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Blurb

Amid the glut of cheapo, on-demand books, this company stands for design, craftsmanship and beauty. With this relaunch, it got the gorgeous brand it deserved, earning the publisher a growing audience and the agency a shelf full of honors.

A way to enshrine your most precious moments, pictures are the stars in Blurb books. So pictures are the stars in Blurb ads, which demonstrate how a custom book can literally and figuratively frame an emotion.

Through words and pictures echoed later in the ad campaign, this internal brand exploration — including proposed packaging — sought to codify the company’s commitment to clarity and creativity, while guiding and inspiring staff.

With its single, bold images and minimal copy, the print campaign translated well to digital, whether carefully chosen display units, book-like tablet ads or competitive jabs.

Work + News

A half gallon of Horizon Organic whole milk sits on a living room coffee table next to a half-full glass of milk and a few children’s alphabet blocks. The campaign line, “this milk means business” is the headline, below the Horizon Organic logo. Behind the type we see a child’s feet; she’s standing on the table.

Horizon Organic did not come to play.

In DC’s new campaign the organic dairy trailblazer takes nutrition as seriously as kids navigating a floor covered in make believe lava. That is to say: very, very seriously.

“We’ve changed!” says Big Tobacco

Guess what, all? The industry that’s responsible for more death and disease than any other and continues to peddle six trillion cigarettes a year is now your friend. Go figure.

R.J. Shaugnessy brought his signature style to capture the aloha energy in a photography shoot featuring all local talent and locations spanning the island. How cute are these people? Don’t you want to hang out with them in Hawaii and drink Kona Big Waves? 

Kona Big Wave goes even bigger

After a decade of leading creative for Kona Big Wave, DC’s “Bring the Aloha” campaign relaunches the brand for a broader audience, moving beyond its craft roots to a priority position in AB InBev’s premium beer portfolio.

Two men sitting side by side viewed at an angle. The man in the back is clean shaven, wears a yellow t-shirt and a black bucket hat and is leaning back with his eyes closed. Man in the forefront is leaning back looking at the camera with a slight smile and wears a patterned t-shirt, amber colored 70’s style sunglasses with a short afro and goatee. A large text overlay in bright yellow reads, “you golden?” and partially covers the rear man’s face.

This Golden Road work isn’t good

People always ask: You good? But that indicates a pretty baseline, “just okay” type of good. DC’s new campaign for Golden Road asks a question that aims a little higher from a city that does the same.

El Secreto esta en el balance

Nuestro nuevo comercial para la cerveza Mango Cart de Golden Road establece una conexión alegre entre la tradición Mexicana de bailar mientras se equilibra una cerveza abierta en la cabeza con el sabor de la deliciosa cerveza con infusión de mango de Golden Road.

Drink to the future

Organic wine industry pioneer, Bonterra Organic Estates, bolsters brand leader status with a future forward, fashionably chic campaign from DC.

Tattooed Chef Plant Based Pepperoni Pizza on top of vintage record player, hand is reaching for a slice of pizza from the left side. Copy in all caps large white letters reads: Farm to Whatever You Call A Table. Tattooed Chef logo, including illustration of a chef with red beanie, chef apron and tattooed arms that are crossed.

Plant-based partnership

After a competitive review, DC “inked” a deal to become social and digital AOR for Tattooed Chef, one of the country’s fastest growing plant-based food brands.

Helping Rosetta spread the word

Against competitive headwinds, DC reintroduces Rosetta Stone as the leader in deep, nuanced language learning with ads so cute you want to pinch them.

Animation still of person wearing a white shirt and bright green pants with one hand on hip, the other holding a cigarette straight up in the air with drawn smoke; Clio Health logo appeared at bottom right in black

Empathy wins

DC is honored to announce that our work for the California Tobacco Control Program to help smokers quit in an empathetic way has been recognized with a Clio Health award.

