The account was Verizon. I was the creative director for the digital manifestation of their Powerful Answers campaign, much of which focused on promoting their little-known sustainability and STEM education efforts. The toughest challenge was finding a way to make their famously unglamorous Networkfleet technology compelling — this is a piece of tech that helps trucks emit less carbon, which isn't an easy sell as a story.
Sifting through case studies, I found one that sparked: after implementing several environmental initiatives, including Verizon's Networkfleet, Ventura, California saw a 7,000-ton reduction in carbon emissions — in a beach town with a surf culture I knew a lot of people could relate to.
To this day, it remains one of the best pieces of advertising work I've created. The story is partly about surfing, but mostly about a father and daughter's love of the environment. It has Ethan Hawke as the narrator — and I got to voice-direct him. What makes it striking is how human, authentic, and emotional even a dry technology case study can become.
