Jackson

Rapidly-growing Swiss sportswear brand On invited me in as a senior copywriter / creative director multiple times over a couple of years. I helped with everything from huge ATL campaigns to writing technical articles, naming products to newsletter redesigns, and lots more. Including...

The brief

The biggest brief I worked on was actually five briefs: launching five new products for their FW22 collection.

The solutions

Working in an extra-nimble four-person team, we came up with five very different campaigns – covering everything from films to posters, documentaries to social ads – that pushed On into new territory, and got a lot of attention all around the world.

• CLOUDGO
  “Game on”

  Cloudgo – “Game on”
  A shoe made to inspire people new to running, with a campaign that tapped into that pick-up-and-play computer game mentality. Working with CGI experts Builders Club, we created a film that used gaming iconography and energy. Whatever your mission, whatever your goals – strap on, plug in, it’s game on.

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• CLOUDFLYER
  “Run beyond”

  Cloudflyer – “Run beyond”
  We created a 3-part, short documentary series, traveling to some unusually named places to explore how runners “run beyond pain”, “run beyond doubt”, and “run beyond their limits”... By showing them running beyond in places like ‘Lost’ in Scotland and ‘Anguish’ in the Azores. Our campaign inspired serious runners to go further than ever before.

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• CLOUD X 3
  “Born from running. Made for everything.”

  Cloud X 3 + Cloud X 3 Shift – “Born from running. Made for everything.”
  Shoes made for the lifestyle market, but still made with all the tech, expertise, and dedication that On are known for. Creating a collage-style campaign, we pushed the idea that this is a shoe made for a lot of different activities. We also partnered with i-D to create a film in their iconic “A-Z” series: The A-Z of Fitness.

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• APPAREL
  “Wear it out”

  Apparel – “Wear it out”
  Lots of apparel, one core thought: whatever keeps you active: wear it out. These are jackets, shorts, socks and more that can be worn halfway up a mountain, or all the way downtown. We teamed up with legendary photographer Pelle Cass to create work that shows On’s apparel being worn, and worn, and worn, and…

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• CLOUDMONSTER LUMOS
  “Get weird in the dark”

  Cloudmonster Lumos – “Get weird in the dark”
  The Cloudmonster is a very big, very cushiony, very weird shoe. The Lumos-edition added hyper-reflective material to all that weirdness, so we created a B&W campaign that dialled the weirdness up to 11, creating a hybrid CGI + IRL world to inspire people to get out there and run through the night.

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SoundCloud invited me to be their ‘Head of Copy and Brand Voice’ three times, putting me in charge of everything copy-related. From creating brand campaigns to making sure our voice sang in every touchpoint, building new apps to creating style guides to take them far into the future, we made some great things happen.

• v3.0

  First time around, I helped launch their all-new iOS app.
  v3.0 was rebuilt from scratch, and they needed a big campaign to let everyone know what they'd done.

  The brief

  SoundCloud wanted to let their millions of users know why the app had been completely redesigned: to make it easier than ever to find and hear new music. The faster people understood, the sooner they'd get out there listening, exploring, and discovering more than ever before.

  The solution

  “MADE FOR YOU TO HEAR MORE”
  I worked up a creative platform for all activity, then wrote the entire launch campaign. This included all social channels, owned ad formats, explanatory web pages, and blog posts. I worked closely with the product managers and designers to make sure that every bit of copy within the app was on-brand, and made people fall in love with it the moment they started using it. And I worked with the PR and community teams to ensure our campaign language and key messages were used consistently and effectively.

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• A big (and scary) moment

  This was big.

  The brief

  The launch of ‘On SoundCloud’ marked the first time that creators could monetise their music & audio. Or, as most people would see it: for the first time, ads would be seen and heard on SoundCloud. My job was to explain that SoundCloud wasn't selling out, and that this was actually the biggest and best news ever.

