MARK KRAJAN

Brita came to us after years of stagnant sales wanting to win over Gen Z and transform themselves from a dormant utility brand into one with true cultural relevance. How did we do it? With a universe of characters including a singing shark, rapping cat, water-drinking robot, a band of plundering pirates and generally unhinged water chaos.

The wry and nihilistic Brita Shark led the way, urging us to sip water and tell ourselves, “At Least I’m Hydrated.” This lyrical anthem was rooted in a deeply relatable Gen Z truth that resonated time and time again: in the face of all that life throws at you, hydration is one small bit of self-care within your control.

I currently lead the team responsible for creating 180+ pieces of content a month across seven platforms… and scaling success into bigger brand efforts. Along the way, we’ve held live concerts with Brita Shark, released multiple tracks on Spotify (750,000+ streams), sold a collectible line of plushies on TikTok… with lots more watery`chaos to come.

Role: GCD

ACD/Lead Creator/Talent: Anthony Plantyn

Lead Creator: Adrian Isais

Senior Creator: Sidney Koziarz

At the core of the Vayner model is the belief that brands are built in social. And that true consumer insights are gleaned in the comments section, not focus groups.

The music video featuring hip hop artist ThatKidCG was spurred by a TikTok that earned 36M organic views with zero media dollars. Many commenters asked “Why’s this on my FYP?” To which we answered with this banger of a song which explained that Durex is “For Your Penis.”

So this idea was inspired, and in a way conceived, by the millions of views and hundreds of comments that our videos received.

Below that are some other viral TikToks that added to the momentum of the social campaign.

Role: GCD

Creator/Talent: Craig Lashley

ACD/CW/Talent: Katie Haller

ACD/AD/Talent: Danny Chamberlain

TikTok Creators: Katie Haller, Danny Chamberlain, Adrian Isais and myself

ECD: Aaron Howe

Director: Wheaton Simis

Cute car. Chick car. Gay car. We tackled these stereotypes head on with the help of celebrity MINI owners who defied those labels. The brief was to reposition the brand towards a more sophisticated future. Getting the chance to make such a positive statement on top of that - and on such a stage - was a dream assignment.

Below the spot is a sampling of the broader program leading up to the game.

Role: CD and CW

CW: Luke Zehner

AD: Sinan Dagli

ECD: John Butler

Director: Christian Weber

The next chapter in the Defy Labels platform, this Olympic effort featured Team USA athletes such as Serena Williams who overcame adversity and stereotypes to get to Rio. Reached #4 in USA Today's AdMeter voting for top Olympic spots.

Role: CD

CW: Luke Zehner

AD: Sinan Dagli

ECD: John Butler

Director: Matt Baron

For this global mobile game launch, we took generals from across centuries and put them on the same battlefield in an epic historical mash-up. Competing with powerhouses such as Mobile Strike and Clash of Clans, this relatively unknown player rocketed to No. 5 most downloaded iPhone game in the U.S.

I led the pitch and subsequent $14M production of 12 spots and videos. Cannes Film Lion Finalist. Feat. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Aaron Eckhart and Fan Bingbing.

Role: CD

CD / AD: Chris Toffoli

CWs: Luke Zehner, Nick Zacher

ADs: Sinan Dagli, Lydia Dunay

ECD: Keith Cartwright

Director: Henry Hobson

At the time of the 2014 Super Bowl, Tim Tebow still had inexplicable star power despite being out of the game for a year… and not being able to hit the side of a barn with a football. Which made him perfect for a Super Bowl spot about the virtues of being contract-free.

Role: CD and CW

CD / AD: Chris Toffoli

ECD: John Butler

Director: Stacy Wall

All of our lives, we’ve been told to turn off the lights and save energy. For this California initiative promoting energy efficiency, we didn’t just talk the talk, we walked the walk. Every ad in this campaign saved energy in some way, however small.

In the end, our ads saved enough energy to power 1,500 homes for a year… and won a Silver Effie in the Marketing Disruptors category and two additional Bronze Effies.

