My favorite Matchbox car was a Ford GT. I drove the family LTD station wagon with the faux wood panels to high school. My first car was a ’69 Mustang. Looking back, it seems I've always been a little partial to Fords. So when I got the chance to work on the account, it felt like getting behind the wheel of a muscle car and giving it some gas. From Tier 1 to Tier 2 and everything in between, (Tier 1.25? 1.87?), TV, Print, Outdoor, Digital, Radio and Social, it’s been life in the fast lane.

The JG Wentworth 877-CASH-NOW song has become so pervasive that even Larry David sang it on Curb Your Enthusiasm. So it make sense that a band might cover it in concert.

Debt follows us wherever we go. Debt is always with us. Debt talks us into things we don’t want do. Or Debt talks us out of things we should be doing. Like asking for help. JG Wentworth has been helping people get cash for structured settlements for years. Now they want to help people get rid of their Debt.

I still remember when my first Workbook came across my desk as a Jr. Art Director. It was addressed to me personally. And it had the best photographers and the best illustrators all in one place. It became my go-to resource to find talented people that could make my concepts come to life. And now, years later, I’m working with Workbook as the Creative Director. I helped map out strategy, art direct and write email campaigns, write the new website, art direct, write and supervise photo shoots during the pandemic for the editorial pages of the newest printed edition. Can’t wait for that one to come across my desk.

We all make decisions based on our finances at the moment. Maybe we choose a cheaper lunch. Or push car repairs one more month. That’s the strategy I employed when I got the chance to work with Empower, a great financial app. I helped introduce the new Empower card which gives people even more power over their finances. I guess you could say it empowers them.

My most colorful account. Literally. An amusement park based on the world’s most popular toy and just like the toy, it’s always building. I’ve helped introduce new rides and attractions, a water park, an Aquarium, a hotel and helped open LEGOLAND Florida. Besides TV, Print, Outdoor, Digital, Radio, Social, I’ve named rides and areas, designed logos, helped write their website and even wrote and designed their Holiday cards for years. Every creative brief mentions keeping the LEGOLAND DNA in mind. I like to think there’s a bit of my DNA inside the park.

A lot of people know Van Halen is "my" band to the point where friends were calling me and texting me to make sure I was okay when Eddie passed away. Not long after, I got a request that was as close to a dream come true as can be.

This is a true story: I was having lunch with legendary music photographer Neil Zlozower and I picked up a few VH prints from his studio. That night, still in the Van Halen mode, I searched for even more Zloz photos that he didn't have on hand and I would have to order. It was a rabbit hole and kept me up way past midnight. As I headed to my bedroom to retire for the evening, I looked at my bookcase and saw his Van Halen photo book and his Eddie Van Halen photo book. I said to myself, "It would have been cool to work on those."

The next morning, Zloz called me and said, "I want to do another Eddie book and I want you to design it."

In case you don't know, Zloz is an absolute icon in the industry and his VH photos are the standard. I got the opportunity to look at EVERY SINGLE IMAGE he shot of the band from 1978 to 1998. I acted as designer, art director, and creative director on the project and even named the book. It's 384 pages and it’s the biggest book Zloz has ever done. It's truly a tribute to Eddie with images that aren't in Zloz's other books or seen elsewhere.

“My Ed by Zloz book is my first book working with my good friend and amazingly talented art director, Daniel Gray. I must say, Daniel really pushed me to the limits on this book to include some never seen, obscure Ed photos that I didn't even know I had in my files!!! Without Daniel, this book never would have happened!!!!!!

Thanks Daniel for the great work!!!!!”

Zloz

About halfway into Zloz’s book, I got a call from renowned rock journalist Steve Rosen. He had written a memoir about his friendship with Eddie Van Halen and asked me to design it. I acted as designer, art director, and creative consultant and even helped name this book. It's huge at 609 pages and includes never before seen interviews with Eddie. This book came out just a few weeks ago.

“As art director for my book, Daniel Gray brought vision, artistry and an unerring sense of form and function. He possessed all the technical tools but his contribution was far greater and more meaningful than simply laying out text on a page or figuring out which photos to use.

He carefully and studiously chose specific fonts to best impart the emotional sensibilities of my book.

Daniel examined the text - the book came in at over 580 pages - and laid out the pages so perfectly that you didn't even realize how many pages there really were! He shuffled around photos and grouped them together for maximum effect. On top of all of this, he became a would-be editor and became an essential part of the editing process by cleaning up the grammar, correcting spelling mistakes, and so much more.

