THE TERRY MERTENS CHALLENGE

Evaluating a person's capacity for creative thought isn't always easy. I know because I've been on the hiring end myself a few times. To be safe, you're probably looking for someone with YEARS of very specific industry and/or channel experience. But you may also be overlooking some very talented and otherwise qualified candidates in the process.

I've learned that the best creatives don't always come in with the most relevant industry or channel experience. They come in with talent and ambition. They learn quickly, excel, and make hiring managers look like wizards.

SO WHAT ABOUT ME?

Well, I haven't been walled off writing health care brochure copy or sales presentations for ten years. I'm not that guy.

I'm an AD GUY. I'm channel agnostic. I work in whatever medium works best for the client because I SPECIALIZE IN COMMUNICATING. I work in the world of positioning statements, unique selling propositions, competitive benefits, and emotional drivers. I craft messages that resonate with individuals - emotionally and rationally - toward influencing consumer behavior and opinion.

The thumbnails and descriptions on this page don't tell my complete story. All the discovery and creative prep work. The strategic planning. The brainstorming over tequila. The endless rounds of client revisions. They're just a mosaic of what I had handy after 12 years to demonstrate versatility and applied creative thought.

* * * MY CHALLENGE FOR YOU * * *

If you're looking for very specific industry/channel experience and don't see enough here, send me a mock assignment and give me a day to turn something around.

I'm not talking designs here (unless you want to give me an art director to work with). But I'll fill pages with headlines, taglines, body content, outlines, themes, and other ideas - whatever your assignment calls for. And I'll do it on my time, not your dime.

If you like it, you agree to meet with me. In person. (How else am I supposed to win you over with my wit, charm, and charisma?)

If you don't like it, no worries. There's no obligation on your part, unless you feel obliged to reimburse me for the 12-pack of "supplies."

Or, you can always bypass this silly exercise and just invite me in to chat about your needs. I'm not making any promises here, but if I like what I hear, I may just let you hire me.

GET CHIPOTLE'D

I love Chipotle. 'Nuff said.

We don't always get to work on the accounts of the products we love, but that doesn't stop me from dreaming about life if I did. Here are a few one-off ads I dreamt up in my spare time. I left out the one about the guy who picked up the hottest burrito EVER and then bragged to all of his friends about how he got Chipotle'd. A little too saucy to share.



I get hungry just looking at these.



Extra cheese, please.



PROJECTING YOUR VOICE

A lot of people want to know more about the kinds of projects I've handled over the years, and they vary wildly. The projects, that is, not the people. Actually, the people vary wildly as well.

To give you an idea, here's a random list of some of the creative marketing assignments I've had over the course of my career...in no particular order.

• Taglines for a Chicago hotel
• Names for a new media company
• TV spot concepts for a regional health care company
• Promotional concepts for an auto insurance company
• Direct mail membership materials for a national association
• Radio spot concepts/copy for a health clinic
• Email communications strategy and campaign for a personal development company
• Direct mail concepts/copy for a national insurance company
• Taglines for an upstart newsprint publication
• Outdoor concepts/copy for a motorcycle dealership
• Concepts/copy/direction for a hybrid multimedia presentation
• Brand consulting for a Chicago law firm
• PURL campaign concepts/copy for an office supply distributor
• TV spot concepts/copy for an auto insurance company
• Website concepts/content for Granola company
• Direct mail concepts/copy for national credit card issuers
• Print ad campaign concepts/copy for financial services company
• Loyalty marketing copy for a major national casino chain
• Website copy for a relationship marketing company
• TV spot concepts/copy for a non-profit company
• Integrated marketing campaign concepts for an environmental organization
• Press releases and case studies for a loyalty marketing company
• Package design direction for a snack food product
• Copy direction and content for a document services company
• Integrated marketing campaign for a medical multimedia production company
• Many, many other projects

MOTORCYCLE RIDING'S COOL



The Motorcycle Riding School in Chicago wanted to catch people in transit, at bus stops, in subway cars, and at stop lights, to promote scooters and motorcycles as an easy cost-effective alternative to public transportation and commuting. I cranked out about 20 headlines in a couple hours or so. Here are a few of my favorites.








WHAT'S IN A TAGLINE?











A lot - that's what.

I was recently engaged by an upstart newsprint publication called The Printed Blog. The Founder was looking for some tagline ideas and, having worked with me in the past, knew I would be good for some ideas.

Because the Printed Blog was a different animal than other newsprint publications, and comprised entirely of content published online, there were a number of things I felt it would be good to communicate in that all-important tagline.

