I was given the opportunity to travel to Kenya with a team of doctors and volunteers from the foundation to visit the latest eye hospital they had built their global mission to eradicate preventable blindness. The short promotional documentary I directed, wrote, and produced follows the stories of three incredible patients of the Kisii Eye Hospital as they come to the clinic losing their vision or already completely blind—and leave with full eyesight restored. It has been the most meaningful project to date and such an honor to put a lens on these stories, these people, and what results when a group of dedicated, loving humans comes together to make vision, both literal and metaphorical, a reality.

The Fiat Lux Foundation is completely volunteer-run and thus has no marketing budget or initiative for paid social or television. However, the 8-minute piece was screened at private investor events across Silicon Valley and raised over $100 million in donations for the foundation, enough to fund their next hospital project in Rwanda. It plays on loop in Dr. Tayeri’s home office and is screened every time the foundation does rounds of fundraising.

YAHOO! FINANCE || “On the Go”

You have so many tasks in a given day—what if a few taps on the phone could make you passive income while you break a sweat or sit on the subway?

OATH || "Aaron de La Cruz x Oath" - Director & Writer

I wrote and directed a short documentary for Oath on their collaboration with renowned muralist Aaron de la Cruz. We chatted about his roots in La Raza, the powerful cultural storytelling of street art, the elusiveness of the color blue, and his wife’s perfect counterbalance as a healer in the medical profession to his heart as a healer of humanity.

OATH ||  "A Match Made In Mobile: Samsung x Oath"

Fun graphics-driven piece showcasing the latest greatest tech collab. Also a copy collab with another great writer. The tag is mine.

YAHOO! FINANCE || "Crypto-curious"

Crypto is the new standard. Get current, and curious.

YAHOO! FINANCE || "Adulting is Difficult"

An ode to millennials and the woes of adulthood, made manageable by Yahoo! Finance.

 YAHOO! FINANCE || "Invest in your downtime"

Investing has broken away from the desk, now you can finance new adventures as you embark on current excursions.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAS || PSA Safety Videos - Creative Director / Copywriter / 1st Assistant Director (Production) 

Socal Gas wanted to step away from robotic, technical graphic videos of natural gas safety and into a more human approach. I drew inspiration from the film Crash to imagine a cast of recurring characters all interconnected in some way, to underscore that community comes before commerce, and remind our audience that true safety is only possible if we help and care for each other.

KARMA TEQUILA || Print Campaign, Brand Story, & Website

Karma wanted a refresh on how the world views tequila, so I took it out of the clubs and cabanas and into the campgrounds. A low calorie young silver is a great cooler after a hot yoga and a fine aged añejo pairs better than Bourbon with a desert view. No longer a shined up luxury, tequila can be a lowkey lifestyle for the adventurer in all of us. It’s tequila, reincarnated.

6 Hour Sleep || Brand Identity, Campaign & Product Messaging