We’re currently in the process of transforming this site from advertising creative I’ve been involved with into a gallery of recent original portrait work created with either pastels or carbon infused graphite pencils. Please enjoy the personalities below, and stay tuned for more. If you’d like to explore creating someone special for a happy place on your wall, let’s talk!

Thank you.

Jeff Tresidder/Art Director

As we kicked around ideas for this back-to-school project it was only a matter of time before one of us started humming Mr. Cooper's song. After that it was easy. 

Vince Beggin/Copywriter

Jeff Tresidder/Art Director

Three of the leading causes of fatal boating accidents are having alcohol in your boat, no life jacket on your person, or a combination of both. Our challenge was to help the DNR tell the people doing these things that the things they're doing are stupid. And do it in a way that wouldn't make them feel, well, stupid. 

John Neumann/Copywriter

Jeff Tresidder/Creative Director

Knot tying and fire building just don't draw kids in today the way they used to. So to capture the attention of potential scouts, their Moms, and those who provide support for the organization, we created an annual report with ink-free pages, and one printed on paper impregnated with wildflower seeds that was meant to be returned to the earth after reading, a giant portrait of a scout that was hand-assembled with over 12,000 badges and an app that allows you to "badgetize" your own portrait. A complete list of all of the work we've produced over the years would be a long one. It's been fun, we've won awards, and we've learned how to tie a knot or two in the process.

Here's a small sampling.

Jeff Tresidder/Creative Director

Kubota Tractor Corporation is well-known for building some of the world's finest tractors. Until recently it was lesser known that they also make the best compact construction equipment a contractor can buy. In order to separate themselves from the tractor brand, and build broader recognition as the engineers of most reliable machine you can buy for your construction site, they asked for a new and differentiating campaign look and feel. Fast-forward two years and they now enjoy a 15% increase in unaided awareness among the construction set, a wheelbarrow full of creative recognition, and being awarded the title of Construction Marketer Of The Year. 

Pardon the pun, but that's a well-constructed brand.

Jeff Tresidder/Art Director

Having done work for the lottery boards of three different states, I've learned that there are a lot of things we can, and can't, say about the games. One of the things we can say is that playing the lottery is flat-out fun. 

Katherine Franson and Tom Camp/Copywriters

Jeff Tresidder/Creative Director

Since busy farmers can't be in their fields constantly watching for new weed growth they need a herbicide that not only kills the weeds when it's initially sprayed, but one that will stick around to get new weed growth afterwards. To do that Halex works day and night with no weekends or holidays off. It has, quite simply, the work ethic of a machine. 

Two years after this launch, Halex had built the best name recognition in the category, despite being outspent 5 to 1 by deep-pocketed competitors.

Jeff Tresidder/Creative Director

The words "new product" are very often viewed by farmers with skepticism. But Acuron was the real-deal, weeds had never seen anything like it. After a couple of rounds of reviewing creative ideas with the team we decided to revisit a series of interviews with farmers and see if we could find some fresh creative scratch. Our search paid off with this quote from a frustrated grower "I go out and spray, and the weeds come back again. Sometimes it feels like they're just laughing at me." Those words started us down a path that ultimately led to the most successful product launch in Syngenta's history. There were a lot of moving parts to this campaign, and you can find many of them in the second video below if you're interested in the deep-dive.

Jeff Tresidder/Creative Director

The city of St. Paul has been home to the CHS Cooperative for a long time. Despite that, there was little consumer recognition of this Fortune 100 company outside of it's members and employees. When CHS decided to sponsor the St. Paul Saints ballpark, they asked for a campaign to the Minneapolis/St.Paul market that not only announced the new sponsorship, but one that also gave a nod to their deep roots in agriculture. Since trains are the preferred mode of transportation to the games we wrapped a couple of them, and did a couple of station take-overs, as well as full-page newspaper ads and more. 

Jeff Tresidder/Art Director

Though I've never lived in the city of Eden Prairie I have a long-standing association with their volunteer fire department. At times they need materials to help with their annual recruitment drive.  If you're seeing these posters below and are currently living in Eden Prairie, go sign up. You'll never regret it.

Jan Pettit and Karen McKinley/Copywriters

Jeff Tresidder/Creative Director

In the world of agriculture change comes quickly. To demonstrate that NK Seeds is designing hybrids to meet the demands of tomorrow's marketplace, we featured the people that will be there tomorrow to buy them.

This has been a much-awarded campaign, and brought home the grand-poobah of ag marketing, Best of Show in the National NAMA competition.

Jeff Tresidder/Art Director

The job was to convince construction workers that Snap-on, well known for having the best tools available, could also build a solid pair of work boots.

Glen Wachowiak/Copywriter

Jeff Tresidder/Art Director

If you've ever wondered who raises those appetizing looking crickets sold in pet stores as reptile food, here's your answer. Owner Gordy Vadis and crew ship 30 million crickets across the country every week. In an effort to generate consumer (the animals) pull-through we placed tiny ads in reptile/amphibian terrariums. We then made big posters from photos of them that were used as successful direct mail pieces.

Linda Birkenstock/Copywriter

Jeff Tresidder/Art Director

Everyone has a list of things they don't ever want to have do again. And getting a new mortgage is often times right there near the top. E-Trade Financial has simplified the application process tremendously. To help consumers really believe that we really, really do have a solution we thought it would be a good first step to demonstrate some understanding of the way they feel about it.

Vince Beggin/Copywriter