VINCENT JOHNSON

“Normality is a paved road: It’s comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it.” - Vincent van Gogh

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TK Maxx - Christmas to the Maxx

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TK Maxx - Big Love, Small Prices

After we started working on TK Maxx’ 2020 Christmas campaign in February, the pandemic reached its peak and all bets were off. 

Once we returned to the work we had, we realised a new approach was necessary that took into consideration the mood of the nation. With fears mounting over whether or not Christmas would be the same this year, our role became clear - to ensure Christmas doesn’t lose its magic this year, because the possibilities are still ridiculous at TK Maxx. 

The idea that after the year we've had, everyone deserves to feel special this birthed the sassiest and coolest lil’ goat I’ve ever see/worked on.

Something fun, that nods to the year we’re had with a sense of levity felt exactly right for what the world needed. 

The film was accompanied by a TikTok partnership where creators share their best version of lil’ goat’s strut. 

More on that, and results, to come...

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Three - Future is Good 

When Three asked us how to launch their 5G network, they were incredibly excited, as they had acquired more network spectrum than any of its competitors, which meant it would (eventually) be able to offer the fastest 5G. 

However, we encountered two key problems, 1) 5G didn’t mean anything to anyone, and spectrum even less so, and 2) Three’s network perception was far behind its competitors so a claim about being the best would fall on deaf ears.  

Our task was clear, get people excited about what Three’s 5G could mean for their lives in a way that felt relatable and personal. 

So often visions of the future in advertising are bland, shiny, perfect boring utopias. We wanted to bring to life a future Britain could feel, and get behind, especially in the face of so much uncertainty. 

We’ll let the competition answer questions about the future of education and open heart surgery, while we answer the big questions...what will Greggs look like? What will Lewis Capaldi be up to? What about Love Island? And will football ever come home? 

Obviously, all fuelled by Three’s 5G network. 

We ended up with an epic 3-minute film to launch the campaign, Metro cover wraps and OOH executions that triggered AR experiences, social films that explained what 5G really was, and stunts that brought the technology to life in a tangible way. 

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National Trust - Everyone Needs Nature

The National Trust came to us in 2019 with a relevance issue. People thought it was a charity for OAPs preserving old homes, serving cream tea and scones. 

Over its 125 year history, people (and the Trust itself) had forgotten why it was set up in the first place - to preserve Britain’s nature, beauty and history, and ensure it’s accessible for all. 

So to make NT more relevant in 2020 we went back to 1883, when co-founder Octavia Hill said something so timeless, it became the heart of our new positioning: 

“We all want quiet. We all want beauty. We all need space. Unless we have it, we cannot reach that sense of quiet in which whispers of better things come to us gently.”

This human need for nature is more vital today than ever and our campaign brought to light Octavia’s original mission by unearthing wisdom from nature. 

When COVID-19 hit, we shifted our approach to ensure NT’s green spaces would still be accessible for those locked inside, and a new batch of work which ran on TV and in social aimed to provide the public with moments of calm amongst the information-overload and anxiety of living through a pandemic. 

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Cravendale - It’s Not Milk

In 2019, Cravendale were seeing sales slow down as people were either moving to milk alternatives or buying the supermarket’s own value brands. 

Research told us that 93% of UK consumers were buying standard fresh milk because they believed “milk is just milk”.

But Cravendale is no ordinary milk, it’s fresh milk, filtered for purity, which means it lasts longer. So our approach became clear: to convince the nation that not all milk was created equal. 

The creative platform “It’s not Milk” playfully brought this to life, and created quite a fuss. There was even a radio ad which featured the Arla legal department debating the issue. 

All in all, our campaign got people talking, set us apart from regular fresh milk, and ensured Cravendale was top of mind when people hit the store. 

And yes I know, it is milk.

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Under Armour - Run Verboten

(case study film)

(social films)

Under Armour wanted to break into the running category in Germany, but they had no credibility or awareness there.

We travelled to Berlin to find out what makes our target audience tick. After spending time walking, talking, and running with the target audience, we found that there was a clear disconnect between how they felt, and how they were depicted. 

