Volkswagen is the Holy Grail of advertising. Ask anyone to name their favorite ads of all time and VW is sure to be among them.

For the better part of 5 years, I had both the honor and privilege to carry on the great tradition of Volkswagen advertising. I oversaw everything from brand to retail to social, digital and dotcom.  

There is no better time than now to be working in advertising. Every day introduces a new tool for the toolbox. Each tool gives us a new way to tell a brand's story and connect with consumers. 

Here are a few of the stories I've been able to tell for a brand made famous for its storytelling. One utilizes a blend of Artificial Intelligence that didn't exist until we brought it to life. Another pushes the native functionality of Instagram to its outer limits. Still others demonstrate a keen knowledge for properly tailoring stories to their unique space. 

Without a doubt, this brand is the reason I got into advertising. I remember seeing Harley ads and always being insanely inspired and jealous of the words because they transcended advertising and spoke on a higher level. 

I had the great fortune of working on the brand for five years. During this time I created award-winning work on a variety of projects from national brand campaigns to multi-cultural initiatives to a billboard with a smoke machine imbedded under the rear tire to replicate a burnout. 

Perhaps my proudest moment though was convincing the client they should simply put their logo on the bloodied canvas of the UFC long before mixed martial arts became mainstream.

The Messin' with Sasquatch campaign catapulted a small beef jerky company in Wisconsin to #1 in the category. Who doesn't like a Cinderella story? 

Remember back in the day when there were no playoffs in college football? Well, a lot of people wanted playoffs in college football but the NCAA always balked. So ESPN decided to take up the cause and bring playoffs to college football--digitally. We created this campaign to promote their online playoffs. I guess someone at the NCAA was really impressed with the campaign because now we have real playoffs in college football. 

There aren't many brands as fun as MINI. I had the great opportunity to work on MINI Global and MINI USA. Here's a mini sampling of those fun times. 

When the product you're selling is a true work of art, the advertising should be its reflection. 

Redfeather Snowshoes had a problem: they had no brand. They had another problem: they had very little money to build one. We said, "No problem," and created the Arctic Quadrangle - a fanciful play on the Bermuda Triangle - where strange creatures, unexplainable phenomena and abnormal paranormal activity run even more rampant because it has four sides. Take that, Bermuda Triangle. 

Cadillac built the ATS from the ground up to go head-to-head with the best luxury sports sedans in the world. But how do you prove to the world that this isn’t your grandpa’s Cadillac? Simple, you take it around the world and challenge the most challenging roads on earth. 

The global campaign featured a dozen commercials, twenty short films and numerous multimedia extensions including a microsite, experiential and interactive print. We launched everything during the 2012 London Olympics and Cadillac took gold, stealing the show from official sponsor BMW.

Here’s a small smattering of the four-month production and the campaign that turned Cadillac into the fastest growing brand in America.

A fishing lure that catches more fish. That's pretty simple. Simplicity is the hallmark of clarity. Add a splash of wit and you have a great ad. That's been Rapala's winning formula for over 40 years.

The countdown to the start of the annual Minnesota State Fishing Opener was marked by cats flocking to the tastiest billboard in the state.

Schutt is the largest football helmet company in the U.S. but they aren't the official sponsor of the NFL so their logo can't be visible, which is why no one has ever heard of them. Therefore, we decided to target younger football players to engrain the Schutt name a decade before they'd ever have a chance of going pro. Here's a series of print/posters we created for coaches to hang in their locker rooms. 

The Love Campaign blew past the seven-year itch and continues to win hearts and sell a ton of cars. I had the good fortune of being at the ground floor of creating one of the most distinct and consistent voices of the past decade.