THOMAS LAKEMAN Creative Strategist | Writer

WHAT I DO I do research and insights. I develop campaign narratives. I build creative decks. I create content strategy. I can nail the voice of the brand. I’m digitally and socially creative. Deadlines are my friends.

CAMPAIGNS

OLD NAVY Social Marketing Campaign


Can you talk with your feet? You can if your favorite emoji is part of your footwear. Old Navy was looking for new ways to get people excited about its summer fashions. I thought it would be fun to let people engrave their favorite emoji onto the treads of their Old Navy flip-flops, so they could literally make their mark on the beach. The client loved it. The result was Emoodji, a mobile app that reads your social profile to find the emoji that defines just what summer means to you.

HALLMARK Brand Franchise Launch


This line of Christmas gifts was something totally new: the products wouldn’t be marketed as coming from Hallmark, but made by Santa’s elves and “imported” from the city of Northpole. Without a major entertainment property behind it, the challenge was to introduce the world of Northpole solely through advertising. I proposed making the advertising part of the story. Every part of the campaign would be presented as if the elves had created it. Kids could watch and believe. Moms could play along…and see just how fun it is to live like an elf.

NORTHPOLE1820.COM I developed content strategy and wrote all copy for the official Northpole website. Moms and kids got to see real elves at home, write a letter to Santa (and get a personal reply) and watch “found” commercials made by elves.

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Episode One

One of the highlights of the social campaign was an original video series called Northpole Now! The purpose was to give Moms creative inspiration for using Northpole products as part of their Christmas celebrations.

Episode Two

Northpole Now/Episode #3

2.

9.9.14

2255 N. Ontario St., Ste. 230 Burbank, CA 91504 818.238.9388 [email protected]

Northpole Now! Episode #3: “CURLY-CUE CELEBRATIONS” 9.9.14 Northpole Network Slate: Then, Standard open w/Title: NORTHPOLE NOW! V.O. ANNOUNCER: From the glowy Northern Lights to the snowy southern slopes—it’s all about Christmas and it’s all Northpole Now! Today’s episode— Cut in Card: ARCTIC ADVISORY. Graphic shows Santa on sleigh and Elves Dancing. V.O. ANNOUNCER: Whoa, Dasher! It’s an Arctic Advisory! Santa reminds every elf that we need lots of happiness to make Christmas magic!

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Episode Three

Cut to live-action footage of our ELF FAMILY playing games (Peppermint Ring Fling, Rooftop Drop) and dancing. V.O. ANNOUNCER: So let’s get those curly-cues moving! Spin, toss, dance, fling—and play! Say, why not start with some Magic Snowball games? Cut to Title: MAGIC SNOWBALL GAMES! Bluescreen footage of ELF MOM and DAD chasing each other and tossing snowballs. [NOTE: every time a snowball bounces off something, it glows in Northern Lights colors. Possibly dotted line traces trajectory of bouncing snowball. Animations take place against neutral/textured b.g.] Title: SNOWSCOTCH! A circular masking-tape HOPSCOTCH COURT is built on the floor. An ELF CHILD throws the snowball down and hops square by square for as long as it glows.

V.O. ANNOUNCER: It’s can’t-miss fun when you make a cardboard target for a game of Light-the-Tree! String a few more lights… A row of Christmas tree lights winds around the tree outline and holes—lights out and the Christmas lights (and snowball) LIGHT UP. V.O. ANNOUNCER: And you can keep on playing through six months of dark! Then ELF BOY pops up and tosses snowball at screen. WIPE TRANSITION to: END SLATE: Final animation OUT. Thumbnail links to episodes #1 and #2 (w/show titles). V.O. ANNOUNCER: For more Christmas ideas and fun-spiration, check out Northpole Now! on Northpole1820.com! [OFF-HUB] V.O. ANNOUNCER: Just remember—there’s lots more Christmas ideas and fun-spiration here at Northpole1820.com! Below thumbnails, product shots w/links. Subtitle: WANT TO SEE THE GIFTS FROM THIS EPISODE? CLICK AWAY! MAGIC SNOWBALL. PEPPERMINT RING FLING. ROOFTOP DROP.

