Why drink water when you can drink WonderWater?
Bai approached us for the 2020 relaunch of their brand under a new positioning: WonderWater. Packed with antioxidants, superfruits, and natural flavors, Bai is not only delicious but actually good for you. Which makes everything just a little more wonderful than you expect.
My then-partner Mike Frank and I wanted to bring this world to life in a way that felt true to the brand’s musical DNA—and who better than John Legend to be our guide. His impeccable talent, personal integrity, and cheeky sense of humor aligned perfectly with the brand’s values. Paired with the polished aesthetic of director Patrick Daughters, we were able to create a campaign that looks as good as Bai tastes.
We worked closely with John Legend and his longtime producer Raphael Saddiq to reimagine the song, creating new lyrics and instrumentation. Who knows, we may have even influenced his new album cover art.
Album cover by artist Charly Palmer.
Director: Patrick Daughters
ECD: Ryan Lehr
CDs: Carmen Love + Mike Frank
ACDs: Kate O’Connor + Seth Prandini
This short film celebrates Compton, the city that inspired 2016 GRAMMY-winner Kendrick Lamar, and helped make him the artist he is today.
At a time when #BlackLivesMatter and #OscarsSoWhite were trending simultaneously, The GRAMMYs needed to attract new viewership and prove to a younger demographic that, at its core, the institution was still about the power of music.
Enter #WitnessGreatness. My then-partner Brandy Cole and I concepted this campaign to honor music’s ability to lift us out of the most challenging of circumstances. And to remind viewers that—regardless of where greatness may begin—it ends up on The GRAMMYS.
Kendrick Lamar has always been outspoken about his responsibility as an artist to use his talent for good. That year, he had been nominated to a record-breaking 11 Grammy Awards, and his song Alright had become a de facto anthem for the #BlackLivesMatter movement. He was the only one who could carry this message.
We went back to Compton, where it all began, and put Kendrick's lyrics in the voices of the community that inspired him, casting people Kendrick grew up with and even some locals off the street. Director Matt Baron worked with an agile crew of no more than 5 people, and we covered all the shots in one day.
With zero paid media, the film earned 197 million impressions, and even a nod from DeRay McKesson, one of the founders of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
Director: Matt Baron
ACDs: Carmen Love + Brandy Cole
Grand Clio 2016
Gold Clio 2016
Bronze Clio 2016
D&AD Yellow Pencil 2016
Cannes Lion Bronze 2016
One Show Merit 2016
Shortlist Cannes 2016 (6 categories)
The #MeToo hashtag went viral in 2017 but the movement’s broader mission—especially the needs of survivors—had been misrepresented.
We partnered with Tarana Burke to create this series of animated films, illustrating the path from pain to purpose and helping survivors reclaim their voices.
Based on interviews with survivors, each film opened with a soundwave that represented their voices, and then transformed into narrative elements. But most crucial to these films is their intersectionality. Each person highlighted in the series was chosen to deepen nuance in the discussion of sexual violence.
The films opened at Sundance, were featured on HBO and have gained over 389,220,433 impressions and $2.9M in earned media.
Direction: Psyop, Hornet, Elastic, We Are Royale
ECD: Jorge Calleja
CD: Carmen Love
CW: Chelsea Curry
Gold ANDY Award 2019
AICP Craft Award 2019
Bronze OneShow Pencil 2019
Campaign Inclusive and Creative Award 2019
Cannes Lions shortlist 2019
D&AD Awards shortlist 2019
The most powerful fanbase in the world is the BTS ARMY. Standing 150 million strong and with no language in common, they communicate by creating and sharing BTS memes.
When Mattel asked us to launch their new line of BTS dolls, we knew we had to speak the universal language of the internet. So we took the most popular BTS GIFs and memes and remastered them with our dolls. We even created an iMessage sticker pack to help fans spread the word.
In just 48 hours, the dolls sold out. Soon, fans were creating and posting BTS doll content of their own. By helping fans see them as more than a collectible—but rather as a shared creative tool—we commanded 3% of the global BTS conversation and earned 170% more engagement than Mattel’s average post. All, with no paid media.
200k new followers on Mattel social channels
114M+ organic impressions on Mattel channels
80k+ interactions per organic Twitter post
CDs: Carmen Love + Doris Chung
CW: Caroline Gallalee
AD: Jessica Kemmerling
Webby Honoree: Best Use of Earned Media
Squirt Soda was hugely popular in Mexico and with first-gen US Hispanics. With Gen Z and millennials, not so much.