I wanted my book to be beautiful and carry with it a certain gravitas. Daniel achieved those ends.

Countless readers have contacted me and told me how amazing the book looks and how much they were blown away by the graphics and layout. Daniel Gray worked tirelessly on my book and for that I am forever grateful.”

Steve Rosen - author: Tonechaser: Understanding Edward: My 26-Year Journey with Edward Van Halen

It's been an amazing experience doing both books and I thank Neil and Steve for the opportunity. I also want to thank Eddie for the music and inspiration that I've always tried to apply to my own career.

The fan response has been incredible and I’ve been interviewed on three podcasts for my work on the books.

Claremont Lincoln University in an online university that believes in the mission of Socially Conscious Education. As Director of Brand Communication, I was tasked with giving a voice to the brand. I did this by redesigning the look of brochures and website (in progress). I helped the brand stand for what it believes in by using something never done before. (Headlines!) I also introduced a new Master in Public Administration program with a quarterly $100,000 Fellowship. My conscious has been socially aware for some time, but it was great to be able to put it to use.

It's been an honor working with National Urban League. I’ve written and created videos, commercials to get people to vote and even got a video billboard in Times Square. The work the NUL does helps millions in communities that all too often get overlooked. I'm trying to do my part to make sure that doesn't happen in the future.

Serbin Creative is the parent company for AtEdge, Directory of Illustration and Medical Illustration and Animation. I was asked to create banner campaigns for AtEdge and Medical Illustration. I got to choose the artists, choose the imagery and write the headlines. That meant I got the chance to work with some of the best people in their field. Can’t ask for more from an assignment.

It started when a neighbor asked me to join his soccer team when I was a kid. I kept playing soccer through high school and competitive men’s teams as an adult. Then as I had kids, I coached them and became a traveling All-Star coach. I was even asked to teach other coaches. What does that have to do with advertising? Well, after I did a few registration flyers for my local region, the American Youth Soccer Organization asked me to do their National Advertising Campaign. For the past several years I’ve served as Pro Bono Creative Director, advising on strategy and doing a lot of the actual work. I’ve done commercials with my own team and also created spots that were brought to life by FOX Sports 1. Having grown up seeing how female athletes were perceived and then coaching my daughter’s teams, I was inspired to create the “Weird” spot. Having women tell me it brought tears to their eyes was the best compliment I’ve ever received.

CarbonKlean makes products like Peeps and ScreenKlean, SmartKlear. They wanted to demonstrate the family of products in a long form video that could also be cut down into individual videos. So I came up with a creative strategy and wrote a script that introduced CK Guy to the world. And he in turn introduced CarbonKlean to a lot of unsuspecting people.

Western Digital asked me to help introduce a new line of colorful external hard drives. They wanted to do something a little more fun than just talk about storage space and ease of use. So with black guitars, red balloons and a bearded man in all white, we did just that. Oh yeah, there were new storage drives just for the Mac and a new My Book to get introduced as well.

Cougar is a high end paper used by artists and printers. I came in at the end of a long-running campaign that featured a real cougar illustrating the paper’s attributes. A year later, I was asked to take the campaign in a new direction. One that became an art director’s dream. Get artists, designers and photographers to give their take on a Cougar. Print it on Cougar paper. Insert in Communication Arts. Win some awards.

Alaskan glaciers. The Florida Keys. The Brooklyn Bridge. California Street in San Francisco. Loretta Lynn’s ranch in Tennessee. A super secret test track in the California desert. Honda makes the most dependable machines on the planet. And working on this account took me to some of the coolest places on the planet. I even got to visit the fantasy worlds of Frank Frazetta who said that my work was the best use of his art in advertising he had ever seen.

Working with the visionary founder of Callaway Golf, Eli Callaway was a career highlight. Introducing new drivers, irons and putters with celebrities and golfers like Alice Cooper, Graham Nash, Celine Dion, Nobu Matsuhisa, Johnny Miller, John Daly, Annika Sorenstam and Arnold Palmer took it to a whole different level. I have great memories of our director and Executive Producer having a sing along with Graham Nash, shutting down a production to wrangle a snake for Alice Cooper and most of all, watching a photographer try to tell Arnold how to hold a golf ball for a portrait.

As an aside, Alice Cooper mentioned my spot in his book. He didn't mention me, but that's okay. He gave me an autograph and signed it, "Your Pal, Alice."

