the beginning of ad school wasn't shy and careful about taking into consideration my zero experience as a planner. good thing.  the entire course was trial and error and trial and error, but what better way is there to work?  you just learn from your embarrassing mistakes and omit them the next time around.

this is jan and the baby. (and in case you're wondering if he's supporting her/his/its neck, i think so. but he also could be using pressure points to sedate.) our first campaign was for encouraging breastfeeding amongst teens in the UK (or US). to build our working relationship with the creative team (jan/ad, branden/cw) my partner carlos and i started off the process with a collaborative brainstorming session.  i think 9 out of 10 times, both planners and creatives working in the school will agree that this is the best way to work for a couple reasons 1- you're not some god/goddess of revolutionary strategies and thinking and 2- being able to spot the best idea (from a creative, from your planning counterpart, from your mom) is really helpful.  was that preachy? i hope not, it's just something that worked really well for our group dynamic and most creatives in our class liked being included in the beginning.

after some group talks and lots of thinking, our campaign had the tone of a movement, based on the strategy 'we are the new mom.'  we had to speak to girls who weren't even thinking about having babies yet, therefore making breastfeeding even further removed from their priorities.  we thought the best way to intersect their lives (always 'on' or connected, obsessed with pop culture, particularly fashion and celebrities) with breast feeding was to create a new image for the antiquated concept of public breastfeeding.

back to jan and the baby. the team took this strategy and decided to brand 'mother' as a role with a contemporary duality. they recruited a fashion photography student, jeff irwin, to take photos. jan and i went on a shopping spree with his credit card, charging about 2 grand for (refundable) clothes used during the shoots. 

lesson: the creatives at the school do not joke around.

we shot at different locations, some temperamental like the beach, some controlled like in jan's apartment with lighting, hair and make-up, all glam.  i was allowed to work with all kinds of students from varied disciplines in the school and saw how they were truly resourceful and helpful to one another.

jeff, photographer

we liked the campaign. here are a few examples of the work below: