I'm credited with "Dude, you're getting a Dell.", but full disclosure: it wasn't on my original script. What was originally called 'Mission Accomplished' was the first ad our DDB team shot for Dell after winning the business. It was actually one of the ad libs I threw to actor Ben Curtis at the behest of director Bennett Miller. Our editor, Nikki Vapenksy, put it on her first cut, and a catchphrase was born. From Stuart Scott yelling "Dude, you're getting a Dell!" on Sportscenter to getting made fun of on SNL, the campaign generated an estimated $20 million in free publicity, and shot Dell from #6 in domestic PC sales to #1.
More than a decade later, 'The Dude' is still getting nods from the likes of Danny Zuker (creator and executive producer of Modern Family) and Dell themselves, who recently inked actor and comedian Nick Thune to serve as Dell Dude 2.0.
Miller Lite's 'Man Up' campaign was floundering, and their lead agency couldn't figure out a way to fix it. Sensing an opportunity, MillerCoors' African-American agency Commonground reached out to me. I crafted the 360 degree 'Man Card' campaign extension, and suddenly, 'Man Up' began testing off the charts, resonating across all markets. It saved the campaign, created a paradigmatic shift at MillerCoors on how they viewed their agency partners, and garnered a 'black agency' their first ever 'general market' assignments.
One of my first copy assignments was coming up for a name for a small product line within Sony's mobilecomm division. I suggested 'Xplod'. The name and moniker resonated so much within the international tuner community that the tiny division ballooned to become a global phenomenon for Sony for over a decade. Cheesy? Oh, for sure. I agree. But, then again, you and I weren't the target.
It's my belief that ideas that resonate the most are ideas that are based in human truth. Sometimes, they take years to craft.
And sometimes, they can take five minutes... like my Craigslist ad that became national news.