They didn’t feel accurately represented by the image of runners in Germany, and wanted to show the world that they were “the punks of running”.

This challenger spirit was not only alive amongst our audience, and at the heart of Berlin’s culture, it’s also a sporting truth that aligned with Under Armour’s philosophy: you must challenge the status quo, because convention is the enemy of progress. 

Thus, our creative platform ‘Run Verboten’ was born, and we targeted Berlin’s biggest running event of the year, the Adidas-sponsored marathon, to launch our new social-first campaign encouraging Berliners to do what comes naturally to them, run against the grain.

‘Run Verboten’ became the heart of our campaign, and operating system for how we behaved including hijacking OOH locations around adidas’ marathon course, organising a running event in an abandoned spy base, and geo-targeting runners with social posts.

The campaign turned Under Armour into the most talked-about sports brand in Berlin, generated millions of earned impressions, and made Adidas look like conformists in their own backyard.

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Bonprix - More Than Meets The Eye

Bonprix is one of the Otto Group’s biggest fashion brands, yet in 2018, it had somewhat lost its cool.

“Not my style”. “For boring housewives.” “Something my gran would wear.”

The brand was in need of a fresh point of view. When we looked at the truth at the heart of Bonprix’ product offering, and the lives of our target audience, we found that there was much more to both than met the eye.

At a time when the fashion industry was obsessed with unattainable and superficial beauty ideals, we chose to celebrate the wonderfully imperfect lives of our audience, showing them that we understood them.

Our campaign launched with a film taking on Bonrix’s perception, and the perception of its consumers, showing the world that one should never judge a book by its cover.

The campaign ran across Europe, with each key market getting a unique version of the song to match their language which was also launched on Spotify.

More than just a campaign, the perfect fit for your wonderfully imperfect life became an operating system for how they behaved at all touchpoints.

Not bad for a dusty old catalogue brand.

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Amstel - Europa League 

For Amstel’s Europa League sponsorship platform, we dug deep into what it means to be not just a football supporter, but a support who’s team plays in the Europa League. 

Often frowned upon as the Champions League ugly little brother, what the UEL lacks in glitz and glamour, it makes up for with raw passion, excitement and true love for football. 

Our platform, ‘Dedicated to the Dedicated’ was an ode to true football fans who travel miles to watch their club succeed, who aren’t in it for the champagne. 

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PlayStation - The Wonderful Life of a PS4 Player

After one of the most successful console launches, we needed to maintain our dominance in the world of gaming by continuing our celebration of the ‘players’ and showing them how fantastic their life can be with PS4. 

As part of the campaign, a privately furnished apartment in Brussels was fully equipped with everything a player would need to live the wonderful life of a PS4 Player. Players could book a night at the apartment through Air BNB. 

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PlayStation F.C. 

To counter the EA FIFA 16 exclusive deal with Xbox we created a football platform for PlayStation to own. As Playstation had the largest number of football gamers in the world already (31 million to be exact) we used this insight to create PS.F.C - The biggest and best football club in the world. The campaign launched with a 60 second spot during the opening games of the UEFA Champions League. With each scene then edited down to create a series of idents that would run within ad breaks for the entire Champions League season.

We partnered with Adidas to create the kit, and to coincide with the famous 'La Ballon D'or' (The Golden ball) award, we created the 'La Mannete D'or', The Golden Controller. An award for the best goal scored on FIFA 16.

The competition received millions of entries with players sharing their best goals online using the PS share button.

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Asics - Find Adventure 

Asics was the world’s number one running brand among elite runners. But there was a new breed of runners with a completely different relationship with running.

After spending time with them, we found that they’re not in it for PB’s and marathon medals. For them running is a way to explore cities, meet new people and have new experiences. It’s this lust for adventure and discovery that inspired the brief for Asics’ new urban running collection.

The idea was brought to life by creating the world’s first immersive running experience in L.A.

The experience invited a group of runners, including journalists and key influencers, to step into the shoes of Hollywood detectives with a film-noir style case to solve.

The runners were choreographed across a 5K urban course taking in multiple locations for theatrical interactions. They raced through the streets unravelling clues through downtown L.A., taking in locations including the Roxie Theatre, Dutch Chocolate Shop and Bank Reserve Building.