- The Printed Blog features current, virtually “up to the minute” of print
- It's local to Chicago (at least the Chicago edition would be)
- It's web-generated content, gathered from a wide variety of online sources
- It's a reader's choice editorial model in which people vote up and down on printed topics, posts, and authors
- It's a counter-intuitive shift away from the trend where everything is going online...here the online comes off

Effective taglines can communicate a number of things in a quick, clever, memorable way. I offered the following list of options for their consideration, recommending they print a different tagline with each new issue to keep things fresh. I also suggested they involve their readership by soliciting creative taglines for upcoming issues.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE


VISA INTERNATIONAL

Visa International was looking to promote its new online authentication step called "Verified by Visa." We developed three solid concepts for presentation. This one was my favorite because it personalized the consumer action of password creation in demonstrating how Visa was making it easier and safer than ever to pay online.

With Verified by Visa protection, your password is your signature. In this way we were able to demonstrate that passwords are unique and personal - just like an actual signature.

GARAGE DOORS MADE SEXY

How do you create a preference for one garage door over another?

The following ad slick was created to help C.H.I. dealers promote the strength and durability of their brand. We wanted to demonstrate their toughness visually, so I suggested throwing a garage door on an igloo. It's fun, on message, and it definitely gets your attention.

The open space in the ad is where independent dealers can add their contact information before submitting to their local print publication.

DRIVE ALOHA

Here's a TV spot I conceived and wrote for DTRIC Auto Insurance, a big carrier in Hawaii. They engaged us to help promote their community outreach program, "Drive Aloha."

I came up with eight different concepts for this spot and they went with this one because they felt it would have the most impact. Despite the low budget, I liked how the final spot came together.

BANK ILLINOIS OUTDOOR

The folks at Bank Illinois wanted some visibility for their wealth management services. The creative solution was to juxtapose a short, powerful thought with some duo-tone images of diverse, well-to-do individuals. The five-second take away: If you have money, we can help you manage it. Here are a number of the outdoor boards designed on their behalf. Short and to the point.




ALLSTATE BUZZ KIT


Allstate corporate wanted to help their agents in the field, so they developed a program I named "Referral Rewards." With Referral Rewards, Allstate customers would be provided incentive for recommending their friends and family to their Allstate agent.

I managed the creation of all of the consumer creative components, as well as the creative featured above, which is the support package sent to agents helping them execute the program.

To generate excitement at the agent level, we had a little fun with the program materials, packaging them in a box called the "Buzz Kit" with helpful directions on how to efficiently run and manage the Referral Rewards program.

WELLS FARGO COLLEGE MARKET

Here's a heavily branded credit card welcome kit for Wells Fargo targeting the college market. There were two objectives of paramount importance for this package. First, the package had to leverage the strength of the Wells Fargo brand throughout. Second, it had to scream "this is for college kids."

Mission accomplished.


BELOW: Wells Fargo, like many banks these days, was obsessed with its image, so in an effort to demonstrate social responsibility, it commissioned the creation of customer communications for college students, teaching the importance of practicing safe spending. These credit education materials were fun to write because every tip in here was something I wish the credit card companies had told ME when I got my first card. And my second. And my third.

OLYMPIC EDUCATION

The Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Games embraced urban forestry as its environmental cause. I conceived an integrated marketing campaign intended to educate the public as to the ecological and economic benefits of responsible urban forestry.

The campaign consisted of a branded website, television spots, radio spots, outdoor boards, and a series of print advertisements - 5 of which are shown here. In association with this effort, I wrote educational copy for a number of free-standing legacy kiosks still on display in Winter Park, Utah.




































































Here are two storyboards we developed for presentation. The one with the dog was filmed in Salt Lake City, where I helped direct the production team to preserve the integrity of the execution.



EVANSTON NORTHWESTERN HOSPITAL

A former employer called me looking for some snappy heads for a health care pitch. They wanted to position the prospect's network as superior based on a number of perceived of competitive benefits.

I sent over a three page document loaded with concepts and copy. Below is a taste of the creative developed in support of that pitch, which was very well received.






LOOT

After successfully helping brand Nature's Hand Granola (a small Minnesota-based Granola Company) for wider distribution and deeper market penetration, a client came to me with another pet project in consumer packaging. He wanted to develop a snack food product targeting a very specific niche segment: gamers.

The product would be called "Loot" and needed to appeal to the sensitivities of this highly desirable youth group. My art directors and I collaborated in developing 6 bag design concepts. The client took this concept to investors and was subsequently funded.





Promoting the concept required mocking up a variety of promotional elements, including a DVD-ROM card and mag-a-log.

WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?

So often in advertising we talk about "the big idea." It's the traditional brainstorm kickoff question: What's the big idea? What is the concept that's going to sell this product or service? What is the angle here? How are we going to get noticed? What's going to make people say, "A HA! I totally get it...that's cool"?