When Safeway/Vons decided to create their own brand of higher quality beef, they named it Rancher’s Reserve. Which of course made us think of cowboys. But what if they just weren’t very good at being a cowboy? Where would they go to get their beef? Safeway/Vons. After an incredibly successful launch, they came up with a 100% Tender Guarantee. Which made me ask how do you gauge that? Could a steak be 98% Tender? After going down that rabbit hole, the second wave of cowboys came along. These were 100% tough dudes who were looking for 100% tender beef. And once again, sales went up. This campaign was brought to life by the incredible director, Chris Milk. It won a few awards along the way including one for the actor/stuntman jumping off a cliff. He gave me a cowboy hat. Yee-Hah!

Gas is pretty much a parity product. But it’s not viewed that way. I know this first hand. I pumped gas in high school. We were the most expensive station in town and I took abuse from every single customer and yet they would not go across the street to any of the other cheaper stations. My first experience with brand loyalty. So working on the 76 and later the ConocoPhillips brands, we knew that showing life’s small moments measured in miles would separate us from the other brands that just touted their additives. And then the client reminded us that they weren't just gas, but they were Quality PROClean gasoline.

The only thing people fear more than doing taxes is doing taxes by themselves. But it turns out that people know themselves better than any tax guy they see once a year. TurboTax empowers users to take control of their taxes. And overcome their fears.

People have an irrational fear of dentists. So we thought we'd take that fear an amp it up by having other irrational fears fear the dentist, too. 

Just for the record, I don't fear dentists. Or clowns.

Years ago, JG Wentworth created a very memorable opera spot with people singing about needing cash and the phone number to call to get cash. The only problem is JGW only gives cash for very, very specific things, like structured settlements. They were getting calls for issues like leaky roofs and even bail money. I helped create three :60 spots to combat the issue and even give a nod to the old spots.

What’s a structured settlement? Just watch…

An insurance company who had been around for 50 years. And wanted to be in the same consideration as the big guys. But years of DR ads on afternoon talk shows didn’t make that case. So we asked ourselves, what has 21st seen in those 50 years? Lots and lots of car crashes. Where are some of the most dramatic crashes? In movies. But most of the time, the hero of the movie drives on, leaving the wreckage behind. And what if that car owner was a 21st customer? And what if we recreated scenes of famous movies to show that? That was the pitch that won the business. And sent us straight into production with the Academy Award winning movie, The French Connection. Our commercial was DP’d by the Academy Award winning, Russell Carpenter who thanked me for getting to work on such a cool concept. Three months later, we are shooting our Speed commercial with the actual director of Speed, Jan Du Bont. We drove out to the scout the location, Jan said, “Yes, this is where I shot it.” And we all got back in the van. It was a campaign style that has now been done a few times over the years. But I think ours might have been the first.

I’ve been doing this for a while. And I still like doing what I do. (And I got to meet Charles Schulz!)

The writing gets real for Real Estate. The first luxury condominium in downtown Los Angeles in over a decade. Condominiums on the sunniest side of Maui. New ways to live in San Francisco. A new business park in San Diego. A business park in San Ramon that could double as a resort. I’ve written websites, brochures, emails, social media posts, articles, content, videos and good old ads that got noticed by both homebuyers and the building industry.

Click on the computer screen to go to the actual website if you want to read more copy. Or maybe purchase a residence.

Just a reminder, these projects were writing only.

The LA Philharmonic wanted a new tagline for their new season. I wrote Moving Music Forward, which became their theme for that season and beyond. It helped position The Phil as leaders in a cutting-edge approach to the classics.

The Westfield Century City Mall is undergoing a major transformation. Almost a billion dollar facelift. Billion with a “B”. They asked me to write signage that let patrons know what was going on as well as let them know that many stores, restaurants and theater were still open for business. Something more than “Pardon our dust” or “Stores still open.”

Please note: These two projects were writing only.

I was also fortunate to be able to create work promoting MOCA exhibits for such amazing artists as Andy Warhol, David Hockey as well as other groundbreaking showings.

A real estate marketing firm that wanted to be rebranded with plenty of attitude. But it wasn't just new business cards and some stationary. So a website was created that was filled with content and insight. Lots and lots of it. I wrote almost everything on the site. Check out The Red Room for what's happening in Silicon Valley real estate, why amenities matter and why it's called Shave Ice without the "d". Oh yeah, I also wrote social media posts, along with internal and external emails.

Just a reminder, this was writing only.

One shots. Not quite campaigns. Pro Bono work. Whatever you want to call them, here they are.