Associate Creative Director/Art
Director of Content Production
Senior Creative Partner
Founder/CCO
This could be a quote.
is one of the most award-winning creative people in Detroit advertising history. He started in the mailroom at Doner, but rose quickly to Chief Creative Officer. He helped transform that regional shop into the world's largest independent ad agency with revenues of nearly $2 billion. Along the way, he brought to life some of the most popular campaigns of recent years including "Zoom-Zoom" for Mazda and "Counting Sheep" for Serta. Today, John enjoys working one-on-one with clients at his own agency, Industri.
Senior Creative Partner
Strategic Planner
Operations Manager
“Zoom-Zoom”
The Mazda brand had experienced a sales drop of 10% while
import brands as a whole had grown by a staggering 51% in the U.S.
Mazda needed an idea to disrupt the way consumers thought about it’s brand.
The idea had to be, in a word: impactful. In two words: Zoom-Zoom.
Brand awareness jumped 11%. And “Zoom-Zoom” went on to enter popular
culture in a way that few brands do, including references on popular shows
like “Letterman” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” Forbes Magazine quoted Russell
Wager, VP of Marketing for Mazda North America, “If you ask people what
Mazda stands for, 10 out of 10 will say Zoom Zoom.”
“Counting Sheep”
Setting the Serta brand apart in the easily confused group
of mattress “S” brands – Sealy, Simmons and Serta.
Show that comfortable Serta mattresses were making “counting sheep” a
thing of the past. The iconic “Counting Sheep” characters gave consumers a
quick and understandable way to differentiate and prefer the Serta brand.
The “Serta Counting Sheep” campaign increased Serta’s brand preference
83% among the critical 25-54 age group of women. It also won it’s share
of awards including a Gold Effie, Ad Age’s “Commercial of the Month,” and
a star on Madison Avenue’s Advertising Walk of Fame.
“Christmas Caravan”
Increase sales of Coca-Cola during the fiercely competitive holiday season.
In the 1930’s, Coca-Cola commissioned artist Haddon Sundblom to create
portraits of St. Nick. Those images were brought to life by putting them not
only on 12-packs of Coca-Cola (“Santa Packs”), but also on brightly lit Coke
trucks which rolled into town heralding the beginning of the holidays.
Sales of “Santa Packs” skyrocketed, and the caravan became a beloved
sign of the season. Everywhere they stopped, folks turned out in throngs to
take pictures of the trucks. Today, Coke Caravans continue to delight folks
the world over from London to Singapore.
“On the Move”
Incredible as it may seem, even though BP had a huge number
of fueling stations all across Europe, the public viewed them as just
a second tier petroleum provider.
To lift their prestige and image, the tag line “On the Move” was
instituted and a campaign created to highlight BP’s innovation,
infrastructure, and ability to fuel every type of vehicle on earth.
Within 24 months, BP’s reputation, prestige and revenues were
elevated significantly. Research confirmed that BP was being viewed
as a top tier petroleum brand all across Europe.
“Mr. Six”
To make a regional “day-trip” amusement park relevant and
desirable against a backdrop of “Super Parks” like Disney which could
outspend them many times over.
Mr. Six, “the ambassador of fun” was created to spread the message
that people should get out of their overscheduled and boring routines
to come out for a day of fun at Six Flags.
It achieved scores of 100% awareness and 93% likeability -- scores
virtually unheard of in advertising. The chairman of Disney, Robert Iger
even remarked to Mark Shapiro the President of Six Flags, that “Mr. Six”
was the best theme park advertising he had ever seen.
“Simply Unfooled Around With”
Introduce from scratch, a new, not-from-concentrate
product for Minute Maid.
The work focused on one simple, very compelling idea:
that this nearly perfect product of nature could not be improved
upon, so Simply Orange didn’t try.
“Simply unfooled around with” resonated with consumers
and in just five weeks on the market, helped Simply Orange
garner a whopping 4.3% market share.
“Your Friend In The Digital Age”
In an era where consumers were frustrated by cable companies in
general, COX could not escape being lumped in with this group.
As a result, they were held in low regard by their target market.
The equation needed to be changed. People had to be shown that
COX was a cable company that had their best interests at heart. Enter
“Your friend in the digital age”, a campaign that not only focused on
COX’s superior customer service, but also their offering of new products
to help enhance customers’ lifestyles, safety, and convenience.
The number of COX subscriber households jumped 7% while
disconnects continued to diminish year after year.
“Made From
The Best Stuff
On Earth”
Create a memorable themeline for a relatively new product to
help it stand out in an increasingly crowded category.
In 1990 Tom DeCerchio penned the now iconic themeline
“Made from the best stuff on earth.”
Today, 24 years later, the themeline is not only still in use, but has
been proudly displayed on over 5 billion bottles, worldwide.
One thing is irrefutable: A big compelling idea that cuts through everything is still the
Holy Grail of advertising. For a brand, it can make the difference between thriving, or not.
We think it’s fair to say we have a strong record of keeping clients on the thriving side.
From initial strategy and branding to final execution, our integrated team of strategists,
account managers, creative and digital specialists create ideas that are both seductively simple
and difficult to ignore in an ever-changing digital and traditional landscape.
Our ultimate aim is to give clients resonating ideas that live on, so that their message
enjoys a building effect with each successive telling and through each successive platform.
As our work shows, we’ve created many compelling ideas that have lived on for years.
Digital
Social
Experiential
Environmental
Print
Film
Radio
Point of SaleIn our minds, effective advertising gives a brand a unique identity, separates its appeal from
all of its rivals, and suggests that the brand can offer something that no other brand can.
Not bad.
But the very best advertising goes a step beyond: it helps to inspire within the customer
a personal belief in the brand. When a person develops a personal belief about something,
it's a very powerful emotional force.
Imbued with personal belief, a customer is more likely to be loyal. More likely to advocate
your brand to others. Less likely to be swayed by competitors.
Inspiring personal belief. To us, it's the added increment.
Something happens to ad agencies when they become bigger and public.
They add a lot of layers of management. They become more bureaucratic.
They really get into process, rather than results, rather than the actual work.
With no bureaucracy to bog us down, we’re able to mobilize quickly
to plot strategies, hatch creative ideas, and design full campaigns with speed
and effectiveness, often within a week.
At Industri, we waste no time and we waste no opportunities.
It's a different world. The twenty-first century has provided us with a multiplicity
of ways to disseminate your message. And though these conduits of information allow us
to communicate with increased focus and precision, some principles remain unchanged.
A brand still needs a differentiating point of view.
A brand still needs to stand out from the crowd.
A brand still needs a unique personality.
Without the right personality, no one will remember you.
With the wrong one, no one will believe you.
Yes, change is the law of advertising. But some things will remain immutable.
In this year, or a hundred years hence.
Email info@industri.com
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