Maddy Giordano

After pioneering the flavored sparkling water category, Sparkling Ice started to lose traction as other look-a-like products hit the shelf.  Our team at Wexley put together a campaign with the goal of raising brand awareness and driving brand love, and to create a brand platform big enough to be a rallying cry for the company itself.

The “Be Not Bland” campaign was a total rebrand that was launched nationally through TV, radio, OOH, print partnerships, digital and e-commerce, sparklingice.com and social media channels, in-store and in field marketing.  The campaign was supported internally at Sparkling Ice as well through sales team collateral and swag, and brand and sales videos to help get everyone on board.

The production process started with the creation of assets where I commissioned a photographer to bring Be Not Bland to life in stills, and a 3D artist to create 3D printed frames for each of the Sparkling Ice flavors.  These assets were used across the campaign from TV to print to social media, and helped tell the Be Not Bland story visually. 

I produced and trafficked three TV spots simultaneously, along with OOH and radio in 18 major cities across the country.  I worked with 11 major print publications on traditional print ads as well as interactive print inserts, and produced and trafficked digital display and e-comm banners.  I also oversaw the asset production, mechanical build and delivery of a variety of other items including in-store displays, sales team fleet vehicles, and company collateral. 

Within the first year of the Be Not Bland campaign, there was an increase in aided awareness, sales velocity, and earned, unsolicited #SparklingIce hashtag usage.  Plus an overwhelming adoption of Be Not Bland by the Sparkling Ice organization as a whole.     

A dragon-themed, bourbon-barrel aged stout is not for everyone. But for ‘beer nerds’ and nerds who love beer, it’s the holy grail. We surprised these ‘beer nerds’ with an experience full of everything they love: Raid the Dragon’s Hoard, a retro video game that mixed fantasy, adventure, and real-world prizes.

I coordinated development of this web-based digital game experience, helped develop a social promo calendar and assets, sourced real-world loot such as chainmail neckties and a customized PlayStation 5, managed and fulfilled a sweepstakes, and produced VIP kits designed as retro video game packages that went to nerd influencers to hype the game.

In 2015, Wexley helped launched Darigold cheddar, the biggest product launch for the company in nearly 100 years. In a particularly crowded aisle of the grocery store, Darigold needed to convince their millennial moms that Darigold cheddar was something new, delicious, different, and better. 

The ‘Naturally White Cheddar’ campaign launched across the PNW with OOH, digital display, Pandora radio, social, and in-market sampling and guerrilla stunts.  I collaborated closely with the account, strategy, and creative teams to execute the vision and oversaw the production and trafficking of all touch points of the campaign. 

The campaign included a three month sampling tour across Seattle, Portland and Spokane at events like the Bike & Beer Festival in Portland and at locations such as Westlake Center in Seattle.  I worked with a local fabricator to build a 13’ mousetrap and custom cheese board-shaped lids for our fleet of Cheddar Peddler trikes that we had on site.  I partnered with Alt Terrain and their street team to bring these events to life and over 20k samples were given out across 11 sampling events. 

In Year 2, the campaign look and feel was refreshed across all media to reflect new packaging.  We also asked parents to have 'the orange cheese talk' with their kids.  This included a series of online Darigold PSA videos, in which I worked as both agency producer and line producer. 

In Year 3, Darigold launched The World’s Gratest Promotion, where fans could enter to win prizes like a trip to Cheddar, England or a year supply of Darigold cheddar delivered by a Grate Dane.  I oversaw all components of the promotion including sweepstakes legal, microsite development, and all supporting media – digital display, social, in-store signage, and traffic radio.  The promotion gained 9k entries and a 44% email opt-in rate.  Plus, I took a small team and a Grate Dane to Sun Valley, Idaho to deliver a stash of Darigold cheddar to the lucky winner.

The ‘Naturally White Cheddar’ campaign won two Seattle Addy Awards – a Silver for Guerilla Marketing for the mousetrap stunt, and a Silver for Integrated Campaign for the launch as a whole.

In 2019 I led production of the Rewild campaign for legendary Pacific Northwest brand, Rainier Beer. This campaign told the next chapter of the Wild Rainier story through digital video, social, cinema, and point-of-sale.

