New Hormel Pepperoni work launched

In mid-April, BBDO and Hormel launched new work for their Pepperoni brand after over a year of strategic and creative exploration. While the previous campaign under the Pep It Up platform, featuring the One Man Pep Band, had been great for sales and breakthrough, the client team wanted to increase purchase intent by showing food and uses.

We knew it was important to be distinct visually, and we were also constrained by a media buy that would be best-served by :15 video as opposed to :30s. We landed, obviously, on this new direction that still speaks to all the non-pizza uses for pepperoni, and embodies the fun of using it to make appetizers, snacks, and meals that everyone would be excited to prepare, share, and enjoy. Since the spots are animated, we were able to make several pieces to rotate through to prevent wear out as long as possible.

Read more about the new campaign over at the Egotist.

A Deep Dive Into Peach

I recently lost a weekend diving into the new social platform Peach, the latest flash-in-the-pan phenomenon that may be the next big thing, or may already be dead. Learn everything you need to know about Peach here, and learn about its one killer content-creation function here.

Horror film BAD HABIT release

Can a serial killer cure herself with a self-help audio book before she claims her next victim? That’s the story behind my latest film project, Bad Habit starring scream queen and Minnesota native Sarah French.

For the past several months I’ve been hard at work on post production with my executive producer Clint Andera. I’m really excited to get the film in front of horror fans – Sarah usually plays the helpless victim or final girl on film, but in Bad Habit she’s played dramatically against type. She’s never played the bad guy on screen before, and her fan base is already excited to see her in something so different.

This is also an experiment in crowdfunding versus monetization. A lot of productions of this size and scale would run a crowdfunding campaign before starting production, but I decided against it with Bad Habit. I didn’t want to ask fans to donate $20 or $50 for a final product they’d have to wait for. I’ve personally been burned on film projects I’ve supported – sometimes they never get completed (or in one case, started) and often promised rewards are never delivered. I’m hoping that horror fans will instead be willing to support an independently-produced project for just a few dollars, with the benefit of getting a preview of the final product and instant gratification.

Bad Habit is being released through the video platform VHX.tv, which allows users to download a DRM-free copy of the film, and stream online and through iOS, Chromecast, and Roku. Take a look at the website http://badhabit.vhx.tv.

Baby Cop featured in Pioneer Press

Baby Cop, the series I produced with Chris Knutson and Jeff Pfoser, just received a nice write up in the Pioneer Press. I’m really proud of what we produced on a non-existent budget, and hope this’ll put the series in front of a wider audience.

Check out Baby Cop here and on YouTube.

Valley Meadows award nominations at LAWEBFEST

In November, the Valley Meadows webseries was officially selected to be a part of the 2015 LAWEBFEST and nominated for several awards, including Best Comedy Series, Outstanding Writing, and a Best Actor nomination for Chris Knutson and Best Guest Actor nomination for Pat Susmilch.

LAWEBFEST 2015 is in April, and regardless of whether or not we win any awards, I’m happy that something Chris, Zach, and I worked so hard on is getting recognition.