In my experience, the big idea always starts out as a page or two of small ideas. Silly ideas. Stupid ideas. Ridiculous ideas that "they'll never go for." One of those ideas, of course, becomes the big idea.

I've always been the idea guy. Working at small creative agencies my whole career, I've been responsible for coming up with thousands of ideas. Television and radio concepts. Dimensional direct mail campaigns. One-off print ads. Outdoor campaigns. Promotional themes. Interactive presentations. Communications and contact strategies.

If you ever find yourself in need of a big idea, I recommend starting with a page or two of small ideas. Silly. Stupid. Ridiculous. This is where big ideas begin, planted small in the fertile fields of a sprawling concept garden.

And if you ever need a gardener to bring your brilliant idea to fruition, let me know. I may have someone in mind.

FNBO NRA AFFINITY VISA CREDIT CARD

First National Bank of Omaha wanted to promote its affinity co-branded NRA credit card with a new direct marketing effort. I constructed two message platforms for presentation: The Sportsman and the Patriot.

Working with my talented art direction team, we blew out two creative concepts with full copy and graphics. The Sportsman package targeted the hunting public with lifestyle copy and images. The Patriot package, showcased here, took a more patriotic approach in appealing to the emotional driver of national pride.



Strong direct mail tactics throughout.

Short subheads.

Call to action icons.

Bullet points promoting key rate benefit.

Multiple call to action references.



Buckslip promoting rewards program.



Gemini slip toting uniqueness of card's support of the NRA with every purchase.

MBNA TARGETED DIRECT MAIL

You may remember a little bank by the name of MBNA. They were actually quite large, and one of the largest affinity card issuers in the nation - if not the largest. If you had an interest, affiliation, or hobby, they had a credit card for you. They were the Issuer of my first credit card - the University of Illinois Alumni Association Card. MBNA may no longer be operating as MBNA, but the creative I wrote and directed for them lives on right here!

Pictured below is a direct mail package targeting college students. It radically outperformed the control by so large a percentage you wouldn't believe me if I posted it. So use your imagination. This was executed several years ago when text messaging and shorthand was all the rage. Just a few years later this concept would be perceived as patronizing...but at the time, it really hit the mark.




Below is another big hit for MBNA - the NASCAR credit card. They loved the headline I wrote for the outer envelope so much they actually trademarked it. Yes, seriously. These packages were developed to really sell the affinity through relating to the NASCAR experience and promoting experiential rewards. Not sure if they brought a tear to anyone's eye, but I like to imagine at least one Tony Stewart fan wept over this OE.

ALLSTATE ACQUISITION

Allstate Auto Insurance was looking for a new acquisition control-buster package, so we developed several options for their consideration. This stealthy number features a manila flavored OE and faux sticker with techno-garble. A faux stamp postal indicia is a tactical play away from standard corporate indicia which signal "business solicitation" to savvy consumers. This envelope package all but screams "I am not ordinary - open me!"

















Inside we employ all the proven direct tactics. Courier typeface. Bold yellow fields for maximum visibility. Blowout savings figures. Call to action icon. Personalized tip-on card.

It's ugly, but effective. The concept they eventually went with was actually louder and busier. But I preferred the way this one came together, and since this is my page, I can show you whatever I like. It's definitely "junk" mail - but it does what it's supposed to. Sell savings and drive response.

The obnoxious control-buster did beat control, btw, proving yet again that ugly ain't pretty, but it works.

MOTOWORKS CHICAGO

Chicago-based Motoworks wanted to get some exposure for its line of Vespa scooters. To compete with transportation alternatives, we positioned the Vespa as a cost-effective, sexy, exhilarating transportation experience. Below are three of the bus board designs developed to generate awareness and promote the viability of Vespa brand scooters in the Chicagoland market.



MB FINANCIAL ANTI-PREMIUM DM

MB Financial was on the hunt for new demand deposit account customers, but they wanted to try something new. Instead of bribing prospects with shiny baubles and cheap toys, they wanted to position their BANK as the reason to switch. In a competitive environment where every other bank was offering cash and swag, they wanted to try running counter. Below are two direct mail concepts developed in support of this effort.

MB FINANCIAL

A regional bank wanted to attract more commercial accounts, so we developed a dimensional campaign designed to help relationship managers get on the calendars of key prospects. Several concept boards were presented and "All Weather Banking" was selected for execution.

The campaign consisted of a series of communications, each promoting a consistent banking relationship and delivering a weather-related premium. The concept preached the importance of having a "seasoned" professional on your side, and how preparedness is essential in today's unpredictable economy.

The campaign resulted in an amazing 25% appointment rate.