The following year I helped launch Rewild 2.0 and continued the Wild Rainier story through more digital and social video. However, just days before our live-action shoot in March 2020, the world went into lockdown. So like many others, my team scrapped our live-action shoot and put the leftover budget into animation. I worked with Augenblick Studios to create a series of video spots and leveraged those assets to create social engagement pieces like IG stickers and caption contests.

War Dragons is a mobile game with genre-defying graphics and gameplay, and great loyalty among existing players.  However, back in 2015, there was low general awareness of the game and they were up against a crowded category dominated by high-spending competitors.  They asked for a TV campaign that would stand out and help them grow awareness of the game among core gamers, and ultimately drive downloads.

Enter the ‘Dragon Days’ TV spot – where fun loving cartoon dragons and two cute little kids get their rainbow world blown up by the menacing dragons from the War Dragons game.  As agency producer, I worked with some incredible talent in the creation and production of the spot.  Renowned animator, J.J. Sedelmaier (Beavis and Butthead, TV Funhouse on SNL) created the cartoon characters.  Creative studio, Fellow LA, combined the 2D and 3D animations.  The theme song was written by Wexley Executive Creative Director, Ian Cohen, and produced by Grammy Award winners Adam Schlesinger and Steven M. Gold. 

The TV spot was supported by a social media takeover as well.  Wexley created a website, Instagram account, and Wikia page for the Dragon Days cartoon and an entire backstory for the characters and “the incident” involving the War Dragons. 

The campaign won three Seattle Addy awards – Gold, Music with Lyrics for the Dragon Days theme song; Gold, Regional/National TV; and Best of Show, Judge’s Choice.

I led production for the Swerve Sweetener “Everyone Friendly” national brand campaign. From a one-day shoot, I helped create 67 assets for social, video, streaming audio, print, and rich media. I worked with Psyop and Vision Film Co on a remote production with teams spread out across Seattle, LA, and New Orleans.

This was an on-the-ground and social campaign to kick off the Sounders season following their second MLS championship. I led the in-house production of digital and social video, display banners, projections around the city, wild postings, and radio.

Nordstrom Rack is growing at an incredible pace, opening dozens of stores across the U.S. each year. Wexley worked to support new Nordstrom Rack store openings through breakthrough experiential campaigns aimed at driving brand awareness and generating excitement in the local community.

One of these experiential activations included Operation: Fashion Drop, initiated three weeks before the grand opening in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina.  Street teams, paid social posts, and drive-time radio helped spread the word that Nordstrom Rack was celebrating the occasion by delivering designer handbags to four lucky winners in town. The contest received hundreds of text message entries, and in the end, the grand prize winners had their new handbag delivered right to their doorstep by a glittering gold Nordstrom Rack drone.

I managed all production including contest mechanics and logistics, drone customization and operation (including lots of troubleshooting), paid social and drive-time radio assets and trafficking, and on-site drone drops.  I led the activation crew on-site and managed all in-market logistics. 

In the end, there were 236 contest entries and a ton of compelling content from the activations that was leveraged on owned social channels in the days and weeks following; and grand opening weekend sales and attendance met or exceeded goals in key markets. 

Nordstrom Rack is growing at an incredible pace, opening dozens of stores across the U.S. each year. Wexley worked to support new Nordstrom Rack store openings through breakthrough experiential campaigns aimed at driving brand awareness and generating excitement in the local community.

These experiential activations included 12 pop-up fashion shows in two cities – Reno and Miami.  The pop-ups were in unexpected places like grocery stores, college campuses and outdoor shopping areas.  Activations included a portable runway, models wearing the latest Nordstrom Rack fashions, and an emcee to help draw attention.  

I managed all logistics including procuring materials, scenic, crew, and talent; coordinating with Nordstrom Rack’s stylist for all wardrobe; and running the show on location in both cities.  I managed the transportation of everyone to and from each location and made sure we were in and out within minutes, plus troubleshooting with location security whenever there were issues. 

In the end, we only got kicked out of one location; we generated a ton of compelling content from the activations that was leveraged on owned social channels in the days and weeks following; and grand opening weekend sales and attendance met or exceeded goals in key markets. 