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V.O. ANNOUNCER: Tape off a Snowscotch court and fling your snowball—then keep hopping for as long as the snow glows! Title: SNOWBALL SONGS! Show three ELVES in a row. Snowball BOUNCES off the middle one’s head and lands in his hands. The Elf begins to SING (musical notes float away) as others listen. V.O. ANNOUNCER: Whoever gets the snowball has to sing a Christmas song until the lights stop—then it’s their turn for a toss! Title: LIGHT THE TREE! Christmas tree is painted on a sheet of cardboard— then three stacked, successively larger holes are cut (matching the outline). A glowing snowball flies through the hole.

PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

PRODUCT ADVERTISING I wrote all copy for the national advertising campaign, which included digital ads, print mailers, and a :30 cinema spot that introduced the lead product. The ad had to walk a fine line: it had to be CARU compliant (couldn’t misrepresent what the product did) while still maintaining belief in Northpole as a real place.

Open on MOM sitting on couch. She looks up at the sound of her daughter’s voice.

GIRL: It’s time! It’s time!

Girl joins Mom on couch and they reach for the Communicator.

”emiT s’tI“ :topS ameniC 03: elophtroN

GIRL (O.S.): Mom! Mom!

:)rotacinummoC otni( EOZ !gnihtyrevE

Mom and Girl share a moment of excitement.

Girl turns Communicator dial. ZIBBY (over Communicator): Hello, this is Zibby… 4

Hallmark Cards |

eht

Girl pushes the button.

revo( YBBIZ ZIBBY (over Communicator): …and I live in GIRL: Ho! Ho! Ho! !oot eM :)rotacinummoC Northpole! Let’s sing like Santa! Ho! Ho! Ho! ! y a w w o n S Northpole | Cinema Spot | PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION | May 22 2014

!yaw wonS :)selggig( EOZ GIRL (to Mom): It’s a real elf!

Fantasy transition to Northpole elf home.

e ZIBBY: Snow my gosh!

Option A

ZIBBY (Over Communicator): Let’s be polar bears! Rarr!

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ehT :RECNUONNA .O.V .rotacinummoC elophtroN wen lacigam htiw klaT litnu yad yreve sdneirf elbaliavA .samtsirhC kramllaH reverehw Back to southern.d home. los era stcudorp MOM & CHILD: Rarr!

V.O. ANNOUNCER: The Northpole Communicator. Talk to Northpole every day till Christmas.

Hallmark Cards | Northpole | Cinema Spot | PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION | May 22 2014

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SCRIPTS Northpole :60 Cinema Spot: “Siblings” Kitchen table in a family home, decorated for Christmas. SISTER (6) sits her baby BROTHER (4) down. Brother instantly starts fidgeting. BROTHER: I want a cookie. SISTER (little mom): Hang on. You’re gonna wanna hear this. She reaches out of camera and puts the Northpole Communicator in front of him. He settles down, interested. SISTER: Okay, so this is the Northpole Communicator, and this is how we talk to the Northpole. You turn this right here… She turns the dial and it crackles into life. Brother’s eyes go wide. SANTA (VO): Ho-ho-hello, this is Santa! Push the button and tell me who’s there! BROTHER (gasping): Hi Santa! SISTER (whispering): You have to push the button.

Northpole :30 Cinema Spot: “Goodnight Chat” Inside a house in winter, Christmastime. DAD walks through the door, it's dark outside. He's greeted by MOM. From inside the house we hear their little DAUGHTER call out. DAUGHTER: Daddy! DAD: Somebody’s up late. MOM: She didn’t want to miss her goodnight chat. CUT TO: Child’s bedroom. His daughter (6) is sits up in bed. DAD (sitting on the bed): Hi there! DAUGHTER (glum): It doesn’t feel like Christmas when you’re not here. DAD (reaching into his suitcase): Well, I’m here now. And Christmas…

Baby brother pushes the button.

He hands her the Northpole Communicator. She’s delighted—this is clearly a favorite ritual.

SISTER (blurting): Hi Santa it’s Katie and this is my brother Jeremy!

DAD: …is just getting started.

SANTA: Well, jingle my bells, so it is! I just love getting Christmas started, don’t you? Tell me, how do you like to get ready for Christmas?

He turns the dial and the Communicator comes to life.

SISTER (pushing the button): I like to wrap presents and put them under the tree!

CLEMENTINE (V.O.) Hi! I'm an elf talking to you from the Northpole. I LOVE talking to friends. Who do you like to talk to?

