We were tasked with creating a video to launch the re-imagined LEGO® Friends characters, who are more representative of the world that today’s kids navigate. Every playdate goes differently and we wanted to show a snippet of all different kinds, the good, the bad and the pick-me-up-in-the-middle-of-the-nights.
CW: Dawn McCarthy/Ilicia Winokur Agency : LEGO Group
The LEGO Agency Americas had an unusual ask. Instead of trying to get people to buy more LEGO sets, we were asked to get them to break their existing sets apart, in order to free-build with them. So we introduced a “brand new” LEGO brick designed to destroy, which wasn’t a new brick at all. It had actually been around for 30 years, originally called The Separator. In order to show this brick’s power, we rechristened it “The Everything” and launched it through influencers and social media, and watched the obsession mount.
CW:Dawn McCarthy AD: Kevin Raich/Gonzolo Torres-Arce
We Go Everywhere and Pants for Post are two separate, but related, projects for the United States Postal Service.
We Go Everywhere was part of a 2022 Brand Campaign for USPS through agency MRM.
Pants For Post was created in 2020 when the pandemic hit, and the new workplace normal became #ZoomingInPajamas, we wondered, what would happen to all of the perfectly good pants that female professionals were no longer wearing? Surely, ladies wouldn’t be needing them for a while, and most likely wouldn’t even fit into them after enough #EatingIceCreamWhileZoomingInPajamas. So #PantsForPost was born. A grassroots effort to support the struggling United States Postal Service, by asking working professional women to ship their pants (via USPS Priority Mail) to Dress For Success, so that women in the #InPerson workforce could get good use out of them.
Pants For Post CD/CW: Dawn McCarthy Designer: Yaneisy Reyes
We Go Everywhere AD: Dawn McCarthy/Ruth Bellotti CW: Kerry Keenan
MetLife had been using Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts crew for over 25 years, and asked us to modernize their connection to the characters. So we created the epic Super Bowl spot "Everyone", which combined over 100 of the most-loved vintage cartoon characters with the Peanuts characters to successfully update their partnership.
A social media campaign coincided with the Super Bowl game, where spots showed the "behind the scenes" activity of the cartoon characters.
"Piano" ran during the Grammy and Academy Awards, as well as the Olympics.
"Five Cents" was one of three tactical spots we created to support the Super Bowl effort.
CD/AD: Dawn McCarthy CW: James Maravetz (Everyone, Piano, Five Cents)/Russell Dodson (Yosemite Sam) ECD: Ari Merkin Director: Laurent Ledru (Everyone, Piano, Five Cents) Agency: CP+B
Partnership: Reebok & Beyoncé
On the heels of the release of her visual album, Lemonade, Beyoncé wanted to leverage her apparel line, Ivy Park, and join forces with a major athletic apparel line. Our job was to show her why Reebok was the one to choose. With a long history of being a woman’s-first brand, we presented what a partnership with Reebok could look like.
Our challenge was to show Beyoncé how Reebok’s belief system was aligned with hers. We presented a platform called United We Move, which spoke to some of the challenges that black women face when it comes to working out.
We would fight the misconception that black women “don’t workout” by calling for women of color to post their sweaty selfies with #UnitedWeMove. Various social media posts were selected to go up on building sides and outdoor boards around the country. Illustrated posters talked to the issues that women of color face when it comes to exercising, from washing hair, to skin discoloration, to feeling watched. The platform is United We Move.
Illustrations: Ojo Agi CW: Dawn McCarthy/Jenna Hall Capobianco AD: Dawn McCarthy. Agency: Venables Bell
Mercedes-Benz tasked us to tap into the true emotional experience of loving a car to its core. This was one of Mercedes' first efforts to tap into female decision-makers. And for our work, my partner (also of the female variety) and I were hailed in the press as some of the only women in the industry who were were producing award-winning work for cars at that time.
CW: Laura Fegley Agency: Merkley + Partners
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Ambetter, the leading health care provider on the Marketplace, asked us to create a campaign that showed that they have a plan to fit everyone.
AD/CW: Dawn McCarthy CW: Riley Kane Agency: HLK
Thorn, a technology company, founded by Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore to prevent online child abuse and trafficking tasked us with creating an integrated campaign to spread the word about their technology.