  The solution

  “GET ON SOUNDCLOUD. MAKE **** HAPPEN”
  The line MAKE [****] HAPPEN gave us the freedom to talk about all the things you can do once you get On SoundCloud:

  Make your first upload happen
  Make careers happen
  Make new fans happen
  Make $$$$ happen

  I created a full launch campaign that successfully announced this news to the world, wrote every bit of the website, social communication, newsletters, and everything else – and the launch happened with overwhelmingly positive feedback.

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• An all-new app

  1. SOUNDCLOUD PULSE

  A brand new app for creators was being worked on. My roles included:
  – Naming the app, running workshops with all major stakeholders along the way.
  – Defining the overall app identity, and making sure that shoe through in the visual and UI/UX design, and every bit of copy within the app.
  – Writing the entire launch campaign and all related copy.

  2. OVERARCHING POSITIONING
  After months working with both internal stakeholders and external consultants, agreement was reached on what SoundCloud's overarching positioning is. I then translated this (long-winded) strategic start point into engaging, user-friendly language. I also wrote a strategy document to ensure everyone who works at SoundCloud understood the thinking behind the new copy.

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The brief

We’re all going to die. But we don’t talk enough about death. Too much awkwardness. Too many euphemisms. Too many missed opportunities to connect with our loved ones... All against the backdrop of an ever-aging population, and ever-growing death industries.

The solution

“YEP, EVEN YOU.”
Working together with Gaïa Orain, Nic Owen, and Leonidas Diamantis, we created The Inevitable: a publication for all those suffering from mortality: “We’re here to help the world think more – and hopefully better – about death by offering unexpected perspectives on it, useful tactics for dealing with it, and new ways of going about everything that leads up to it.”

From articles to podcasts, interviews to music playlists, the magazine offers fresh ideas, life-hungry enthusiasm, and maybe some unexpected hope – helping us all be better prepared for thinking about the only thing in life that’s truly inevitable.

Working as editor-in-chief and copy lead, I commissioned and edited articles, wrote the website copy, helped create our social media campaign, and lots more.

Working with AKQA in Berlin – first as senior copywriter, then associate creative director – I helped run the digital side of relaunching this $3bn brand to the world. Amongst many other tasks, I was asked to solve the biggest issue they had...

The brief

Along with the overall rebrand, Gore were launching something new: a non-waterproof range. My job was to work out how we could overcome a very sticky issue: that the brand was known almost exclusively for being waterproof.

The solution

“YOU KNOW HOW WELL WE DO WATERPROOF.
IMAGINE HOW WELL WE DO EVERYTHING ELSE.”

Rather than ignoring the brand's heritage, I celebrated it. Rather than trying to tell a whole separate story, I told the story of the new sub-brand through the lens of the main brand.

(Along the way, I was asked to deal with another issue: people thought that GORE-TEX products were too expensive. I suggested that the brand refer to their technologies and products as “upgrades”. This shift in language helped consumers understand – and accept – the higher prices.)

*An interesting¹ fact about the GORE-TEX brand is that you can never, ever, write just ‘GORE-TEX’. Their name must always be followed by what they term an approved noun. Like ‘brand’, or ‘fabric’, or ‘laminate’, or ‘Transalpine Run’.

¹This is not at all interesting but is a good example of why you should never allow your lawyers to write rules about copy.

The brief

Global creative recruitment company REDSOFA wanted to become the world’s first “recruitment+” group, by expanding their offering beyond finding jobs for talented folk, and leading the way in creative-industry content production, brand partnerships, education, and (lots) more. To do so, they needed an all-new brand.

The solution

“WE 🖤 TALENT”
I created everything word-related from scratch: a new tagline, identity, website copy, social media guidelines, content ToV... all of it. With Studio Gruhl leading on the visual side of things, we successfully relaunched the brand, and ensured that REDSOFA will be an absolute GOAT in the industry for many years to come

Working with Studio Voile as creative director, I led on all things copy for this huge campaign for Zalando across DACH. From the Big Idea to posters, film scripts to web copy, TikTok videos to push notifications, I wrote it all – and also created guidelines to help the translation teams with their work.

