It’s no secret that the business of advertising is changing, and that a once acceptable way of doing business is being re-thought.

Clients are demanding solutions that go beyond the staffs and aptitudes of traditional agency structures.

They want access to the best talent, wherever in the world it resides.

And they've figured out that bloated agency infrastructure has little to do with generating transformational ideas.

Out of these realities comes Underhead, a collection of individuals and independent companies with a track record of producing some of the freshest, most effective communications across every discipline.

In an age where overhead is the problem, Underhead is the solution.

From advertising to architecture, from street media to social media, from consulting to content creation, there is no category of project or scope of work that Underhead cannot take on.
Our non-network network gives us access to a broad swath of the best global talent in every discipline, and our model allows us to manage even the most complex project in a seamless, efficient way.

We meet: Your place, Skype, conference call. We’ll discuss your marketing challenge, deadlines, and budget. We’ll have more questions than answers, but we’re good diagnosticians. Which parlays into speed and focus. If our meeting takes more than an hour, we’re not doing our job right.

We select: An appropriate team around the brief. Could be a copywriter, digital programmer, strategist and graphic comic illustrator. Whatever disciplines are necessary to collaborate and solve the problem.

We present: A detailed proposal that defines the deliverables, the team and a budget for the project. Once we agree, we get to work.

We work: Since one of our principles in eliminating waste is getting it right the first time, you are in the loop every step of the way. Through a series of brief iterative touch points, you’ll review work in progress. 

We solve: The marketing problem. Or whatever the problem is that you’ve asked us to solve. We bring the talent and intensity to bear to ensure that.

We eliminate: Wasteful budgets, fake integration, insensitivity to deadlines and of course, overhead.
 

We have worked for a wide variety of clients in almost every conceivable category in our careers. From massive multi-national corporations like IBM, CocaCola, UPS, Xerox and General Motors to small, local institutions like The Bronx Zoo and The New York Rangers Hockey team.
We can put that wealth of experience and depth of knowledge to work for your company.

ESPNW asked us to develop custom content platforms for their marquee sponsors that also met their own rigorous editorial standards.
The platforms were derived from the unique brand positions of each sponsor, and include short films, apps and user-generated content. 

Two of the platforms developed were for Gatorade and McKinsey & Co, as shown here.

We're in the beginning stages of a dream assignment. 

Bringing back a classic American brand that's been to the moon and back.

And was the one and only luggage manufacturer trusted to transport the moon rocks back to earth.

From a conceptual framework that comes from the core of the company's origin, to re-designed products, to a new brand look and feel, to a website refresh and an all new social media presence, Underhead is working closely with Zero Halliburton to go from one small step to a giant leap.

More to come soon.  

Hunter Douglas asked us to completely re-think the way high-end, custom window treatments are selected and sold in a retail environment.

We chose Unspace, an architectural firm in New York, to partner with us in what has become an ongoing, three-year relationship.

After extensive consumer and behavioral research, a prototype store was conceived, designed and built in Olde City, Philadelphia.

It officially opened in June, 2017.

The heart of the design concept was the notion that this complicated and stress-inducing big decision for the buyer needed to be simplified and reduced to a series of easier to understand smaller decisions.

From an opacity lightbox that lets you clearly see the difference between more and less opaque shades, to the operating system display that lets you easily choose between ways to make your shades move, to video touch screens that let you see how the shades you've chosen look in the context of modern or traditional rooms, the store is a clean and friendly "testlab" where visitors can play and create and learn.

And ultimately, a place where they can comfortably make the difficult decision they were previously reluctant to make.

To date, the store has a conversion rate seven times higher than any other store in their network.

We are currently working on stores two and three. The long-term plan includes a global rollout with hundreds of stores in the United States and throughout the world.

In a category that has been built around middle-aged (and older) consumers with traditional (stodgy?) tastes, Celebrity Cruises asked us to reposition their brand as a premium vacation alternative for younger, affluent, design-conscious, tech-savvy travelers.
Modern LuXury and it’s accompanying graphic tone inform every internal and external touch-point from advertising to new activity concepts such as "Tech & Deck" to redesigned shampoo containers. 