BROTHER (into Communicator): Cookie!

DAUGHTER (smiles): Mommy and Daddy.

Sister throws him a look: seriously? Just then:

CLEMENTINE (V.O.) (laughing) That’s great! Want to say hi to a reindeer?

MOM (O.S.): Katie, can you come help me a second? SISTER (to brother): You keep talking! Katie gets up and runs o.s. Brother pushes the button. SANTA (mid-sentence): …keep being merry and I’ll talk to you soon. SISTER (pushing button): Bye, Santa! BROTHER (overlapping, mouth full): Bye Santa!

DAD: Well? DAUGHTER (whispers, to Dad): You do it. DAD: Hi, reindeer! [WHINNIES] Dad and daughter giggle together. CTA: Text 12345 or visit northpole1820.com to explore the magic of Northpole. Specially delivered by Hallmark.

Sister does a double take. Her brother’s eating a Christmas cookie. SISTER (amazed): Where’d you get that? PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

PARTNERS

DISNEY CLUB PENGUIN Rebranding
 A popular kids’ site was looking to age up its appeal to tweens. So what do tweens want? Nine other agencies came up with some variation on “to be cool.” My own research told a different story. Yes, kids want to be cool…sometimes. Sometimes they want to be goofy and uncool. They want to explore new identities, but they don’t want to take things too seriously. I captured this in a simple message. The client later told us that we were the only agency to address the challenge in a way that was authentic to the brand.

PROOF OF CONCEPT A major goal of the engagement was to develop consumer messaging that was appropriate for five global markets (U.S., U.K., South America, China, and Australia), and would work equally well in any language. Two of these tested very well. I finally decided to combine them (top), and this got an even better response from the global teams. I supervised proof-of-concept development for focus testing, including print creative (middle) that ranged from straightforward to bold. TV concepts (bottom) introduced new features and integrated live action of Disney Channel celebrities…a first for Club Penguin that has since become standard practice.

Amazingly You. Our Universe Begins With You.

Amazing Begins With You.

P.O.C. VIDEO I concepted and wrote this animatic to test various new features and marketing approaches with kids 9-12.

03a

01

VO GIRL (tween, excited): Okay, so first, I would be...um...

TITLE (Handwritten): What Will YOU Do In The New Club Penguin?

04a

VO GIRL: And I’d have this awesome new igloo on the beach...

05a

08

VO GIRL: Or a...skunk? Now everyone recoils amused from the visible stink lines of SKUNK PUFFLE.

07

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VO GIRL: And my igloo would be an Olympic skating rink where my friends and I would do synchronized ice dancing. SKATE PENGUINS slide in and do a synchronized breakdance—as a final flourish, all lighting up HOT PINK in sequence. JUDGE PENGUINS hold up a row of smiley-face cards.

010

09

VO GIRL: Ooooor maybe just a butterfly. Puffle changes to BUTTERFLY. Big sigh of relief. That’s good, butterfly’s good. VO GIRL: What will I do in the new Club Penguin?

VO GIRL: An Olympic skater. With a jetpack. This is important.

Rapid montage of different looks...

VO GIRL: No, wait, wait! The mountains. MOUNTAIN CLIMBER PENGUIN yodels.

03e

03b

We pull out to show that the whole scene has taken place in an iPad held by the Girl. GIRL: Why not everything?

VO GIRL: And my puffle could be a dragon... DRAGON PUFFLE flies in and belches fire, melting a hole in the igloo.

RESULTS Market research strongly validated the creative approach. Tweens liked the idea that 
 Club Penguin was a place where you can be yourself (no matter which “yourself” you choose to be). This brand platform is still in use today.

HOMEBOY INDUSTRIES Rebranding LA’s own Homeboy Industries helps former gang members rebuild their lives by teaching them to create fantastic products—everything from clothing to pastries, salsa to solar panels. Its downtown location is a warm, active place— filled with hopeful voices and the smell of great things cooking. The new brand identity connects quality to hope: handcrafted food and clothing, brought to you by people with amazing stories to tell.

INFOGRAPHIC

BRAND POSITIONING

MOLORI Brand Voice Molori is a network of private luxury retreats, catering to a highly exclusive clientele. My job was to develop a brand voice and consumer positioning that communicated elegance, adventure, and escape.