I produced these :15 TV and pre-roll videos as part of a campaign to support Puget Sound Energy’s paperless billing initiative. I worked with stop motion pros House Special to bring the concept to life. As part of the shoot we also captured a library of photography assets featuring the claymation characters and sets that were used across various static and animated digital placements.

Wexley 10 year anniversary party at Emerald City Trapeze Arts.  Trapeze performance, ice sculptures, battle of the bands, inflatable rubber chicken drop, cupcake cannon, and hundreds of attendees.  Co-produced the event and managed party planning, scenic design, location logistics, entertainment, swag, food and bev, and set-up. 

The Overwatch Hero Stories campaign is a content series featuring members of the Overwatch community to highlight their personal hero story.  The content covers a range of fan stories with the goal of engaging the existing Overwatch community to share their love for the game through content submission and entice a broader gaming audience to want to join the community through viewership and ultimately game purchase.

Wexley developed and produced the first video in the series which featured Henchmen Studios in Toronto and their involvement in the cosplay for the new game character, Moira.  I worked with a documentary filmmaker and LA production company to execute the shoot, which involved a very short pre-production, shooting on location in both Toronto and Anaheim, and coordinating between agency, client, and production crew. 

Final content included a long-form piece plus shorter spots for social media and pre-roll.  The full length video launched globally and received 850k+ YouTube views, 670k+ Facebook views, and overwhelming positive feedback and sentiment from the Overwatch community. 

When Darigold first came to Wexley, they were a 100-year-old Northwest brand that hadn't advertised or rebranded in over 30 years.  Sales were flat or declining within some product categories, and they needed to establish relevance with a younger audience. 

Wexley executed an extensive discovery, and ultimately developed an entirely new brand identity for Darigold to prove that dairy doesn't have to be dull.  The rebrand continues to drive all integrated brand work to this day across the PNW and has helped to keep Darigold top of mind for the target consumer in the crowded dairy aisle.

I started out on the Darigold account in a production support role, and eventually took over as lead producer.  I executed various media including OOH, print, Pandora, digital, in-store, and social.  I worked closely with other producers, the account and strategy teams, and the creatives to make sure the execution of all touch points were consistent and exceeded client expectations.  I was also part of the core team that concepted, presented, vetted and scoped new ideas over the years. 

Darigold work I produced received three Seattle Addy Awards, including:

-        Silver Addy, OOH for the Red & White bulletins

-        Silver Addy, OOH for the Food Wallscapes

-        Silver Addy, OOH for the Better Butter Butter bulletins and wallscape

For the opening of the new Brooks Running HQ in Seattle, Wexley and Brooks asked runners to send in their race medals and the stories behind them to build a commemorative statue of a runner, nearly 10' tall and captured in the final strides of a race. Over 1,000 medals were submitted and their remarkable stores were compiled in a book and placed inside the new Brooks HQ store looking out on to the statue.   In-store fixtures, including a book pedestal and chandelier, were also built to display the book.

I worked on the production of the book and in-store fixtures.  The process involved photographing and retouching over a thousand medals and laying them out across 237 pages.  The chandelier was built using some of the medal ribbons that were submitted, and the pedestal was a combination of steel and wood that matched the store aesthetic.  I worked with several different fabricators and production houses on these pieces.

The Medalist statue has become an icon in the city and is even called out in the Ride the Ducks tour.  The book remains in the Brooks HQ store to this day for Brooks fans and customers to enjoy.

Digital and social campaign for Ziply Fiber featuring eye-catching animations and hyper-targeted messaging. I worked with Hornet and Moth Studio on the production of the animated videos, and leveraged those assets for use across OOH and digital banners as well.

People knew the EMP Museum for the Jimi Hendrix and Nirvana exhibits, and longtime Seattleites had a ‘been there, done that’ mentality after visiting the museum once to see those exhibits.  The ‘EMP Museum’ name did not pay off their evolved mission to focus on pop culture and all it offers from gaming, fashion, film, music and science fiction. 