Image of Kardale, black male dancer, dancing in an open white button up shirt and black pants, doing moves on the floor in a white room with black floors

Hope and dance for foster kids

Our latest project for SFCASA is a short film featuring a former foster youth who tells his story through dance.

The Little Big Lie

Our new campaign for the California Tobacco Control Program calls out Big Tobacco on the cigarette butts polluting our Earth - and bodies - with harmful microplastics.

Kona makes the playoffs

After eight great seasons, our winning Dear Mainland campaign makes its NFL playoff debut. Check out the brothers’ latest gameplan for a life well-lived.

Vaccinations, empathy, and equity

The “Let’s get to immunity” campaign, for the California Department of Public Health, counters COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy by meeting people where they are, and rooting every message in empathy and respect.

bright, multi-colored background featuring SweeTarts candy as a music equalizer. The SweeTarts logo and SWEET BEATS title sit on the left.

Eat to the beat with SweeTARTS

Launching today, the SweetBEATS mixer lets fans create musical loops, share them with friends, and enter for a chance to win a one-on-one virtual studio session with pop legend Christina Aguilera.

Catching “Waves” with Kelly Slater

Fresh off an exclusive in Adweek, our latest work for Kona Brewing is ready to make waves all summer long. And this time surfing legend Kelly Slater is along for the ride.

Cut paper style animation of someone walking precariously through a row of tall cigarettes.

Animating anti-smoking

The spots are animated. The struggle is real. True tales of former smokers on the perilous path to quitting.

Medium close shot of someone laying on the grass, having just fallen out of a tree. A sharp gardening tool stick out of the ground, perilously close to their head. They are looking at it with concern.

InnovAsian: The Next Generation

DC is back with seconds of our award-winning, supply-chain-busting InnovAsian Occasion campaign now running on stations across the nation.

Kona Brewing

Not only did viewers rank the TV spots above those of market leaders Corona and Dos Equis, they gave them the third highest score for any alcohol-related ad that year. Which might be one good reason for a frothy 37% sales increase.

Two female presenting teens are at a table in a school library. One female with dark curly hair is sitting down with her back to the frame. The other is standing over the table with SweeTarts gummies in both hands and smiling.

SweeTARTS’ Be Both is back

After the sweet success of last year’s 'Be Both' launch, SweeTARTS is doubling down on the campaign to Gen Z with brand new work in market now — and more to come in 2021.

Action shot of a pink nike shoe as it hits the concrete. The person wearing the shoe is running. A pink Rakuten logo appears above the shoe as if it popped out from her shoe indicating the runner is a Rakuten user.

Rakuten

Loyalty or discount program advertising often dwells in the downscale world of the coupon clipper — a turnoff to savvier online shoppers. Our strategy was to present Rakuten as every bit as premium as the brands it offered rebates on.

StubHub

Even the mild-mannered have something inside that drives them wild. And thanks to StubHub that wild thing is busting out all over.

This way to health insurance

Today marks the launch of our first campaign for Covered California as part of a five-year, $400-million effort to help all Californians get the health insurance they need.

Kettle Brand

The “Stirring the Pot” work celebrates Kettle Brand's counterculture legacy and all those that zig when others zag.

Upwork

As a global network of freelance talent, Upwork needed to overcome their target’s gig-economy skepticism.

Black and white photo of a group of Golden State Warriors basketball players sitting on the sidelines. They are laughing and poking good fun at each other. The team’s logo is in the top left corner in golden yellow and on the bottom right corner is text that reads “game recognize game” but the second “game” is upside down.

Golden State Warriors

One of the greatest teams ever assembled was just about to leave the city that supported them through thick and thin for 47 years. How do they say good-bye?

Esurance

To keep growing, this pioneering online car insurer, which had catered to a younger demo, needed to persuade older, more discerning consumers of its stability, reliability and humanity.