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

To live Molori is to cherish perfection.

It invites an authentic connection to the landscape and promises adventures at your own pace. Above all, it means never having to conform to the expected.

Elephants and giraffes water themselves beneath your private veranda. Helicopters take you to a champagne picnic at a hidden waterfall. Lie back beneath the night sky and see stars that are brighter than anything back home. Whatever you require is waiting for you here.

A stay at a Molori private retreat is more than a holiday. It is a return to your dreams.

GROUND GOOD Brand Launch Ground Good was the working title for a new kind of cloth, made from recycled post-use product. The approach I took in the brand vision (following pages) was to focus on the emotional and tactile experience of the cloth: how it feels.

The Right Material Ground Good has all the right ingredients to become a visible, energetic consumer brand. It does important work. It makes a great product. And it does all of this in a way that’s good for the planet and good for the people who make it. What it still lacks is the support of manufacturers and retailers. To achieve this, we need to help consumers create an emotional bond with the product: the look and feel of fabric that carries within it the lives of the men and women who make it. We need to let the cloth tell its story.

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Ground Good, Inc. | Branding and Activations | 10.13.14

Weaving a Story In Mayan mythology, Ixchel, the goddess of childbirth, is also the goddess of weaving. Fabric is life. That Mayan spirit is still very much alive in Honduras today, just as it is in Ground Good—taking discarded and broken things and transforming them into something vital and beautiful. Honduran fabrics are not timid! They’re bright and expressive, exploding with color. Our fabric needs to embrace this same vibrancy and expansiveness. The raw material of new beginnings. We create a name for the cloth that binds it to the stories of the people who make it.

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Ground Good, Inc. | Branding and Activations | 10.13.14

Naming the Fabric

balca
 /BAL-ca/ Mayan for “community”

tejida
 /te-HI-da/ Spanish for “woven”

ixchel
 /ee-shell/ Mayan goddess of birth and weaving

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Ground Good, Inc. | Branding and Activations | 10.13.14

how it feels As with quinoa and açai, we are creating an ingredient brand that is both socially and naturally healthy. The essence of our ingredient is not what it’s made of, but how it feels. We focus on the tactile—how the cloth feels. We celebrate life—how the cloth makes you feel. We awaken empathy—how others feel.

balca 26

Ground Good, Inc. | Branding and Activations | 10.13.14

The cloth is life—and you are present at the creation.

SAY YES TO THE DRESS Brand Extension One of TLC’s most popular programs, Say Yes to the Dress helps brides-to-be find the perfect gown for their Cinderella moments. I developed a positioning brief (following pages) to demonstrate how the show’s brand essence can be translated into a line of mass-market retail products.

BRAND VISION What does Say Yes to the Dress mean as a retail brand?

This is your moment. Something wonderful is about to begin. Dress accordingly.

A look that’s
 new, true, and you. A dress that’s everything you are and want to be. You can say yes 
 and mean it. This is you in your
 Cinderella Moment.

baby just say

YES

“I look at this dress


and I see me.” —Crystal, Say Yes to the Dress

SAY YES TO YOU.

Brand Essence

Confident

Inspired Passionate

Tastemaker

Fearless

Redesigned Logo Treatments

Showroom Experience The showroom is sacred space: it’s where Say Yes to the Dress creates the magical experience of choosing the perfect dress. Every retail space needs to evoke the showroom feeling.

Flagship Store Organized into pods: a platform for you and comfortable seats for your circle. Videos screens light up with images, color palettes, and creative inspiration. Friends can Skype in remotely. Create unique, customizable items in the store.

Hang Tags Hang tags are how we communicate with our shopper. A single tag can help our shopper home in on the occasion, her body type, and her emotional catalyst.

SPOONFUL Brand Marketing I developed consumer brand positioning and creative marketing strategy for this new mommy-and-me crafts site from Disney Interactive. What follows are excerpts from that presentation.

magic : time together is time well spent

Like the classic tale that inspired it, Spoonful celebrates the simple magic of everyday life. Through the extraordinary arrival of a practically perfect nanny, the Banks family discovers how little acts of creativity—a chalk drawing, a homemade kite, a game of Tidy-upthe-Nursery—can transform even the dullest day into a memory worth keeping.