We needed to help our Squirt client remind a young, bicultural US audience that Squirt is the OG mixer. So we created a special “mix” of our own. We even wrote some rap lyrics and developed character designs along the way.
Genzennials learned how to make an OG Paloma and we increased local Squirt sales by 9%.
Director: Julian Petschek
CDs: Carmen Love + Doris Chung
CW: Caroline Gallalee
AD: Jessica Kemmerling
One Show 2020 Finalist: Moving Image Craft
After pitching and winning Mattel’s social account, our client asked us to launch their Creatable World Collection: the world’s first line of gender-neutral dolls. We knew this was an incredible opportunity to subvert gender stereotypes and start an important cultural conversation.
We created “Flip the Script,” a social content series designed to magnify the dolls’ cultural relevance and invite new ways to play.
The doll collection was announced in Time Magazine and garnered lots of positive attention from media, parents, and young adults who saw themselves reflected in a toy for the first time in their lives. The dolls were even named One of the Best Inventions of 2019.
So we also gave the press a little love back (scroll down).
CDs: Carmen Love + Doris Chung
AD: Savannah Bradford
CW: Eddie Klein
Easter is a time to return to innocence and wonder. It’s also the silliest holiday of all. So on “Easter Fool’s Day,” we invited Target guests to play with their imagination.
This campaign celebrated the fun and nonsensical, across TV and on social media.
We also created a brand book as a visual guide for partner agencies.
Directors: AKATRE
Original Music: Antfood
ECD: Jorge Calleja
CD: Carmen Love
AD: Rachel Ma
CW: Lukas Miller
Designers: Karen Pham + Syd Rein
Brand book CW: Catherine Ogletree
The Q60 was INFINITI’s car launch of the decade. We wanted to tell the story of a vehicle that is measured in emotion, rather than sheet metal and product features.
So we enlisted Young Guru, the most celebrated audio engineer and music producer of our time (Jay-Z, Kanye West), to create a new kind of track.
Using Q60’s onboard diagnostics computer, we recorded Guru's driving data as he flogged the car around a racetrack at Willow Springs—and then created a music track based on this information. The result is a track driven by the heartbeat of the car itself.
The track was available for fans to download and remix, virtually collaborating with the artist.
Director: Jacob Rosenberg
ECD: Steve Clarke
CD: Bo Deng
ACD: Carmen Love
For the launch of Gatorade's first Global Football platform, my then-partner Javier Castillo and I concepted this socially-driven campaign featuring all-star teams—and their fuel of choice.
We pitched the campaign to our US and international Latin American clients out of the L.A. office and it was a GOOOOOOOOOL heard around the world.
CD: Jayanta Jenkins
ACDs: Carmen Love + Javier Castillo
Our NISSAN client needed to launch a legendary car, the GT-R, to a US audience. So my then-partner Bernice Chao and I came up with a legendary stunt.
We teamed up with The Voice to challenge known supercar fan Adam Levine: could he sing his latest single while being whipped around the track in a GT-R flogged by professional driver Rich Rutherford?
The resulting piece became NISSAN's most successful social video in the history of the brand, with over 12M+ views.
We kept the momentum going with a season-long partnership with The Voice, creating additional short-form videos, in-show content, and in-app and social media extensions.
Take a peek at the rest of the season in our highlight reel below.
CDs: Karl Dunn + Tito Melega
ACD: Carmen Love
AD: Bernice Chao
“El Señor de Los Cielos” is an Emmy-winning Mexican TV series based on the life of Amado Carrillo, the head of the Juárez drug cartel. With over 300 episodes jam-packed with salacious content, the show proved too spicy to be broadcast in full on open TV.
When Netflix acquired the show, we had to let US Hispanic fans know that they could finally see it in all its uncensored glory: sex, violence, and offensive language included.
As part of a cross-functional trio, I concepted, developed, and produced this online video campaign in record time. The idea: to showcase the main actor’s character evolution through a series of match-cuts, building the edit around his very famous face and classic catchphrase, “¡Arre!”
The tagline "No te la vas a acabar" leaned into Mexican slang, daring viewers to make it through the entire series, while hinting at just how explosive the uncensored content was. The obsession lives on.
ECD: Fabio Costa
ACDs: Carmen Love + Javier Castillo
Creative Technologist: Marcelo Duende
As part of my work for Gatorade Global and adidas, I often created multilingual content for original commercial campaigns, artist packages, film directors, and press kits.