Thorn uses new digital platforms and technologies as a weapon to better understand the way abusers use social media. They democratize their technology so that law enforcement has access to all of their research.
CW: Dawn McCarthy/Jean Rhode Graphic Designer: Yaneisy Reyes
We were tasked with helping launch the new Vera Wang x Chopin Vodka branding partnership. Wang said “It’s the culmination of my long love affair with vodka in the most personal and expressive way.”
CD/CW: Dawn McCarthy Agency: The Story Room
The ask from Concacaf was: how do we talk to our “non-core” target? How do we relate to part-time, low-key and more social fans? Fans, who despite loving the game, equally love the peripheral stories that happen around soccer, after the final whistle, after the 90-minute game is over. They love the befores, the afters and the in-betweens of soccer. These fans go #BeyondThe90.
A Women's Pickup Soccer effort was also launched, connecting women who love the sport, and crave the social aspect of the pickup game.
CD/CW: Dawn McCarthy Designer: Juan Martin Bertolotti Agency: The Story Room
U.S. Cellular’s competitors had been giving large mobile carriers a bad name, and we decided to call them on it.
To prove the point, we projected more “honest” versions of our competitors’ logos onto the buildings of their corporate headquarters, along with scrolling, real-time tweets of customer dissatisfaction with their providers.
Art Directors: Dawn McCarthy/Monica Taylor Copywriters: Steve Howard/Roger Baldacci
At The Story Room, a digital and social agency, I was brought in to lead the design of their website experience, brand identity, and new business.
Creative Lead/Photography: Dawn McCarthy Designer: Andres Chumino Agency: The Story Room
Cooper tires three ways. Some pitch examples:
Direction 1
It’s not a simple thing, to make something that’s right for almost everyone.
To make something high quality yet affordable to all. That has grit and grip. That’s built to last but won’t break the bank.
Cooper Tires: the tire for most people.
Direction 2
People who think of tires only when a pothole reminds them. They’re tires for people who care the right amount about tires. They
won’t skimp on safety, but have no problem cutting out the fancy.
Direction 3
Best case scenario? You won’t think of our tires until you replace them.
Yes, they have grip. Yes, they run strong and silent. But mostly, they’re such high quality, you can just live, and not think
about tires for the next 45, 55, 65, 75, or 85,000 miles.
Creative team: Dawn McCarthy/Mike Tuton Agency: Colle McCvoy
CW: Dawn McCarthy AD: Hernan Pettinaroli Agency: The Community
Tasked with rebranding Susan G. Komen, we put the power of the breast back where it belongs, with the women who own them. We created a new kind of movement where everyone can bare their breasts together.
We created a mobile app which creates abstract artwork of each user’s breasts. The artwork is printed on race t-shirts at the Komen events. Personalized artwork becomes Facebook badges. Customized merchandize using the original artwork is sold via the app and an on-line auction to raise money for the cure.
A Youtube channel, “BoobTube”, features famous female comedians like Tina Fey and Melissa McCarthy, in animated form, doing self-breast exams.
We evolved the pink ribbon into a pink lighting bolt.
AD: Dawn McCarthy CW: Paula Dombrow Agency: Possible
DSW was a new business model, offering shoes on the rack, in a warehouse setting. We were tasked with bringing them into retail world with humor and interest. After all, for women, the experience of buying shoes is primal and emotional.
We worked with them from the inception of their newly-created, publically-held brand, DSW Shoes. We were tasked with designing their shopping bags, press release, and even creating private-label brands for them. Katie & Kelly, being one of their best selling brands.
ACD/AD: Dawn McCarthy ACD/CW: Laura Fegley Agency: Cliff Freeman & Partners
America’s Test Kitchen asked us to create a social media campaign to drive subscriptions. Our target, Gen F (for Foodie), had a limited subscription budget that we trying to grab a piece of. We realized we were not only competing against other food subscription services, like Blue Apron, but against general subscription services, like Harry’s Shave Club, Freshly, Winc, Datebox and Stitch Fix.
Creative Lead: Dawn McCarthy Designer: Carlos Aguirre Reyna/ Agency: The Story Room
These videos were created for the ACLU of Florida to get the word out about Amendment 4, an important resolution to Florida’s Constitution in the 2018 midterm election. Its passing means that 1.4 million previously disenfranchised voters will now have their voting rights restored.