The brief

Zalando wanted to target the active folk of Austria, Switzerland and nearby countries, and create excitement about something that too many people don't know: Zalando is a great place to find quality outdoor gear.

The solution

“TOP THE ALPS”

Our playful, motivating message helped create a strong (but friendly) rivalry between Austria and Switzerland. People were encouraged to pick their side, follow their favourite athletes, and share their efforts to conquer their summer activities. We created a landing page, video ads for Instagram and TikTok with tips & hacks, and even a unique challenge with Strava.

The brief

Pantaflix was a video-on-demand platform based in Berlin. When I joined, they had zero brand identity, so my role was to define: who they are, what they stand for, how they communicate, and how they were going to get millions of people excited about them.

The solution

“WATCH BETTER”
As creative director I defined the brand identity from scratch, including the strategic positioning and creative platform. I directed the designers, developers and UX team to make sure the brand was brought to life correctly. I wrote the brand/style book that'll take them far into their future. Along the way I created print ads that ran in Hollywood, speeches for the CEO, helped launch their iOS app and learnt a lot about how to make a start-up hit the ground sprinting.

The brief

Very independent, extra creative Everpress (“a place where brilliant stuff gets made”) were doing very well, but wanted to do even better. So they decided on a first-ever brand campaign.

The solution

“MAKE IT A THING”
Working together with Homework studio, I led on all things copy. I wrote the new tagline, a couple of film scripts, lots of online ads, and some social media guidelines. The core idea was to connect with the immensely talented and committed Everpress community (both the creators and the buyers):

· Don‘t just sell – connect. · Don‘t just own – support. · Don‘t just create – turn heads. · Don‘t just shop – make it a thing.

The brief

New and faster-than-light growing Hyphe are working tirelessly to increase access to financial markets, helping banks and retail trading platforms attract all-new customers via the joys of digital currency trading.

The solution

“THAT’S HYPHE. THAT’S FAIRER TRADING.”
After learning everything there is to know about crypto-/digital-currency (from Blockchain to Bitcoin, thin liquidity to tick-size spreads) I wrote two campaigns: one to spread the word about who Hyphe is, and what they stand for; another to shout about the unique products/offerings that set them apart from everyone else.

The world is a dumpster fire. Rather than just drinking about it, Bayer are trying to change it.

The brief

Leaps by Bayer represents a breathtakingly huge level of investment, research and awe-inspiring commitment to tackling 10 of the biggest issues facing humanity, and our beautiful dumpster of a planet. We created the brand identity from scratch, built the website, filmed launch films in Chile, and created a huge launch event in LA.

The solution

“BREAKING THROUGH IMPOSSIBLE”
I helped name the venture itself, advised on visual design, wrote the 10 commitments, the website and launch campaign. I also helped source a managing editor and wrote the content strategy for the associated blog.

Run on the model of Dave Eggers’ 826 Valencia, the Ministry of Stories is a free writing centre for young people in east London. I led a team of copywriters, designers, famous novelists and other weird and wonderful people to help both the Ministry and the money-making ‘front’ of the Hoxton Street Monster Supply Store.

Our team was awarded a D&AD silver pencil for ‘Writing for Design’.

In recognition for our work, I was part of the team invited to a reception at 10 Downing Street in London, where the Prime Minister at the time was led firmly away from me by his advisor after 90 seconds of us talking about the welfare state.

The brief

Tesco’s advertising business was up for grabs. All £110m of it. Wieden + Kennedy were in a good place. We had good strategy. Decent scripts. Interesting ideas. But we didn’t have a single-minded creative platform to tie everything together.

Then one night (in my local pub) I wrote this...

The solution

“LET’S MAKE WHAT MATTERS BETTER”
It was a line that allowed us to address all five elements in Tesco's brief:

· Let’s make fresh food better
· Let’s make Christmas better
· Let’s make banking better
· Let’s make our staff better
· Let’s make our communities better

The line, and thinking behind it, formed the heart of our winning pitch. (And yes, that is my real handwriting.)