Sometimes I even transcreated broadcast and digital content for the Latin American and US Hispanic markets, like in the spot below.
In this film, the Spanish-language version of our US spot, Messi earnestly urges the viewer: "Don't go down. Life will reward you if you just stay up."
CD/Writer: Mark Peters (English)
ACD/Writer: Carmen Love (Spanish)
As Co-Founder and Creative Lead for TBWA/CHIAT/DAY México, one of my first projects was introducing Gatorade’s global repositioning to my home country.
This 360º campaign ushered in Gatorade's global repositioning as G Series, across all media channels. I led the México City office in concepting, developing, and producing the launch campaign, collaborating with Adhemas Batista as graphics illustrator, and working closely with the global Gatorade team out of the L.A. office, ensuring consistency across all international markets.
We engaged Panamerican athletes from all major disciplines to be featured in our campaign, across film, print, and digital content. The campaign launched ahead of the Panamerican Games in México, and raised national sales by 9%.
Director: Carlos “Hari” Sama
Global CD: Jayanta Jenkins
CD: Carmen Love
In the 18 days leading up to the World Cup, adidas wanted to inspire fútbol teams battling for glory. This worldwide pitch pitted agencies and creative teams across the globe in a different battle of our own: a muerte súbita or “match to sudden death,” to win the production of our spot.
My then-partner Javier Castillo and I concepted this piece to honor the long-suffering Mexican fútbol team. We told their story as a corrido, a traditional Mexican narrative ballad, often used to glorify drug cartel leaders—only we used the art form to rally the support of the fans and wish the team luck.
I partnered with a local Mexican artist to create the original music and pen the lyrics in a way that supported our story and remained true to the cultural artifact.
We ended up losing the game in a penalty shootout but we still had a lot of fun creating this piece.
ECD: John Norman
ACDs: Carmen Love + Javier Castillo
Original music: Yad Terán + Carmen Love
Chivas is the most iconic soccer team in México but they were having a rough year. We were charged with launching a new gala jersey to disgruntled fans. So rather than upset them with a tone-deaf ad campaign, we decided to "leak" the jersey online, creating the first digital jersey launch ever.
With limited time and budget, we created 11 teaser videos in-house, one for each championship title, paired with an audioscape of actual cheers recorded at Chivas Stadium. On launch day, we leaked one video every hour. Soon, sports blogs were reposting them everywhere, building expectation for the big reveal.
We then dropped a traditional print ad campaign, under the guise of an “early release” due to the jersey “leaking.”
The Chivas gala jersey set a new record as the top-selling jersey in adidas stores. The videos received 1.5 million hits in two days.
CDs: Carmen Love + Rodrigo Huerta
As an extension to their “Let’s be kids” campaign, Fisher-Price asked us to relaunch their baby product line in a way that invited parents back into childlike wonder.
Working with a cross-functional team of creatives, designers, writers, illustrators, and animators, we reimagined the world through the eyes of a baby. We built on existing image assets—and pure silliness—to bring each product benefit to life.
My personal favorite is the “Sit-me-up Floor Seat,” which helps babies sit up on their own. Because when you’re a baby holding yourself upright for the first time, seeing the world from this new perspective makes you feel as powerful as having laser vision.
CD: Carmen Love
AD: Savannah Bradford + Syd Rein
CW: Eddie Klein + Kira Pack
Illustrator: Taryn Oshiro-Wachi
Animator: Tim Hennessey
I’m not one to brag but we did "Carpool Karaoke” way before it was cool…
In this companion piece to our launch TV spot, we partnered with Lyft and YouTube Creator/Highway-Singalong-er TJ Smith to pull off a stunt for the new NISSAN Sentra.
We had TJ pose as a Lyft driver and do what he’s best known for: break out into spontaneous highway sing-alongs. His unsuspecting passengers had no idea what was happening and hilarity ensued.
We documented everything on video and rolled it out as an online film. This film was launched concurrently with a TV spot that also featured TJ doing what he does best.
CDs: Tito Melega + Karl Dunn
ACD: Carmen Love
AD: Bernice Chao
YouTube Creator and influencer TJ Smith takes the Nissan Sentra for a drive, doing what he does best in real life: sharing his favorite music and uplifting the people of L.A. with a highway sing-along.
This TV spot set a new benchmark for the brand's overall positive perception, according to ACE Metrix testing (2014).