Wexley set out to boldly name and claim the museum’s pop culture identity, and tell their broader story to increase awareness.  The goal was to activate and rally fans and the local community to celebrate the official transformation into the Museum of Pop Culture, or MoPOP.  So campaign messaging drove fans to a free admission day full of events, where unbeknownst to them, the new name would be revealed.

The teaser campaign leading up to the launch showcased pop culture puzzles, with a simple question: Do you speak pop culture?  The puzzles showed up in wild postings, traditional print, massive video projections, and guerilla tactics to drive foot traffic to the free day at the museum.

I co-produced the campaign with another producer at Wexley.  My role focused mostly on the upfront portion – concepting, presenting and selling in the campaign to the client; planning and scoping the approved concept and tactics; and initial production vetting.

The celebration was the biggest attendance day in the 20-year history of the museum, with more than 10,000 people streaming through the doors. The announcement secured 1.3 million impressions with a Seattle Times exclusive, and 400k+ viewership impressions through broadcast coverage on KOMO, KIRO, and KING.

Wexley won a Silver Seattle Addy Award for the OOH portion of the campaign.

The look of Darigold’s truck fleet hadn’t been updated in years.  The trucks needed a refresh and something more eye-catching and in line with the bold visuals seen in the most recent brand work.  So as part of an extension to the larger brand campaign, Wexley designed and produced four different fleet designs.

I led the production which included photography, retouching, and mechanical build.  I worked as the liaison between the client, the printer, and the trucking company and helped coordinate the printing and install for 82 trucks total. 

You can now see these trucks cruising between major cities in the PNW. 

The work received a Gold Seattle Addy Award in the OOH category.

The Sounders Hyper Rave campaign was launched in the middle of the 2014 season with the goal of spreading awareness, peaking interest with the casual soccer fan, and leveraging the excitement around the World Cup taking place that year.  I helped execute the campaign media which included TV, OOH, radio, and digital display.

Production started with capturing a series of stills and gathering random facts on various players.  The photography was used across TV, OOH, and digital.  The player facts were used in both TV and radio, where we featured short and fun bios on several players.  We worked with Ross Fletcher, voice of the Sounders at the time, to bring his personality and familiarity with the players to the campaign. 

The campaign won two Seattle Addy Awards - Silver for OOH and Silver for TV.

During the Sounders’ playoff run, we presented fans with a simple idea: do good deeds, create good karma, team does better.  Across social media, television, partnerships, and a host of team events, we got all of Seattle psyched through the Good Playoff Karma campaign.

I worked as lead producer on the campaign, producing a series of six videos featuring Sounders’ players, coordinating the build and delivery of all final assets for the landing page and graphics, and managing video projections around town.

On day one of the campaign, #GoodPlayoffKarma was trending on Twitter.  We even got participation from many of the Sounders’ sponsors such as Xbox, Starbucks, and Hyundai.  Through these partnerships, 8,500 scarves were donated to those in need.  Plus, the Sounders made it all the way to the Western Conference Championships.

Nordstrom Rack is growing at an incredible pace, opening dozens of stores across the U.S. each year. Wexley worked to support new Nordstrom Rack store openings through breakthrough experiential campaigns aimed at driving brand awareness and generating excitement in the local community. 

Wexley’s most recent experiential activation for Nordstrom Rack took place in NYC, where we burst onto the fashion scene of Midtown Manhattan to celebrate the new store opening in Herald Square. We popped up in unexpected and interesting ways in places where we knew New Yorkers would be, like the laundromat (because no way a washer & dryer will fit in their tiny NYC apartments).

We partnered with a popular laundromat in the East Village, and 13 lucky customers discovered more than just clean clothes when they picked up their laundry –they were surprised with a new wardrobe from Nordstrom Rack featuring all the latest Fall fashions in a gold branded bag.

The video and photo content we captured was leveraged on the Nordstrom Rack owned social channels in the days following the activation to amplify our efforts and generate love for the brand. 

I worked as lead producer of the campaign and managed the upfront portion – creative development, presenting to client, scoping and initial vetting with a production partner in NYC. 

Mid-season campaign messaging across billboards and wild postings.  Production involved drone photography of iconic Seattle locations, retouching, printing, and trafficking of materials.