The event was filmed and spread through the influencers’ social channels, helping ASICS stake a claim with a new audience and a new type of running.

The campaign generated 687,000+ positive comments in just 3 days and 27.4 million impressions, including Vanity Fair, Glamour, Fox News and Yahoo. - Creativity Online - Pick of the Day, Feb 2017 - Communicatie Online - Best Activations, March 2017

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Asics - Want It More

When Asics came to us with the challenge of heading into a new category (training), and injecting new life into the brand, we looked deep into the world of sport to find out what Asics could really mean to athletes.

We found that Asics has always been for the slightly more dedicated, the ones who go the extra mile, those who set themselves a goal, any goal, and won’t stop until they achieve it. Looking deeper, we saw that once people set themselves a goal, their whole relationship with sport changes, and it becomes more than looking good in a pair of neon sneakers.

It’s in this dedication we found our inspiration, and from there we set out to show those athletes that Asics is as dedicated to them, as they are to their sport, and will provide them with everything they need to get where they want to go.

In addition to all of the ATL work (TV, print, OOH), we needed to walk the walk. So we created an online platform with 15 second tutorials built to help athletes train in a fun and more effective way - which also lived on social as bite-sized training inspiration.

The Guardian said, "The line - "Want it More" - makes Nike's "Just do it" sound laidback, flaky and out of date". - Cannes Lions 2016 - Film Shortlist - Campaign - Ad of the Day - Fast Company - Top 5 Ads of the Week - Creativity - Editor's Pick - Shots - Contender - The Guardian - Ad Break - The Drum - Creative Works Feb 2016 - David Reviews - 5 Stars

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Asics - Don’t Run, Fly

With the launch of Asics’ FlyteFoam shoes, we saw an opportunity to not only advertise our latest cushioning technology, but to help runners get faster - regardless of their level.

We launched the campaign with a launch film (no pun intended) that captured the feeling FlyteFoam technology gives you.

We then followed up with additional social content that helped improve speed through specific exercises demonstrated by key ASICS athletes.

Finally, we worked together with Runkeeper to create a training module within the app, that would challenge, inspire and guide runners to their new and improved PBs, because who wants to settle for running, when you can fly?

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Amstel - Hold my Beer

For Amstel Russia’s 2016 brand campaign, we dove deep into what friendship and loyalty means to Russian men.

What we found, was that they are a lot more serious about their friendships than other parts of the world. This insight aligned very nicely with the fact that Amstel was founded by two close friends, as they were fed up with the quality of beer they were drinking.

Our brand platform was born: Serious About Beer & Friendship since 1870.

The film charmingly brings to life the type of unquestionable dedication that Russian friends have for one-another.

- Epica 2018 - Silver - Creativity - Editor's Pick - Shots - Contender - David Reviews - 5 Stars

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Asics - MetaRun

Asics was always famous for its scientific approach to running, but when they came to us with their most advanced running shoe yet, we wanted to take their business to new levels by embracing their technological credentials and using them to our advantage.

For the first time ever, we took people with us to Asics’ ISS lab, where their scientists work continuously on creating the next running innovations.

This campaign was more than just creating a film, we worked on the name of the line, naming specific technological components, and coordinating an integrated shoe launch that made a sizeable impact in the world of running.

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Asics - DynaFlyte

After 3 years of development and 300 prototypes, Asics created a new midsole that offered greater energy return and greater durability, and that all in a lighter package. FlyteFoam was initially part of the MetaRun but would be the key piece that transitions into other shoes across the business.

So instead of just launching another shoe, we set out to make FlyteFoam famous as Asics’ greatest cushioning technology yet, by showing what these shoes are now capable of.

Staying in the technological and scientific environment we previously created with the MetaRun launch, we aimed to boost Asics’ innovation credentials to new heights.

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Asics - Turn Off-Season On

We turned the launch of 3 separate product launches into one campaign appealing to athletes that don’t know what off-season is.

These products help athlete keep pushing through challenging environments and circumstances to ensure they get the most out of their performance when the time is right - getting an advantage over those huddled up by the heating with a hot chocolate.