Armando Ani

After getting underwhelming results from the Be Not Bland brand campaign launched in 2017 (by a different ad agency), Sparkling Ice was ready to walk away from the usual marketing formula of gimmickry and fluffery, and focus on their biggest selling point: the product.

On the heels of significant product improvements and a renewed commitment to “natural”, Sparkling Ice wanted a campaign that not only stands out in the crowded marketplace, but truly reflects the brand and what it stands for.

So we created a campaign that cut all the bulls**t. Because “natural” is, well, natural. Pure and simple. Stripped down, bare bones; free from frills, froufrou, and fandangle.

I flew to Seattle and pitched an integrated campaign that focused on the quality and value of the product, while giving the brand a distinct, delightful, and authentic personality. It’s a complete 180 from all the outrageousness and contrived silliness of their past campaigns (and other beverage brands’, too!)

The clients loved it. Naturally.

We won the pitch. But the best thing for me is that this campaign ran with almost no changes from its original form across multiple channels. We even created a Google Action and Alexa Skill.

Role: Creative Director, Copywriter, Creative Strategist

In 2017, Google Assistant suddenly grew from 1 million to 10 million users with unlimited AI potential across phones, smart speakers, and headphones. While many had heard about the power of voice-assisted commands and were excited to try it for the first time, there were still millions of undiscovered interactions just words away.

How can we educate Google Assistant users about the fun and useful ways it can help them every day? And how can we increase their engagement with the product?

We wanted to inspire our rapidly growing user base by showing them how their Google Assistant can help make life easier, more productive, streamlined, and enjoyable.

We developed a highly dynamic global biweekly newsletter program that sent custom content to users based on what device they used their Assistant on. This resulted in five segmented versions for every issue and created the most relevant contextual experience for every user.

Each issue was packed with helpful use cases, emotional imagery, interactive GIFs, iconography, and benefit-driven copy. All of it was custom-tailored to their every day—mornings, commutes, evenings—as well as special moments in their lives like holidays, sporting events, and more.

FedEx asked three of their agencies to come up with an ad campaign that will launch and promote their sustainability goals and programs for the next 20 years.

We won.

Role: Creative Director, Copywriter

We set out to create a campaign to establish the Gemological Institute of America as a modern, empathetic and inclusive brand while asserting its scientific authority.

From first draft to final creative, we cast diverse couples that truly represent love and relationships in the modern world. And because the media plan covers not just the US, but also China and India, we consulted with our teams in those regions to make sure that our language, wardrobe, props, set design, blocking and even hairstyles were culturally appropriate and authentic.

In order to most genuinely represent a variety of cultures and backgrounds, we needed to assemble a diverse team. DE&I was a critical factor in evaluating directors, production companies and other vendors. ​​

Our production spec sheet featured an inclusion initiative requiring our partners demonstrate their past commitment to diversity and interview at least 50% of candidates from under-represented backgrounds.

We landed on two directors – a mixed race couple who work together as a team to capture stills and motion. The team they surrounded themselves with allowed us to bring together diverse perspectives which inspired more creativity and innovation.

Role: Creative Director, Copywriter

Maine is incredible all around, all year-round.

Role: Creative Director, Copywriter

UPS tried to pull a fast one claiming they deliver faster than FedEx. We had to respond with a compelling campaign—fast.

Role: Creative Director, Copywriter

Zagat, curator of restaurant reviews and ratings since 1979 went through a rebranding to appeal to the Yelp generation and a broader audience. The cornerstone of this rebranding was their new app and the challenge is to promote it and drive app downloads by reaching and connecting to the right audience, the right way.

We created a series of strongly branded, animated mobile and display ads that speak to the key differentiator of Zagat from its competitors – its heritage and quality of content. And we made sure to deliver these messages in a voice that was fun, unexpected, and attention-grabbing, especially for our younger target audience, who may have not even heard of Zagat before.

Role: Creative Director, Copywriter

The new new bank for the new new rich.

Role: Creative Director, Copywriter

The brief was simple:

Increase awareness of the HPV vaccine by leveraging the brand’s credibility and authority on cancer research and prevention.

The idea and execution were even simpler.

Role: Copywriter, Art Director

When diabetes takes over our life, it does little else but take. And take. And take.

Our choices. Our control. Our freedom.

But of all the things we “lose” to this disease, perhaps the worst of it is ourself.