Role: CD

AD: Aubrey Day

CW: Boomer Cruz

ECD: Ben Wolan

Director: Filip Engstrom

Football, fantasy and winning money. A red-blooded American trifecta backed by an aggressive $300M media plan. I led the pitch and production of 8 spots from the win to on-air in 5 weeks.

Creative X Results: the work created a 10x lift in consideration vs. their previous direct response campaign and achieved acquisition goals 3 weeks into the 6-week target date.

Role: CD / CW

CD / AD: Chris Toffoli

CD / CW: Lyle Yetman

Director: Craig Gillespie

Remember microsites? Well I like to think the idea still holds up… The insight was that bananas are a commodity. And the only difference between any two is the label. So we redesigned the iconic blue and gold Chiquita sticker to differentiate the brand and inject some freshness. We created dozens of characters and built a site where users could create and share their own. Then the best fan designs were chosen via fan vote, and featured on bananas nationwide.

The site also featured: an 8-bit arcade game to battle "bad" bananas, a store to buy apparel with your designs, banana videos and more.

Won an FWA Site of the Day and received coverage in the NYTimes.

Role: CD and CW

CD / AD: DJ Neff

Production: The Famous Group

It's a small, attractive convertible, and it looks best with its top down... From there, it took just a couple sophomoric minds to create a full-scale, working peepshow on the Hollywood Walk of Fame... which attracts its fair share of peepers. Won an OBIE.

Augmented reality print, interactive bus shelters and obviously a Playboy print ad were all part of the launch as well.

Role: CW

AD: Chris Toffoli

CDs: Lyle Yetman, Steve Mapp

Builders: Czarnowski

Puppies. Wearing GoPros. Can't argue with that. Every time MINI sold a certified pre-owned car, they would make a donation to the Best Friends Animal Society. So we used dogs as salesmen on the K-9 Showroom site. Users could toggle between four different puppy cams to tour a MINI. They could also Tweet-a-Treat, with kibble deposited into a bowl for every tweet generated.

See the site:
k9showroom.miniusa.com

Role: CD

AD / CD: Chris Toffoli:

CW: Phil VanBuren

AD: Matt Kern

Search by voice, search by image, search when you don’t even know you’re searching. You should buy some stock in this little start-up. It’s gonna be hu-uge.

Role: CW

AD: Brian Lambert

CD: Lyle Yetman

Director: Jason Reitman

Various work from two years of trying to tell the world that not all MINIs are mini.

Role: CD and CW

CD / AD: Chris Toffoli

CD: Lyle Yetman

Director: Kevin Thomas

I’ll just leave this one to the words of an Adweek writer: “If any other actor indulged in such hackneyed horseplay, it'd be a travesty. But this is Shatner. As always, he serves up the ham with a succulent glaze.”

Role: CD and CW

CD / AD: Chris Toffoli

ECD: John Butler

Director: Erich Joiner

We used a rallying cry, a punk track and Popeye to inject some testosterone into a little car for the Olympics.

Role: CW

AD: Chris Toffoli

CD: Lyle Yetman

Director: Geordie Stephens

The chicken is legitimately crazy: no preservatives, no additives and never frozen. We pitched and won this account on the idea that the ingredients and the preparation are the real loco.

Role: CW

AD: Chris Toffoli

CD: Lyle Yetman

Director: Jon Barber

The A's are a small, scrappy team. Their production budgets, too. Each spring, we’d shot 6-8 spots in a day. This work is from a three-year period at about the time that GM Billy Beane’s thrifty approach was made famous by the Michael Lewis's Moneyball.

Role: CW

ADs: Cris Logan, Steve Couture

CDs: Michael Bettendorf, Kevin Gammon

Director: Frank Samuel

I spent the first six years of my career working on Microsoft. Here's five spots from various campaigns for XBOX, MSN, Microsoft Brand and B2B.

Role: CW

ADs: Steve Couture, Tim Stier

CDs: Scott Duchon, Gerald Lewis, John McNeil, Kevin Moehlenkamp, Dante Lombardi, Walt Connelly, Rob Bagot