Check out the Undercover Lyft stunt as well, to see the companion piece.
Director: Michael Gracey
CDs: Karl Dunn + Tito Melega
ACD: Carmen Love
AD: Bernice Chao
adidas's “boost” running technology provides runners with endless energy.
To bring this concept to life, we used projection-mapping to create athletes made of light. These light runners sprinted tirelessly throughout the streets of Mexico City, 24 hours a day. The moving installation led to the main launch event at adidas’s Mexico City flagship.
This project took an Olympic village to make.
A collaboration between TBWA/CHIAT/DAY LA and NY, the campaign reimagined athletes's weaknesses as their strengths and portrayed their perseverance in short films that would roll out in real time, responding to the athletic highlights of the day.
Brandy and I temporarily relocated to the NY office to lead creative development (and to experience NY’s finest nightlife… thank you, Deniz). There, we teamed up with the local crew and enlisted Canadian spoken-word poet Shane Koyczan to develop these anthemic spots at the speed of athletic achievement. Social videos dove deeper into athletes’s individual training stories.
Late on, our heroic NY team, led by Serge Flores, further elevated the concept and brought it to fruition in other channels.
L.A. CDs: Carmen Love + Brandy Cole
N.Y. CDs: Serge Flores + Deniz Marlali
ACDs: Aaron Alamo + Borja Eizmendi
Sr AD: Pieyre-Alexander Treuil
Sr CW: Cecile Pimont
CW: Avi Steinbach
AD: Alex Holm
#REDTHUMB is NISSAN's first-ever safety initiative and a simple solution to distracted driving: We ask drivers to make their texting thumbs red, as a reminder to put their phones down while behind the wheel.
We proactively suggested this idea to NISSAN as a partnership with founder Steve Babcock. The program launched with a PSA on the finale of The Voice, followed by a website, TV commercial, spots on The Today Show, actions with dealerships, influencers, and social media.
The campaign earned 11.1M impressions on social media. The PSA video alone has over 9M views.
*Website: redthumb.org
* The Today Show's Al Roker interviews Steve Babcock, NISSAN partner and founder of #REDTHUMB.
Founder: Steve Babcock
Cds: Karl Dunn + Tito Melega
ACD: Carmen Love
AD: Bernice Chao
In this partnership between NISSAN and Amazon, a familiar locker becomes larger than life—and is now powered by social media.
People who interacted with it on the ground in San Francisco got the chance to win prizes, including one brand-new NISSAN Rogue.
The piece earned local, live and international press coverage in 16 countries, as well as over 2M impressions on social media, becoming the #2 trending topic on Twitter in the US.
CDs: Karl Dunn + Tito Melega
ACDs: Carmen Love + Jason Locey + Liz Levy
AD: Bernice Chao
For Target, the Holiday season is the most important time of the year. It’s the equivalent of a SuperBowl or GRAMMYs moment for them—their chance to own a piece of the larger cultural conversation.
My then-partner David Mugford and I concepted and developed the campaign idea for the season, Gather Round. The platform centered on bringing together different types of diverse gatherings, with the brand at the center. Particularly relevant this year was that Target wanted to create its first bilingual/multicultural seasonal platform. So we did.
We partnered with artists Sia, Natalia LaFourcade, and Martin Garrix to reimagine Perry Como’s 1950s hit, “Round and Round,” as a modern-day, crossover classic. I personally composed all-new Spanish lyrics for Natalia LaFourcade to interpret as a central part of our bilingual campaign. The result was three separate original track versions: Sia’s, Natalia’s, and a bilingual crossover mix of the two. The English track debuted on Sia’s Deluxe Holiday album, a Target exclusive. Our recreated song became the soundtrack of our holiday campaign, “Gather Round/Rodar Dar Dar.”
As the campaign expanded, additional teams were brought in to collaborate and help oversee this massive project. All in all, we created a total of 20 English language TV/OLV spots, 18 Spanish language TV/OLV spots, 100+ social cutdowns, 75 wardrobe looks, 3 dog fittings, 45 set designs, 1 brand book, and 1 original, limited-edition, red-hot vinyl album of our song.
Core team:
ECD: Jorge Calleja
CDs: Carmen Love + Julie Liu
ACD: David Mugford
CW: Rocío Ureña + Catharine Ogletree
Jr AD: Mariajosé Cuyán
Designers: Syd Rein + Karen Pham