8 campaigns, 8 clients, 3 months

This is a not-so-humblebrag post about what the Duncan Channon crew accomplished in Q1

Last year, when I pulled in my freelance shingle to join San Francisco ad agency Duncan Channon, I knew there were lots of exciting projects in the pipeline. But even I was a little surprised by just how much work we tackled in what the financial types call “Q1.”

In the three months to start 2019, we made eight new campaigns for eight clients. Not to mention, ongoing work for four other clients. Oh, and we snuck a pitch or two in there and joined forces with an experiential/influencer agency, as well.

That volume of production would have been a big lift for a jumbo agency and it definitely stretched us at 70-person Duncan Channon. But I am super proud of what we accomplished.

The work is as varied as our clients. And early reports suggest that the campaigns are WORKING, doing that thing that advertising is supposed to do — helping to sell more stuff and/or change behaviors.

Sure, this stuff is all out in the world and on the DC website, but I wanted to pull it together in one place in a not-so-humblebrag way to to celebrate all the good work. I certainly can’t claim a role in all of it, but I’m extremely proud of the extended team who made it happen.

Upwork

Our new campaign for freshly IPO’d Upwork portrays an experience familiar to us all in the workaday world: the “oh shit, how am I going to get this done?” moment when a daunting project lands on our desk.

In a colorful, quirky world that’s hip to Upwork’s freelance platform, managers transform their anxiety into the thrill of making things happen.

InnovAsian

New client, new campaign! Was part of the pitch team last year and it was so fun, it was a big reason I decided to stick around and make DC my new home.

The spots use rhymes that play with the catchphrase “InnovAsian occasion” to help people remember the brand when navigating the grocery freezer aisle. And we did something a little different, media-wise — we aired two of them in a “pod,” separated by other ads.

You’ll have to wait for the case study for the all the deets, but the campaign is working like gangbusters — boosting sales and brand recall. Fun, funny, AND effective? That’s a win-win-win.

Rakuten

We helped the Japanese e-commerce giant drop its first ever North American campaign during the Grammy Awards, introducing Rakuten as a premium lifestyle brand for savvy online shoppers.

The work was the first piece of a months-long, ground-up brand overhaul where DC helped the brand with everything from strategy to style guidelines to the product itself.

Kona Brewing

The two lovable locals that anchor Kona Brewing’s “Dear Mainland” campaign hit the big time in a new series of spots running nationally (a first for the brand) during this year’s March Madness.

In a down beer market, Kona continues to outpace the category with significant growth over the last five years, thanks, in no small part, to two locals with a simple reminder: One life, right?

Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards

The more we learn about our winemaker clients at Sonoma-Cutrer, the more we realize that it’s the little things they do that make such a big difference in the quality of their wine.

Based on in-depth interviews with vineyard staff, we developed a series of stories for our “In Every Detail” campaign.

TriNet

If HR is all about helping real people, why does most HR advertising feel so unreal? You know those weird stock photos of happy, smiling employees pointing at at the same computer screen? That’s no workplace I’ve ever seen.

We helped TriNet tell a more honest story, celebrating the everyday messiness of the humans that help build a business. People are incredible, their benefits should be too.

SweeTARTS

Happy we can finally talk about this one! We pitched and won the SweeTARTS business late last year. It really was one of the best pitch experiences of my career.

The first batch of “Be both” work is now out in the world. It’s a super fun brand, with great clients, a terrific team, and a new creative platform that’s going to lead to some really cool stuff. Here we go…

California Tobacco Control Program

I have absolutely zero to do with this work (probably why it’s so great, TBH) but CTCP continues to be one of the agency’s most important and most meaningful clients. This latest batch of work is designed to combat teen vaping.

Again, kudos to all my Duncan Channon colleagues who worked hard to get this work out into the world over the last few months. On to the next batch!

John Kovacevich is an executive creative director at Duncan Channon in San Francisco.