With tuppence for paper and strings You can have your own set of wings. —”Let’s Go Fly a Kite”

To put it another way...even a few minutes can last forever if you spend it creating something with someone you love.

the

mom Every mom, no matter her circumstances, has a fundamental desire to be there for her child. Whether she’s at home every day or thousands of miles away, she longs for some way to capture every moment, big or small, and make it special.

Crafts, play, food, and celebration are a way of telling the child, “I am always here.”

every mom needs a The Spoonful is that little bit of extra help every mom needs to create something with her child—to make it just a little easier, a little more fun, a little more special.

Show a craft in progress -scissors cutting paper, icing going onto cake, etc.

a spoonful together

With Spoonful, every mom can be McGyver-mom: able to make magic out of just a few simple ingredients.

a spoonful of fun a spoonful of inspiration

: the fun part of being a mom You don’t have to be perfect because it’s not about perfection. It’s about being able to make the most out of what you have and the time you have, whether that turns out to be a lot or a little. It’s about that little spoonful that lets you be present in the moment with your child...

...no matter what.

key marketing messages Each of our proposed campaigns focuses on a different message: the how, when, and why—as well as the what—of the Spoonful experience.

Easy to Have Fun

Daily Engagement mon.

4/2 Making a Memory

How the magic happens You don’t need to invest a week of your life or a fortune in shopping to make something worth treasuring.

Whenever you need us It’s not just for birthdays and holidays. Each day, you can create something that’s perfect for occasions great and small.

Why you do it. Show your child how much you value what matters to them...whether it’s that A on a report card or a rainy day with no one to play with.

campaign concepts

Just Because

The 1-2-3 message shows how it’s easy to have fun with a campaign that highlights simple ways to play, craft, and enjoy everything the site has to offer.

We encourage daily engagement with a series of ads that are tailored to the specific day, month, and season on which the ad is viewed.

This campaign focuses on the benefit of seeing the delight in your child’s eyes when they see what you’ve created together. The site is a way of making a memory.

ACTIVATIONS

DISNEY

BABYZONE Disney was launching a new site aimed at new and expecting millennial moms. My brief to the creative team was to foster a sense that young moms were creating and owning the experience. Fueled by our discussions with new and expecting mothers, our brainstorms began to revolve around the concept of “having a moment”—something that’s personal, immediate, special, and real. Creative used the words and images of real mothers…unmissable moments to be treasured and shared.

STP

THE LEFT LANE My agency was one of five competing for a chance to re-energize consumer awareness of the classic fuel additive. Most of STP’s previous marketing focused on performance—how the product works. I saw an opportunity to spark a more emotional connection with consumers: not how we drive, but why. The result was The Left Lane Club, a social program that invited consumers to celebrate the fun of driving with the pedal down. The concept soon took off, and later became the foundation of STP’s national ad campaign.

ESRB

PSA CAMPAIGN Hoping to counter negative publicity about video games, the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) asked my agency to help raise awareness of their ratings system. I soon found the real problem: awareness was already at 85%…and the higher it got, the less people believed the ratings worked. Parents had come to think of ratings as a passive system, like airbags. We needed to get them thinking of the ESRB ratings as an active tool (like seat belts). The new message to parents: we know what you’re dealing with. Here’s help.

20TH CENTURY FOX

X-MEN: 
 FIRST CLASS Every now and then you get a chance to indulge your inner geek. Such was definitely the case with this vintagethemed iPad app, which weaves the film’s characters into the margins of history.

WARNER BROS.

THE HANGOVER PART III Interest in the Hangover franchise had waned, but moviegoers still had fond memories of the first movie. My approach was to position The Hangover Part III as the continuation of a journey, using an interactive timeline (top) to remind moviegoers of favorite moments. Social listening showed that Alan and Chow’s inappropriate dialogue were fan favorites. I concepted a Web app that allowed people to assemble classic lines into custom phone messages.

GRACELAND

THE GUEST HOUSE One of the chief curators of the Presley estate told us that “Graceland is one of those places that everyone knows, even if they don’t know it.” That phrase stuck in my mind as I worked on the pitch for The Guest House at Graceland, a new luxury hotel on the Presley estate. I decided to position the new property as part of a cultural legacy rather than a tourist destination. As it turned out, that’s pretty much how the Presley family saw it as well.

the

GUEST HOUSE at Graceland

THANK YOU I really mean it.