Creative Director/Writer/Producer: Dawn McCarthy Editor: Glenn Walton Camera: Sebastian Gray Agency: The Story Room
TBS asked Cliff Freeman & Partners to launch their airing of the HBO's original series Sex & the City, in chronological order, something no other TV network had done since HBO first ran the series.
We wrote a campaign that created tween versions of the Sex & the City characters that wrapped with a line of "See them from the beginning. From the first episode to the last."
Ambient marketing focused on specific storylines and sex positions from different episodes. The cinema spot didn't make it through the censors, but definitely made the point that Sex in the City would be "Coming soon" to TBS.
CD/AD: Dawn McCarthy ACD/CW: Laura Fegley Agency: Cliff Freeman & Partners
Women & Co., a Citi subsidiary, invited us to partner with them in their inception of a financial investment brand targeted specifically to women. We were tasked with naming the company, creating their identity, and creating a set of brand communications that would stand out in the financial category, as 100% female-targeted.
The mock-wedding-announcements were the first-ever ads allowed to run in the wedding section of the New York Times, making the campaign a pioneer in native advertising and media buying. President Bill Clinton also sent his congratulations on the campaign.
CW: Laura Fegley Agency: Merkley + Partners
Opustone, a high-end stone and tile distributor in Wynwood, tasked us with creating a magazine campaign to showcase their marbles and tiles in publications like Architectural Digest, and Interior Design. We collaborated with Flavor Papers and their Jon Sherman Inkling modern marbled paper design to create showroom experiences of surround marbleization.
Creative Lead/copywriter: Dawn McCarthy
Finding Sanctuary by Lisa Kahn is an award-winning interior design firm founded by chief designer and industry leader Lisa Kahn.
They tasked me with creating a visual design for their print and digital communications that expressed their core beliefs that there is a vital and profound connection between the human spirit and the built environment.
Designer: Brielle Daly Logo Design: Replace – Minneapolis
In the the strange spirit of the Miller Lite "Dick" campaign, we turned a Miller lite radio spot about naked people into a TV commercial. AD: Dawn McCarthy CW: Eric Sorensen (radio) GCD: Linus Karlsson Agency: Fallon Worldwide
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Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz had strong opinions on the 1998-9 NBA lock-out. This full-page newspaper ad ran asking the NBA to start playing again. AD: Dawn McCarthy CW: Xenia Rutherford Agency: Fallon Worldwide
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Holiday Inn Express– We took thinking you’re smarter than you are because you stayed at a Holiday Inn Express to a new level. AD: Dawn McCarthy CW: Mike Gibbs Agency: Fallon Worldwide
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Lee asked us to create a campaign for their brand, Casuals, that would stand out in the fashion magazines. Working with photographer, Lizzie Himmel, we created a campaign using photo-documentary style images, and an organic handwritten font that would break through the usual high-fashion clutter. AD: Dawn McCarthy CW: Linda Birkenstock Agency: Fallon Worldwide
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Spitfire– AD: Dawn McCarthy CW: Eric Sorensen Agency: Fallon Worldwide
Drugfree.org (Partnership for a Drugfree America)
We brought in illustrators like Mark Todd and James Paterson, and paired them with production company, Psyop, to make animated spots unlike anything else out there.
CW: Riley Kane Illustrator: Mark Todd
Agency: Merkley + Partners
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As sponsors of the Kenyan Marathon team, Fila decided to ask the question, "What if you ran everywhere like they do in Kenya?"
CW: Riley Kane
Agency: Merkley + Partners
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American Museum of Natural History
Posters for opening exhibits “Fighting Dinosaurs: New Discoveries from Mongolia” and “Pearls”.
CW: Laura Fegley
Agency: Merkley + Partners
This photo story for Big Magazine was shot over the course of a ten-day crossing across the Andes mountains on horseback.
The crossing began in San Martin de los Andes in Argentina, and arrived in Pucon, Chile. The terrain began in the plains of Argentina and ended up in the forests of Chile.
Selected images from the crossing are for sale on Big Magazine’s online photography gallery. Excerpts from my journal, and more photos, are on the app Big Chile.
Clay is my side gig that makes me no money. I love surface design, I get a sick thrill from seeing how much I can push the rules of hand building and still have a piece that makes it through two firings.
