CargoKids - "Accessorize"

CargoKids, later Pier 1 Kids, sold all kinds of cool furniture and accessories for kids' rooms. Through research, we discovered kids liked having a voice in how their rooms were decorated. So we gave them one. Turns out adult rationale delivered by kids is pretty cute. Based on sales, Moms thought so too. 

Frank Parra - "Have The Best Deal"

Early on, we worked with a lot of local car dealers and most wanted to do exactly what you'd expect. But we had an idea for something completely different and Frank Parra let us run with it. We cast the spot in L.A. and found actor Charlie Stewart to play aspiring car salesman Spunky Wonderbean. 

Frank Parra - "Take Care Of The Customer"

About six months after we shot these spots, Charlie landed a role on the ABC comedy "Life With Bonnie" starring Bonnie Hunt. We were happy to have spotted his talent early on and were proud to have done something different among the screaming price points from other car dealers. 

Stanley Steemer - "Beautiful"

We went into this spot with a script. We went through casting with a script. On shoot day, we got a precious little boy with a cold and one word - "Beautiful." Through some creative rewriting and the addition of a VO, we turned it into one of our favorite spots and hands down, the favorite with Moms.

CargoKids - "Reflection"

We cast this campaign in L.A. and just happened to arrive with the hundreds of kids in town for pilot season. The last day of casting, we were still missing the star centerpiece of this spot when this little boy from Spartanburg, SC walked in with his infectious accent. If we could have adopted him on the spot, we would have.

Frank Parra - "Leave Others In The Dust"

In each of 11 spots, Spunky learns one of the valuable lessons that all Frank Parra salespeople know. Charlie's iconic look and infectious personality helped us make this campaign instantly recognizable. At the end of the day, he wanted to take this Corvette home. Fortunately, so did a lot of other people. 

Stanley Steemer - "So Careful"

The same time we shot "Toby's New Trick" with Director Bob Ebel, we shot a series of spots featuring kids talking about the Stanley Steemer guys who came to clean their carpets. Bob was brilliant with children and this little girl from Wisconsin stole every heart on the set. 

CargoKids Online - "Mom's News Network"

Full Disclosure - this never ran. But it should have. To support CargoKids, I had the idea to have a kid record a two minute recap of the week's news every week. On Fridays, it would be emailed to busy Moms with deals for the weekend. As a demo, I recorded my son Matthew delivering the script. Still love this idea.