Verizon was in need of a brand refresh.
I arrived on the Verizon account as it was in the midst of a global rebrand. Things had gone a bit stale. Black backgrounds and techy imagery wasn’t speaking to the growing audience of casual smartphone users. So they hit pause, reevaluated, and realized that people like being talked to as, well, people. As part of a 6-person creative team, I helped Verizon change consumer perception from being a cold mega-corporation to a friendly and approachable expert on communication. It was an exciting time with lots of hard work by talented people.
When I left the account, the agency had become Verizon’s AOR, and the creative team had grown to over 20 staffers.
iPhone 6 “Emojis”
I was sick with a fever at home when I got the call that Verizon wanted to see some ideas for the iPhone 6 launch. My partner Peter Sherer and I had a few hours to put together some ideas.
Apple was going to launch their own spot, and we assumed that every other telecom provider was going to do the same, so we needed a way to break through the clutter. Everybody already knew what an iPhone was, and it was generally accepted that the features would be largely the same. The solution became clear: in a product all about new tech, let’s go old-school. Let’s make a spot without tech. Let’s lean into how people actually use the phone.
“Emojis” was the result. A 30 second spot featuring hand-built in-camera practical effects. Working with First Ave Machine, we constructed every prop in just two weeks, including a 3-foot iPhone frame.
4x4
Verizon has a really really good deal on a bunch of cellphones. But that's not even the best part.
The best part is: we were briefed Tuesday afternoon, wrote and locked a script and director Tuesday night, shot on Sunday and shipped three days later. It was by far the quickest turnaround I've ever seen, and it was great in that crazy kind of way you never really want to do again.