Working with my copywriter, Steve Chirhart, we came up with the idea to feature storytellers. We also wanted to extend Dream in Color into a holistic diversity program encompassing Black History Month, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and Hispanic Heritage Month.
For Black History Month our idea was to showcase slam poets. Then we found we had a connection to Maya Angelou.
Since she's one of the greatest storytellers we jumped on the chance to work with her and tweaked the concept a bit.
The campaign included photography for print and promotions as well as video for broadcast. We also had Dr. Angelou write out a poem that we reprinted as a gift for VIP friends of Target.
The photo shoot was amazing. It took place in her house. Our photographer was Kwaku Alston. His name came to mind because he was a college friend of a friend of mine in Chicago. I always kept his name in mind in case I had a project that was right for him.
The night before the shoot we took a look at location shots of Dr. Angelou's house. One of those shots was of her piano...on that piano was a photo that Kwaku took of Dr. Angelou a few years back for an Oprah Legends photo shoot.
When we arrived at Dr. Angelou's house her niece invited us in. We set up while Dr. Angelou got ready. When she came out I was surprised, she is a tall woman. For some reason I was expecting someone shorter.
In the first 5 minutes of chatting with her I was blown away...everything she says is poetry. During the actual shoot she was a riot...she even told me she like my hair (a guess you'd call it a messy faux-hawk.)
After the shoot we ate with her and got to chat more. She recounted stories of her life. I had read some years ago but I had forgotten. To hear them from her was amazing.
The black and white image above is one of my most cherished photos. To capture her in a great moment being photographed by an amazing photographer was so cool for me.
The printed piece is a spread from a booklet that was in Esquire magazine and in a educational piece mailed to schools. Little & Company helped with the layout for that piece.
In 2007 when I was working at Target I had the fortune to go to the Winter X-games to grab some behind the scenes shots of the Target Chalet. A few of the action sports athletes that Target sponsors stayed at the chalet while others just came to crash, hang out or rock out at night.
I started my career as a photographer but I got that start in the late 80's when I attended Woodward Camp. I was there for biking and loved it, but on the first day of the second week I re-injured my separated shoulder...no more riding that second week...so I took the photo class they offered.
While at these X Games I got to meet Gary Ream the head of Woodward. I let him know that without his camp I wouldn't have gotten into my career even though it moved from photography to creative direction. It was a great moment as we reminisced about the camp then and he told me how it had grown.
Another great part was that I got to hang out with Mat Hoffman. He's one of the biggest riders in BMX freestyle and I was a fan of him in the mid 80's when I was riding. It was awesome hanging out with him. Later that year I got to go to his house for a quick shoot.
I also got to head to the Summer X Games that year for some formal portraits of Shaun White...but you're going to have to wait until this summer to check them out.
the project:
2008 MLK Day giveaway
the brief:
Create a unique piece of art, to use as a takeaway at Target sponsored MLK Day events, that connects target to Dr. King’s legacy of community service.
the idea:
Work with Amos Paul Kennedy to weave an MLK quote, the ‘I Am a Man’ message from the Memphis Sanitation worker strike and Target’s CR messaging to create an impactful visual.
the result:
The process of working with Amos was fantastic and the posters he created were amazing. We used a favorite to create this poster. Our regional teams felt the piece was great and our guests loved it too.
the story:
Here is a little film about Amos Kennedy that lives on youtube you’ll see that he’s a pretty interesting man. We made the mistake of calling him an artist and designer but he quickly corrected us by saying he’s just the guy who lays down type. Even though he says he’s no artist and the prints we commissioned came in a box that formerly held frying chickens (no necks or gizzards) we thought they were all beautiful.
my involvement: creative direction (at Target)
the team: Agency – Little and Co., Letterpress artist – Amos Paul Kennedy Jr.
Know where your food is coming from...the artwork of Jason Freeny
0 comments Posted by kenny at 12:21 PMWith movies and books like Super Size Me, The Omnivores Dilemma, Fast Food Inc and more I think it's important to know where your food is coming from.
Luckily Jason Freeny, who has done work for MTV, Nickelodeon, Juxtapoz, Wired and many more, has come to the rescue with these fabulous illustrations.
Even though I'm only showing his medical illustrations he's not a one trick pony...check his work out here.
Lost generation is a video that's making the rounds on YouTube right now. Made by a 20 year old for an AARP u@50 contest...it's a fantastic concept.
However the idea was taken from a 2006 Cannes Lion Contest Silver lion winning spot by Salvaglio/TBWA.
The creator of the Lost Generation video posted a link to the Truth video once a there was a video response with a link to Truth.
In the ad game so many ideas are borrowed...I wish the originals got credit more often. I'm not sure if the original would have gotten credit if someone didn't notice. And I'm guessing that someone wrote a poem that can be read forward and backward before the Truth spot was made.
But like I said it happens all the time.
There was this:
That sparked this:
And many more...Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
I'm really digging the title sequence to Men of a Certain Age. The lo-fi snippets set up the theme of the show because they are all something any guy can relate to. And the kid that comes up with Scott Bakula's credit is just hilarious as a psuedo-young Scott.
Or maybe It just makes me feel sappy because I'm going to have a kid soon.
Found this on Twitter via @DavidAirey
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