“They can’t take your ballot”

At a time of unprecedented voter suppression, the mission of Vote From Home 2020 is more essential than ever. Our new “Suppress This” campaign helps them get ballots into the hands of disenfranchised voters of color. You can help, too.

A group of male presenting individuals are sitting on a living room couch laughing and enjoying a meal together. They appear to be enjoying quality time together over a nice meal. There are takeout boxes on the coffee table.

Grubhub

While the competition focused on transaction and technology, Grubhub really understood the near magical moment that occurs when the “food’s here.”

Image headline reads: One Juul Pod Contains the same amount of nicotine as a pack of cigarettes. The words “I just smoke at parties.” is written several times with words “at parties” crossed out so it reads, “I just smoke.” Two people are sharing a e-cigarette. They appear intoxicated and dazed.

California Tobacco Control Social Smoking

Daily smoking has been on the decline for decades and yet casual smoking is actually on the rise. How do we get at-risk groups to see social smoking for what it is: plain old dangerous, unhealthy smoking.

A mother and daughter are sitting at a booth inside a classic looking camper van. They are wearing matching red checkered flannels and a tan vest. They each have the same Innovasian meal in front of them. In the window of the camper is a giant bear that appears to want in on their tasty meal. The mother is giving her daughter the side eye as if the bear doesn’t exist.

InnovAsian

Chinese frozen food brand, InnovAsian, was languishing with low awareness and living in the long, chilly shadow of category king, PF Chang’s. Fix that, they said.

Nicotine: the teen nightmare

Nicotine is a neurotoxin whose changes to the teen brain could be permanent. And that’s what our campaign sets out to communicate.

A couple locals go national

The two lovable locals that anchor Kona Brewing’s Dear Mainland campaign are about to hit the court and the big time in a series of new spots running for the first time nationally during this year's March Madness.

Playing the name game with InnovAsian

These four 15-second spots use rhymes that play with the catchphrase “InnovAsian occasion” to help consumers better remember the brand when navigating the crowded freezer aisle.

Upwork is happening today

Oh, it's happening alright: the new campaign for freshly IPO'd Upwork launches this very morning and portrays an experience familiar to us all in the workaday world: the “oh shit, how am I going to get this finished?” moment.

The tobacco industry has a kids menu

Today marks the launch of DC’s latest campaign for the California Tobacco Control Program. The work exposes the tobacco industry’s latest deception: using flavors and products that masquerade as snacks and flash drives to hook kids when their brains are most susceptible to addiction.

DC in the World Series

As part of a long-term partnership with the MLB, the campaign for SU2C challenges the common perception that the only way to beat cancer involves one monolithic cure.

New TV and a billboard full of butts

In its latest effort for the California Tobacco Control Program, DC shifts focus from the health dangers of cigarettes to the environmental dangers of cigarette butts. The “Come Clean” campaign features new TV and a billboard filled with 12,000 toxic butts.

DC dishes up So Delicious

DC launched a brand new campaign for brand new client, So Delicious. The inaugural work emphasizes taste to challenge the misperception that choosing non-dairy somehow equals non-delectable.

Retail therapy

Cash back from Ebates for the normal online shopping you were already going to do? No catch? We can understand your skepticism. That's why our new campaign tackles that disbelief head on by setting the spots in Skeptics Anonymous therapy sessions (a group some skeptical people doubt actually exists).

“Wake Up” wins North American Effie

DC’s “Wake Up” campaign snared a silver at the 2016 Effies, the pre-eminent industry award for marketing that drives measurable success.

Kona Brewing

Kona bros offer miracle FOMO cure

The loveable Hawaiian brothers who've helped lift Kona Brewing into the top ten of US craft beer are back for the third year of D/C's "Dear Mainland" campaign.

Diamond of California is cooking

From TV to digital to print to a partnership with the Cooking Channel and Chef Kelsey Nixon, Diamond of California is serving up a complete creative feast in its first campaign from D/C.

