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pacific life: refreshing a 150-year-old brand

2/21/2021

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Challenge: Increase brand awareness and positive recall of an insurance brand that had been heavily outspent in media by its competitors for over 50 years. Previously, Pacific Life's commercials were dull affairs consisting entirely of stock footage of humpback whales and unmemorable voice overs.
Strategy: Create TV spots using the whale icon in conceptually unexpected and memorable ways.
Result: Year after year, Pacific Life enjoyed a 10 to 15% increase in brand awareness and positive brand association.
"Children"  No whales or children were harmed in the making of this spot. The kids were in a pool in Florida. The stock footage of humpbacks was photographed by sea-faring adventurers. We shot a bunch of beautiful blue water in the Bahamas for merging the two sources. The rest was the result of digital FX magic and a nice version of Vivaldi we commissioned from HUM in Santa Monica.

"Tennis" One of my favorite spots that I've worked on as copywriter. No animals were harmed (including a humpback whale), but some professional tennis players got soaking wet.

"Animated Paintings" This spot shows Pacific Life's 'mascot' humpback whale in a new light, through the lens of the styles of famous artists. It features animation by Academy Award-winning artist Alexander Petrov. To create the spot's rich effects, Petrov and his team used their fingertips as brushes. In his Moscow studio, the artist—best known for his Oscar-winning animated short, The Old Man and the Sea—painted 625 oil-on-glass pieces over a three-month period.
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zicam: the product launch that reinvented the cold remedy

2/21/2021

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When it launched, Zicam Cold Remedy was a game-changer in OTC remedies. It shortens the duration of a cold, rather than just masking symptoms. We thought an untraditional remedy called for untraditional cold remedy advertising; as Seinfeld might say, no hugging, no smiling, and no spots featuring sick couples in bed late at night... He turns on the light, "I can't sleep..." yadda yadda yadda... the next morning everything's fine... yuck.
   The creative brief highlighted the fact that colds are spread in enclosed spaces. We thought setting the launch spot in a space shuttle could be a fertile location for memorable hijinks.

In the year after launch, we came up with a campaign called The Short Cold, back-to-back :15s that played off of the word "short."
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the portfolio shop

2/21/2021

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In the wake of the 2008 recession, I freelanced for a few years "in between" staff jobs. I worked for Raleigh-area agencies, had some of my own clients, and also set up a school called simply The Portfolio Shop. My classes attracted undergrads at the college down the street, UNC Chapel Hill; the kinds of students who were interested in practical education. I had a lot of fun, got great reviews. And the old saying was true; I learned just as much as I taught. OOH posters for the school:
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"transfusion" campaign helped save lives

2/20/2021

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Picture
CLIENT: Novartis Pharmaceuticals
GOAL: Increase number of patient tests for Iron Overload, a potentially life-threatening condition that is a by-product of chronic blood transfusions. 
CHALLENGES: Many recipients of these transfusions are sickle cell disease (SCD) patients, very often young children or teens. These patients and their caregivers are naturally focused on their primary disease, making sure they get a transfusion when a pain crisis occurs from the SCD. Hence they have little awareness of Iron Overload, a secondary but potentially fatal condition.
WHY FATAL?  Iron is deposited permanently in the body with each transfusion. After 10 transfusions, this excess iron can damage internal organs and become fatal. EXJADE is the Novartis drug which, taken orally with juice, binds with the excess iron and flushes it out in urine. A positive test typically leads to prescription of EXJADE.

 SOLUTION:

unbranded campaign:  transfus10N

This bold, text-based typographical solution grabbed the attention and interest of caregivers visiting transfusion clinics. Its simple and elegant melding of the number 10 within the word "transfusion" led to a 10% increase in sign-ups for Be Transfusion Smart, the patient support program, and a similar increase in the number of blood tests given for Iron Overload.
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jiffy lube campaigns drove L.A. Traffic

2/20/2021

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Picture
Challenge: Southern California is car capital of the U.S., an important market for Jiffy Lube. But while oil changes are important, it's never top-of-mind, and many people doubt Jiffy Lube's expertise.
Strategy: Reach people where they live: in their cars, surrounded by outdoor billboards and radio spots that entertained as well as informed.
Result: Our campaigns consistently led to increased car counts whenever our radio was on the air, and in years where the brand had flat sales around the U.S., the LA Jiffy Lube market rose an average of 10% higher.
The "Street Smart" campaign touted the expertise of Jiffy Lube. 

Radio celebrated the everyday heroes of L.A.... the drivers who survive the traffic, relying on Jiffy Lube to help them stay on the road.

Jiffy Lube "OR ELSE"

This campaign of outdoor and radio served as a gentle reminder of the importance of changing the oil.

SUPER-HERO CAMPAIGN

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    the better stuff

    In any career, there'll be opportunities to produce work that you feel quite proud of.
        And...a lot of the time you just do the "daily stuff" that may not win an award but does help you pay the mortgage.         
       Here is where I collect some of my favorites from along the way: the magic that happens when you have a good client, a good partner, and some good karma.

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Michael Berliner is an experienced copywriter based in the Triangle area of North Carolina (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill).   Get in touch with Michael
  • Home
  • About Me
    • My resume
    • Happy clients
  • some of my Best Work
  • Work by Industry
    • Food
    • Healthcare >
      • Blue Cross Blue Shield
      • Managing Care Solutions
    • Pharmaceuticals >
      • Osteoarthritis / Bioventus
      • Bone Stimulation / Fracture Healing
      • Common Cold / Zicam OTC
      • Iron Overload / Exjade Rx
      • HPV / Gardasil Vaccine
      • Crohn's Disease / CIMZIA Rx
      • Loyalty / Botox & Juvederm
      • Hypophosphatemia / Fosrenol
    • Financial Services >
      • Pacific Life brand TV
      • GreenlightLoans.com
    • Non-Profits
    • Technology >
      • ShopBotTools.com
      • Handibot.com
      • 100kGarages.com
    • Real Estate
    • Recruitment
    • Automotive >
      • Jiffy Lube
    • Blogging samples
    • Radio!
  • Contact
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