In my roles as a creative director, chief creative officer, chairman, business owner, college department chair and leadership coach, I've had a lot of opportunities to mentor people at all levels of business. From large groups of juniors to individual CEOs and CCOs.

There is nothing more satisfying.

The book I've just published officially began as something I wrote and put together as a gift for my graduating students at Art Center College of Design. But in reality, it began a long time ago in the earliest days of my career at Doyle Dane Bernbach in New York.

I learned a lot of lessons (some the hard way), had a lot of mentors (some to emulate and a few to NOT emulate), and watched talented people all around me rise (and sometimes fall).

I had similar experiences at Chiat/Day, and although the culture couldn't have been more different, the characteristics that led to success and failure were the same.

Upon opening my own agency, and ten years later (after it was acquired by IPG) running Lowe North America, I gained years of invaluable experience looking at mentoring from the perspective of a leader who was responsible for both the quality of the work and the bottom line. 

In Work Wise, I've tried to distill a career's worth of experiences into 20 brief and direct lessons that will help get juniors off to a solid start. And hopefully help a few middle level and senior people be just a little bit better as well. 

Work Wise on Amazon

LifeCare asked us to create a complete brand makeover that positioned them as a must-have benefit in a world where traditional benefits are being redefined. The assignment included everything from a new brand positioning statement, a new logo, a complete redesign of the their corporate and member website, advertising, social media, investor decks, and even a pop-up store design and luggage tags. 

I have created work for Knoll for over twenty years. Beginning with my first company, Goldsmith/Jeffrey, all the way through to Underhead.

From brand campaigns, to product campaigns, to product naming assignments and special projects, my DNA is intertwined with theirs.

With our most recent project, Knoll asked us to create a campaign making a direct link between their heritage of modernism and the things they do, and always need to do, to maintain and build on it.
Every element of the campaign was centered around the singular notion of Modern Always. 

We created "What's your always?" as a way of inviting conversation, discussion, and engagement with the brand.

From discovering fire to inventing the wheel to putting a man on the moon, the world has always had a to do list.

From global conservation to life extending robotic surgery to finding a lost dog, there is very little progress that the world is currently asking for that Intel is not playing a part of. 

With placement of online digital videos, magazines, strategically placed outdoor and on Intel's website, Intel will document and give background information of a selection of the most important projects currently being worked on, each of which will be given a numerical ranking based on the public’s perception of their importance.

Each story will highlight Intel's involvement and describe the role Intel plays, and will be updated realtime on Twitter as progress is made or its rank of importance (rated by users) changed.

The Applied Physics Lab at John Hopkins is an incredible place.

Ideas, experimentation and innovation are in endless supply.

But what separates them from everyone else in this dynamic, blue-sky space is the ability not just to dream it, imagine or conceive it.

But to Prove It.

We’re about to launch our first campaign for Mobius MD, a smart, young company that is about to revolutionize the world of medical documentation.

Stay tuned. We’ll soon be posting some of the new work that we hope will help them dominate a category that is growing by leaps and bounds.

Acclaimed architect Mark DuBois asked us to design and build a website that reflected the sleek, minimal aesthetic of the globally recognized work that he has become famous for.

It was a wonderful assignment…both in terms of creative fulfillment and the opportunity to work with a client whose visual style was sophisticated and inspiring.

Enjoy the site, and enjoy Mark’s incredible work.

UPS

Heineken

Got Milk

Saab

Mad River 

Johnson & Johnson

ESPN

Rozerem

Enjoy.

You were cordially NOT invited to the official Underhead Holiday Party.

That's because there was no official Underhead Holiday Party.

Do you really think a company named UNDERHEAD would spend several hundred thousand dollars on a party to watch people make absolute fools out of themselves?

Especially when that money could be applied toward campaign budgets?