“Turn Down” helps DriveTime turn up

Tina, Tara and the green rescue van are at it again in three new spots for DriveTime — including (if you're paying attention) one bumpin’ a lil “Turn Down for What.”

Stride Rite embraces the chaos

The world may change, but the joyful pandemonium of childhood remains a constant. Being no strangers to that joy ourselves, D/C was excited to be tapped to work on a brand refresh for Stride Rite. The new work encourages parents both to embrace the chaos and come prepared.

Still Blowing Smoke

After besting more than 100 agencies, our first task for the California Tobacco Control Program was to address the arrival of e-cigarettes.

Episode II: Return of the Rescue Squad

Late last year, DriveTime, the number-one used car chain for the credit-strapped, introduced a new TV campaign called “Rescued.” Today, the campaign rolls on with three new spots playing across the country. Ride along with our intrepid rescuers as they put the fun back into car-buying for three more lucky abductees.

Dear Mainland

In this integrated campaign for Hawaii's first and biggest craft brewer, a pair of Hawaiian brothers comment on such “common mainlander customs” as multi-tasking, while inviting viewers to take a breath.

For those about to rock, call Ticket Oak

The coolest deciduous dude you'll ever meet, Ticket Oak always has tickets to the hottest games and concerts, is a member of the Advertising Hall of Fame and, in his off-time, loves to ride a Chestnut mare.

John Muir Health

Women call the shots (no pun) when it comes to family medical decisions. And women are wired to communicate. That’s where the Be Heard campaign started.

In all candor: new John Muir Health ads

The next evolution of the Be Heard campaign begins rolling out. The three new spots created by DC and directed by Aaron Ruell, showcase the delightfully close relationships John Muir Health patients develop with their doctors.

DriveTime saves the day

Two hyper-enthusiastic, hopelessly dorky young women in a homemade rescue vehicle are the heroes of the new D/C-created campaign for America’s number-one used car dealer for people with credit issues.

Today’s StubHub news: T.O. gets naked & other abominations

If, like us, you can't get enough of Ticket Oak, this Q3 roundup is for you.

Sephora / Marc Jacobs Beauty

When fashion icon Marc Jacobs made his move into cosmetics, he picked Sephora for a partner. And Sephora picked DC. And the pressure was on to match up to the master’s incomparable style.

Tahoe South

Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority takes the plunge on a new name, a brand overhaul and fresh advertising, embracing its rep as the lake’s wild side.

Hard Rock

Work that earned top prize in the global Rebrand 100 competition, awarded for the combination of creative and strategy, and helped turn around a brand that turned rock stars into raving fans.

100 Best in Advertising

Graphis magazine has honored D/C’s campaign for Sanita, the original Danish clog, with a gold award in its 2011 "100 Best in Advertising" annual. Founded in Zurich in 1944, Graphis is one of the world’s most influential graphic arts publications. The competition was judged by a prestigious international jury whose US contingent included Rich Silverstein. All of which ain't exactly chopped liver, a D/C spokesperson was heard to remark.

Hygge. Go ahead, you can say it.

The manufacturers of the original Danish clog, Sanita, have been making shoes for the US market for years. But now they’ve decided to sell them under their own brand.

D/C helps big chicken crow

DriveTime

In a world of no — no approval, no loan, no car — it’s DriveTime to the rescue. Two wildly enthusiastic young women deliver automotive salvation. And 38% more sales.

Contact Us

New business

NOËL JOHNSON
Dir of marketing and client engagement
njohnson@duncanchannon.com
415 306 9237

 

Press

ADRIENNE SCORDATO
Director of media relations
press@duncanchannon.com

 

Jobs, creative

TINA MONTEMAYOR
Dir of creative talent acquisition + equity
tmontemayor@duncanchannon.com
415 306 9282

 

Jobs, general

ALLISON BART
Director of people
abart@duncanchannon.com
415 306 9203