In our lowest points, we are somehow led to believe that living with diabetes means living like every other person with diabetes.

Like, there’s a playbook somewhere and everybody follows the same rules and ought to feel the same way.

Well, diabetes isn’t just greedy and quite full of itself, it’s full of it, too.

FreeStyle Libre is changing the game and how the world perceives diabetes and the people living with it—with real, tangible advancements to healthcare.

It gives you the ability to monitor and track your glucose in real time and provides insights on what’s impacting it, among other things.

And it’s small, lightweight, and unobtrusive that it fades into the background—as it should.

So you can focus on what really matters.

If you’ve got a credit card just for fuel, shouldn’t you have one that fuels your imagination?

One that pays the electric bill, and one that electrifies you?

One for travel, and one for time travel?

Because there are finances — and there are funances. And no other credit card helps you cover and earn rewards on both better than the Universal VIP Rewards Visa Card.

Sounds like something Jeff Goldblum would say.

Role: Creative Director, Copywriter

For the first time in a very long time, Google is having a retention and recruitment problem. Seems like the shine and novelty of its legendary perks and brand clout has started to wear off as more and more tech companies have become more savvy, competitive and aggressive in attracting top talents — especially during the Great Resignation.

Many offer big money. Some promise big impact. But only Google can give both, particularly in the newly rebuilt Privacy, Safety & Security division, whose main goal is to make the internet better and safer for the billions of people who use it.

Role: Creative Director, Copywriter

In case you wonder if I’ve done some B2B.

Role: Creative Director, Copywriter

Two out of three years, I was the only copywriter for Safeway and its affiliate stores across the US and Canada. As such, I was involved in virtually all marketing projects for its store brands, products, and services, like O Organics, Lucerne, Rancher’s Reserve, Eating Right, Safeway Pharmacy, Signature Cafe, Safeway Fuel, the Safeway Foundation, and several others.

I wrote about artichokes, turkey recipes, breast cancer awareness, the difference between prawn and shrimp, alcohol, flu shots, and of course, golf. Because why not?

Role: Copywriter

A beautiful story for Veterans Day. Shot, written, edited and produced in 5 days.

Role: Creative Director, Copywriter

I had a lot of fun working on this iconic brand because there were many opportunities for good writing.

AAA still relies heavily on traditional marketing channels, like DM, in-store marketing and promotions, print ads, and the like, plus they have a diverse portfolio of businesses.

On any given day, I could be writing an ad for life insurance, an emergency road service poster, a travel brochure, and an outdoor signage for their advocacy efforts. So I was able to gather a pretty eclectic collection of work in over five years of working with them.

Role: Copywriter, Creative Lead

We are delivering.

As an essential service, there was an immediate need for FedEx to communicate the impact of COVID-19 on everything from critical healthcare shipments to customer orders placed with online retailer. And as the pandemic continued to evolve FedEx needed to continuously updated customers and consumers on changes to their services.

During a time of uncertainty, reassurance was key. Within 24 hours, we developed a COVID-19 messaging platform centered around the simple but powerful idea that FedEx is still delivering. Planes are still in the air, and trucks are still on the ground supporting everything from the global supply chain to local residential deliveries.

The platform created a strong foundation to quickly customize messaging for a range of audiences including small business, e-commerce and healthcare customers. We developed relevant content for key pages on fedex.com, email communications, customer-facing sales collateral and print, with most executions turned around in a matter of hours to support urgent needs.

Role: Creative Director, Copywriter

Google transformed the Home with their voice-activated smart device. Just unbox it and download an app, and your artificially intelligent assistant is at your beck and call. But with an instruction manual that’s only 24-words-long and new features released weekly, users need a little help. That’s where we come in.
We don’t just spread the news. We find the news. Our team of researchers discovers and tests ever-evolving features, then personalizes and versions modular newsletters to Home users. Based on what combination of Home devices you have, you get a curated bi-monthly email teaching users new Actions like how to shop, host a family game night, or even sharpen your Jedi mind skills.

Role: Creative Director, Content Strategist, Copywriter, Art Director

A social campaign to encourage more women to sign up as Local Guides. With limited time and budget, we shot these photos ourselves with a cast of our own Project Managers, Account Managers and Creatives in the Bay Area, which is really the main reason it’s in here.

Role: Creative Director, Copywriter

A quick and dirty video to promote the Google Workspace Affiliate Program.