When it comes to a pair of pleated slacks, simply head down to the mall and buy yourself a pair. That’s not the case when we’re talking about Carhartt work pants – the toughest, hardest working, longest lasting pants the world has ever known. Because you don’t just “buy” a pair of Carhartt’s, you hire them. You enter into an unshakable bond between man and pant. A loyal co-worker who will be with you every step of the way. Which is exactly how it’s been since Hamilton Carhartt founded his namesake company back in 1889. And that won’t be changing anytime soon, either.

So the next time you have a job that’s bigger than any one person can handle, look to Carhartt. And Hire These Pants. 

Anywho, this was a super fun campaign to work on with Carhartt, and one of my personal favorites since being at Wexley. Not only is it always a pleasure to wrap your head around such a great brand, the end product turned out great and our clients were super happy, too. That always helps. And we also got to work with the extremely talented John Keatley to shoot our badass pants. And if that wasn’t enough, Mr. Andre Vriesman even got to be the pant model. Unfortunately we had to photoshop him out in the end, but if you don’t believe me, here’s proof:

Dolphin disappointment

Be on the lookout for some fun, quirky new commercials for Taco Del Mar soon. It stars a long board surfer riding on a never ending wave of deliciousness and a few of this friends from the sea. Oh, and he really loves the new TDM Shrimp Tostada. A lot. And he wants everyone to know.

Shhhh. Tostadas are here.

Attention, ocean...

CLIENT: Taco Del Mar  |  AGENCY: Wexley School for Girls  |  DIR: Fred Northrop Jr.  |  PROD CO: Southdown Creative

Seattle is one of the few cities lucky enough to now have a Carhartt Store in its limits. Because of this, Wexley School for Girls and I were lucky enough for the opportunity to design a few t-shirts for this new store, one of which was picked to be given away during the Grand Opening held back on 3/22/12. And if that wasn’t awesome enough, they even invited me down to sign each and every shirt during the event.

It’s already quite an honor to work on and wrap your head around a great and historic brand like Carhartt as it is. But then for the opportunity be at the Grand Opening of only their fifth retail store, representing both the brand and myself as a local artist, was unbelievable. I still almost don’t believe it actually happened. Everyone who came through the door was directed toward a table with a big pile of black t-shirts, and me with a silver Sharpie in hand. And the coolest part was how happy everyone was about the shirt and to have my signature on it. I was sure people wouldn’t give two shits about me and my signature, but was I wrong. People were taking pictures of me, and with me. One with someone’s daughter holding up my shirt. Everyone had great things to say (a nice woman even complemented me on my dimples). People actually wanted me to sign it. And of the 120 total shirts, I’m positive I signed at least 116 of them (unfortunately a few people grabbed a shirt and immediately wandered off into the crowd).

Anyway, the experience was amazing to say the least, and I’m really happy with how the shirts turned out. And I hope everyone who received a shirt at the Grand Opening gets many happy years out of their new Carhartt Seattle shirts. You should also stop by to see the store in person. It’s beautifully decorated like an old logging camp, and the attention to detail is impeccable.

If you weren’t able to be there for the Grand Opening, here’s a quick video to encapsulate things a little. And in perfect Carhartt fashion, the ribbon cutting was replaced by a section of drywall that was busted up with sledgehammers by baseball legend Edgar Martinez and Carhartt CEO Mark Valade. And if you watch closely, you can even see me pop up a few times when the camera pans to the left during the ribbon cutting, and in the store signing the t-shirts.

Carhartt has their grand opening downtown Seattle and Danny Bonaduce welcomes them. Ribbon cutting is done by Edgar Martinez, Carhartt syle.

A few months ago my writing partner, Andre Vriesman and I, were brought in to do some early concepting on a top-secret project that, in retrospect, we knew little about or were unsure if it would ever happen. But as luck would have it, the project later dubbed (at least internally) “The Big-Ass Phone” actually did happen just two short weeks ago. And looking back over the timeline and the event itself, I’m really proud that we were able to play even a small part in such an awesome and literally huge thing for the Windows Phone, Wexley School for Girls and all the people who were there to enjoy the show. Not to mention all the other talents that came together for everything to go so wonderfully.

Last week our team at Wexley School for Girls launched our very first campaign for Taco Del Mar. We’ve been working super hard over the past few month on this, and it’s extremely rewarding to finally see this stuff out in the real world. And basically, here’s the idea behind it all:

AHHH...Tommy what happened? Can you fall into a giant burrito at TACO DEL MAR®? Of Course, Of Course!

Does Taco Del Mar have the biggest burritos on the planet? Of course. Does Taco Del Mar have the greatest Fish Tacos on earth? Of Course. Does Taco Del Mar make your food exactly like you want it with the most tantalizing ingredients? Of course. Does Taco Del Mar make your food fast? Of course. Is it filling and satisfying? Of course. And when your friend calls and asks, “Hey man, want to go grab some Taco Del Mar?” you’ll love it so much the answer isn’t just a single “Of course.” It’s an emphatic, “¡Of Course! ¡Of Course!”

Is this gorila eating a Mondo Burrito??? "Of course, Of course!"

It’s not often that one of your favorite pieces from a campaign happens to be a billboard, but it’s hard to see the “Cougar Fight” billboard and not smile. It still gets me, even though I’ve looked at it a thousand times. And as we roll out more work in the next few weeks for the campaign I’ll be sure to keep adding in the new stuff. So be on the look out for it. The whole campaign is going to be super fun and stupid in a good way.

Agency: Wexley School for Girls Art Director: Andy Westbrock Copywriter: Matt Kappler Creative Director: Ian Cohen Developer: LitFuse

Ever wish you could have a super-awesome date with super-awesome professional soccer players? Of course you do. You’re only human and the need for love and soccer are part of our basic human necessities. Luckily, there are now things in place to help you with this very thing.

Recently, we launched Make a Date with a Sounder. There you have a chance to get to know the guys of the Seattle Sounders FC , learn their likes and dislikes, and obviously, make a date with a Sounder (along with 36,000 other fans). If all that doesn’t satisfy your basic human needs, I don’t know what will. You’re probably a lost cause and dead inside.

So if you’re in the Seattle area, hopefully you’ll see the full campaign running (billboards, TV, print, charity eBay auctions). I’ll post the rest later, but for now check out everything that’s going on at datewithasounder.com and don’t forget to actually make a date.

Note: Last night the Sounders broke the MLS attendance record with 46,505 wild, screaming fans. I like to think we sold a good share of those tickets. They’ve also added over 30k new fans on Facebook in just four weeks since the campaign has launched.

CLIENT: Seattle Sounders FC | AD: Andy Westbrock | CW: Matt Kappler | CD: Ian Cohen | AGENCY: Wexley School for Girls | DEV: LitFuse