From the Star Wars video game Brisksaber to a Super Bowl spot with Eminem, this campaign turned a once unknown iced tea from Pepsi into a billion dollar brand and became a case study at Harvard Business School. My contribution? I came up with the idea of using animated celebrities and, along with my ingenius producer, handpicked the style which was from the stop-motion short film, The Big Story, starring three Kirk Douglases in various stages in life.
Running both Heineken USA + Heineken AA, the brand enjoyed some of the highest sales in their long history during my tenure. I wrote their 1st ever Super Bowl spot which was named by YouTube as one of the 10 best Heineken spots of all time. Also, had the 2nd longest running global Xmas spot in beer history. Named Adweek’s Best Spots of the Year and Best Spots of The Month twice as well as being recognized at Cannes, The One Show and Effies. But perhaps what I consider to be my biggest contribution was helping merge Heineken USA + Heineken AA into the multicultural brand we know today.
Aquafina believes hydration is the key to a happy and healthy body so I came up with “For Happy Bodies” to win the business. In addition to a brand campaign featuring happy bodies in motion, we targeted kids by partnering with the Ice Age franchise. We then took on childhood obesity by promoting good old-fashioned exercise by creating the Happy Body Dance Contest where kids could win an NBA Fit Camp for their school by posting their own Happy Body Dance on Instagram and Facebook. Everyone from Ice Age’s Sid the Sloth to NBA‘s C.J. McCullum got into the act by posting their own happy dance moves.
Having spent half a decade and a few hundred million dollars marketing itself as America’s Most Convenient Bank, TD found its positioning on life support and I was brought in to try and save its snoozy little life. The idea: Bank Human. Not only did it become their internal war cry for great customer service (both inside the bank and outside in the community) but it also provided an exciting and logical path to becoming great stewards of the planet as well. Today, TD has planted over 430,000 trees on their way to 1 million by 2030. This campaign is still going strong (now called Unexpectedly Human) and is in its 10th year.
The World Cup of Hockey was back after a 12 year hiatus. ESPN knew hockey fans would be tuning in but what about the millions of non-hockey fans? The idea: “The Reg Carling Show:” A sports talk show hosted by a guy who knows less about hockey than just about anyone.
Tasked with running the Planet Fitness pitch, we came up with The World Judges. We Don’t to win the business. Being that their logo was a thumbs up, we made the 👍 emoji an intrical part of the campaign by giving out Be Free Awards to anti-bullying icons DJ Khaled and Stranger Things’ Gaten Matarazzo live during Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. This win put Hill Holliday on the Ad Age’s Agencies to Watch list.
Tasked with running the Party City pitch, we won with the idea Oh, It’s On. With Halloween being the brand’s Super Bowl of sorts, we spoke to those who thoroughly enjoy the one-up-manship associated with Oct 31. This campaign is currently running. My contribution: I came up with the idea.
Hi, I’m Ken and feel like I’m just now starting to get the hang of this whole advertising thing. I’ve been personal writer to Jimmy Kimmel, ECD for David Droga in Sydney + New York, CCO of Publicis Malaysia and a Gun For Hire in three continents. I’ve headed up New Business for Hill Holliday, run Heineken USA, Heineken AA and Amstel Light as well as global accounts for Pernod Ricard. Currently, I’m ECD of two boutique shops: 3folddigital and UniComm Media Group, the latter being a Hispanic agency where we’ve expanded our client roster from a handful of local mom-and-pops to globally recognized brands.
A self-described good listener, I’ve been fortunate enough to win most of my pitches and today consider myself to be in the most prolific part of my career. Whether you need someone to lead, come up with solutions or both, I can hit the ground running while still managing to walk that very fine line between what clients want and what they actually need; be it locally, nationally or globally.
Get in Touch
– Email: kf.ratcliffe@gmail.com
– Phone: 617.910.6353
