Hi there! Tal Here. CCO, Creative Director, Copy/Art. UX/UI Designer, Strategist, Screenwriter. This is not a catch-all SEO play, just what I’ve been up to in ad agencies, in-house tech, and as a consultant over the past 15 years. Below you’ll find jargon-filled, smile-inducing, and hopefully tear-jerking, multidisciplinary, cross-platform, 360° conversion tactics—packed full of levity, brevity, and run-on sentences that may or may not be worth reading.
Have a look! You won’t regret it. Unless of course, you have something better to do, like stretching or calling your mom. Call your mom! (She’ll always be there for you.)
In other news, here’s what I’ve been up to in APAC with a (multi-talented) team over the past 18 months. Tickles your fancy? Fancy some tickles? Wanna exchange notes on Shakshuka recipes—What a great word, Shak…Shu…Ka… Rolls off the tongue, right?
Shoot me an email. Let’s talk!
Uniqlo launched in the US in 2013 and asked Razorfish to build the new US ECOM site. As a Sr. Art Director, I led a team working on all aspects of the new design, strategy, and of course, FUNctionality.
What: UX, UI, Art Direction
Where: Razorfish, NY
As a Sr. Art Director at Razorfish, I helped create this social campaign for the All-New Mercedes CLA. We were a small team that worked on the brief all the way from ideation and into production. ‘Take The Wheel’ was a first-of-its-kind activation on the new hot social media network ‘Instagram’. (Yes, I’m old).
What: Art Direction
Where: Razorfish, NY
“Mouth Breathers”
What do you do when there’s a client presentation in 24 hours and no work to show? Get the account team to pump us full of coffee and ask us nicely to write 26 scripts. Very quickly. That’s what we did for Breathe Right. The result was Bob and Sandi, a couple whose snoring and nighttime congestion is a real nightmare.
This integrated campaign was a funny and wry look at how Breathe Right helped one good-natured bickering and bantering couple breathe better so they could sleep better.
What: Concept, Scripts, Creative Direction, Production
Where: WundermanThompson NY
Today with over 3.4 Billion in assets, 340k users, and a 2.6 Billion market cap, Celsius Network is a FinTech star. But in the summer of 2018, we were 10 people in a dingy office on 26th street, trying to figure out what the hell cryptocurrency was. And figure we did, raising $50M in less than 3 weeks, in the midst of a ban on crypto-related advertising which meant: No ad-words, no social posts, no fancy YouTube mastheads, no nothin’.
We bootstrapped organic animations, HTML5 Banners, and a TVC which never aired, but was instead used on Telegram—Spreading the word through a cast of anthropomorphic characters that took over the internet. Well, at least that’s what we’d like to believe.
What: Creative Direction, Design, Illustration, Production
Where: Celsius Network
“You can quit. We can help.”
Nicorette recently celebrated 20 years of helping people kick the habit. The brand wanted to raise awareness to their anniversary and show the role they played in helping millions quit.
We didn’t want to show 20 years of boring legislation so we created an animated video that travels back through the years and through music and cultural milestones shows how Nicorette helped bring the smoking rate down.
The lighthearted animation helped make a fact heavy story fun to watch and easy to digest, all while using the past to inspire current smokers to quit their nasty habit once and for all. And did I mention it won a Clio? Yay for us.
What: Concept, Script, Design, Creative Direction
Where: Wunderman Thompson, NY
Here’s a palindrome-inspired video for CHEST, the American College of Chest Physicians, a non-profit. We needed to get the attention of doctors, who can sometimes feel powerless when their patients are unmotivated about their COPD treatment.
We teamed up with Polyester, an animation studio out of Toronto, and created a video that not only got doctors to change their outlook but also provided some much-needed hope in the medical community.
What: Concept, Script, Art Direction
Where: Y&R New York
Smokers often feel that branded messages are bogus and therefore, don’t mean much to them. So, Nicorette asked us to build a new kind of support program, one that gets the realities of quitting and understands that just because you slipped up and had a cigarette doesn’t mean you’ve failed.
The result was MyQuit, a behavior modification program that included a customized, daily email program, an app that lets you track cravings in real-time, and inspiring video testimonials from ex-smokers. In the end, the client couldn’t have been happier and the boss was too when we brought an Effie back to the agency.
What: Concept, Script, Creative Direction
Where: Y&R New York
The Animation used to launch the program has over 15M views on YouTube
The case study showcasing the MyQuit program won at the Effies, MM&Ms and Smarties.
A series of testimonials shot in London, LA and Sydney featured ordinary and famous people speaking about their quitting journey. Here’s Cathy Murphy from East Enders speaking about her experience.
Sydney shoot with Kathrine
London shoot with Chris
Uniqlo wanted LA locals to shop online while waiting for the Los Angeles stores to open. Since you can identify Angelenos by the slang in their tweets, we scanned for over 1,000 words like "animal style" and "the 405." The more LA language we found, the higher the coupon reward.
What: Art Direction
Where: Razorfish, New York
Landing pages, social, blogs, and digital design for LG.
What: UI, Art Direction
Where: Razorfish, Chicago
tiltshft was a startup that we launched in 2017. It was a community-driven marketplace for buying, selling, and trading photography and film gear. We lost our funding but I’m still proud of some of the branding, UI, and strategy work that went into it.
What: Concept, UX, UI, Product DEV
An experimental rip for a new prosumer camera launch.
What: Video sourcing, Editing, SFX
Here’s a spec case study I created in 24 hours as a test project for a company I was interviewing with. The brief was open, which presented an interesting experiment of playing strategist, project manager, and designer all at the same time.
What: Concept, Strategy, Brief, Copy, Design.
Nicorette asked us to create visually driven videos with no dialogue, that can easily translate into display ads.
We decided that instead of patronizing or lecturing smokers, we would capture true-to-life moments in a light-hearted tone, that would show them that we get what it's like to quit.
What: Concept, Scripts, Creative Direction, Production.
Where: Y&R, New York
TV spots for the Flonase Kids US launch.
What: Art Direction, Production
Where: Y&R, New York
I was looking for a birthday gift for a crypto-obsessed friend but quickly found that ‘Cryptoville’ was rather lacking. I made him a poster and things spiraled from there. Here are some of the pieces I created. Yes you can buy them.
What: Design
Back when it was still cool to show your book on an iPad.