At Cardstore.com, you can personalize your cards so perfectly—with photos, fonts and stuff—it’s as if you climbed inside the envelope. Thus, the “Send A Little You” campaign was born.

Over the course of several months, we blasted that idea into television, print, flash, rich media and even an online game. We swung people from harnesses in Tony D’Orio’s studio. We flung people into 10-foot turtlenecks and smushed a family into a 7-foot holiday card in a dream shoot with Chris Hooper. We built startling digital that springs off the page. And we created a campaign that isn’t just launching Cardstore.com for the holidays; it’s catapulting the brand into the future.

We wanted our bears to be real, not cartoony. We were looking for a commercial that would feel like a documentary observing bears doing some very human things. But how to technically pull it off? Could real bears be trained to stir a pot of pasta then bring it to the table? Could animatronic bears look lifelike enough? Should the bears be computer generated? Or should we put actors in bear suits? The answer actually ended up being a combination of these ideas. It was like a big puzzle.

We decided to shoot with a director who was very familiar with shooting animals — Chris Hooper from Uber Content. And we leaned on the technical expertise of The Mill in New York. It was a very collaborative process. Real bears were trained to do as much of the action as possible. Puppeteers then imitated the bears’ actions on parts they couldn’t do—mostly stuff with their paws.

The result is a docu-spot that – like our little bear cubs – will have people clamoring for Bear Creek’s hearty pasta.

And no humans were harmed in the making of this commercial.

But, with the sweltering heat of summer fast approaching and a serious tankini deadline looming, the ladies like to go a little lighter. Right away, they think of nature’s sweetest treat, FRUIT. The problem is, they don’t necessarily think of Reddi-wip. And, if they do, they think the poof is a one-way ticket to the pooch.

So we set out to change that. With a fun and feisty print campaign to let the Girls of Summer know that topping their fruit with Reddi-wip may feel naughty… but it’s not.

So, La Quinta was looking to do a lot more business with briefcase-swingin’, Powerpoint-craftin’ Business Guys. Now, as luck (and a beautiful new redesign) would have it, La Quinta has everything the road-savvy Man on a Mission could possibly need to start his day with swagger— cushy pillow-top beds, free speedy wi-fi, sweet HD flat screens and even a free Bright Side Breakfast complete with fluffy waffles.

And do people know what a Business Guy can do when he starts his day with swagger? Huh? Do they?! Well, with a little Fred Willard and a lot of broad comedy, we were all set to show them.

And show them we did. Our spots are getting noticed and driving stays. They’re elevating brand perceptions among the business target with an impressive gain in commitment. And they’re killing norms in brand momentum, leadership, involvement and persuasion, with consumers predicting a new era of improvement and quality for La Quinta. Plus, people got kicked in the butt. What more could you ask for?

That red frame represents Harris Commercial Bank.  Harris has always been about help.  Building relationships, sharing commitment, and finding ways to make those visions reality.  This campaign gives businessmen a ‘look into the future’ to show how Harris can help them achieve success.  If we had looked through our own red frame, we would have seen the great success this campaign has become.  Plus it’s got Frank Sinatra’s “I’ve Got The World By A String” to boot.

Our first job was to explain this mission online.  Using our own video interview, along with footage from an event where Joakim welcomed kids from Boys and Girls Hope Chicago to his house, we created short clips about their work.  We then embedded them within a search-friendly site to help Joakim leverage his celebrity to spread the word about his Foundation.

View NoahsArcFoundation.org »

As the Foundation grows, we plan to create an online experience that mimics their live events.  This will allow more children to experience, in some way, the positive affirmation that this blend of sports and the arts can bring. As extra-curricular programs continue to fall to budget cuts, children will have an ever greater need for the experience Noah’s Arc Foundation provides.

Central DuPage Hospital is the rare exception: a technologically-superior facility with a community feel. This exceptional group of medical professionals located far west of Chicago in Winfield, Illinois, has now begun to get mentioned among the top hospitals in the country.

To drive awareness and stature of the CDH brand, we shot twenty-three hours of footage in and around this working hospital capturing multi-million dollar high tech machines and the hospital staff who use them in action.  Shooting on location while patients receive care is not easy, but you can work it out.  You just need to be Smarter.  And Faster.