Work + News

All the top advertising agency news you’d expect. Along with award-winning work from our San Francisco and Los Angeles offices. Along with smatterings of goofy marginalia you didn’t know you needed until just this moment.

All Work News

Vaccination: our state’s best shot

As reported in AdAge and Adweek, DC was awarded the state’s $40 million campaign to bolster public confidence in Covid-19 vaccinations. And work is already underway on this critical effort.

female presenting person wearing teal shirt and white e.l.f. branded face mask, holding orange pumpkin while sitting inside pop-up vehicle with purple sparkly wall behind her with the words

e.l.f. 2020 Halloween activation

Duncan Channon’s LA team kept the halloween spirit alive by bringing a spooky holiday pop-up straight to beauty influencers’ homes.

Female identified person with short-cropped brown hair, holding a baby to her chest. DC and Covered California Logos overlay the image on left and right, respectively.

Covered CA on Adweek’s cover

DC is thrilled to announce that we were awarded the five-year, $400-million Covered CA account. We are resolute in helping at this crucial time when more Californians need coverage than ever.

“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.

Beautyscape influencers launch e.l.f. collection

It’s a beautiful day at DCLA with the launch of the e.l.f. Cosmetics Retro Paradise collection — the new collection from e.l.f.’s Beautyscape winners Alissa Holmes, Diana Curmei, Elicia Aragon, Jessa Green and Valeria Loren.

Nicotine equals brain poison. Two images in a grid. Image to the left is the campaign example featuring two male presenting teens with their heads down smoking a vape pen with a copy overlay that reads Nicotine equals brain poison. The right image is the gold Clio award on a black background.

Nicotine = Brain Poison = Clio

Our work for CTCP has awakened parents to the teen vaping epidemic and won a slew of awards in the process (not nearly as important, but nice). The latest is that most venerable of ad accolades: the Clio.

A grey-blue background with a circle of screenshots of various people speaking in a video conference call. In the center of the screenshot is text in white text letters that reads “Work Together.

Million-dollar talent from Upwork

To support COVID-19 projects, Upwork is donating a million dollars of time from their network of independent professionals. And who better to tell us about it than the pros themselves?

Grid image of 20 US employees on video conference call together. They are diverse in their age and their genders. They all appear smiling and some chatting like they are familiar with each other and enjoy working together.

Cotteleer in Campaign US

DC’s chief experience officer speaks with Campaign about the virtual world and how COVID-19 has actually brought DC’s SF and LA offices closer.

A mother of two lays in a hammock in her backyard. In the hammock with her is her two children. She appears a strong mother balancing work and motherhood. Her two daughters are smiling.

Empowering the pandemic parent

Amy, along with our CEO Andy, talking to MediaPost about the agency’s support plan for working parents suddenly at home with kids.

ADWEEK. A scene from the Disney movie Frozen. Elsa, Anna, Olaf, and Sven are posing on a purple background.

Cotteleer talks COVID-19 in Adweek

As we seek to chart our way through the uncharted, DC’s Amy Cotteleer shares her thoughts on brands’ best course of action during the pandemic.

Another sweet new client

If you missed it in Adweek and Ad Age, DC went to the Black Forest and hit the gummy bear motherlode.

Safety precautions

We have all made sacrifices.

Upwork goes nationwide

This week marks the launch of Upwork’s first national campaign. Broadcast TV, digital video and radio show us how all our offices could, in fact, be much larger than we realize.

New business and beyond

DC is pleased to announce the arrival of Noel Johnson as our first director of marketing and client engagements.

A new leader in a new role

Gary Stein joins DC as our first chief integration officer. He’s here to accelerate collaboration between strategy, media and creative.

40 over 40

Amy Cotteleer was tapped by Campaign US for its annual digital 40 over 40 list. The honor is bestowed upon those at the forefront of digital transformation.

Bus stop billboard ad. Featuring male presenting teen leans into his locker at school and takes a drag of a vape pen. There is text over the image in black and white that reads “Nicotine: looks like tech, works like poison. “Flavorshookkids.org” is in the bottom right side of the image.

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.

An energetic graphic design centers a bag of SweeTARTS candy. The background of the design is red with a lighter red lightning bolt. In the center of the image is a skateboard, ballet slippers, and a bookbag. The book bag is open and the SweeTARTS candy sits in the bag.

How sweet (and also tart) it is

It’s not just the sugar talking when we say that we’re so fired up about our new client: iconic candy brand and childhood favorite, SweeTARTS.

Three young professionals sit at a conference table and appear to be on a business call. One of the professionals has her hand on the conference phone as if she just muted the call. Another young professional looks like she was speaking but was interrupted by the one pressing mute. In the background the third young professional sits concerned with his chin resting on his hand. He appears to pick up on the body language but not engage.

Keepin’ it real in HR

HR is about helping real people. The H is for human, remember? So why does so much HR advertising feel so unreal?

The one and only Steph Curry dats’up a fan as he walks off the court. He’s in his classic white warriors uniform and it appears he is breaking for halftime during a busy game. In the background you can spot other players, fans and staff members.

Buy stuff, get Steph

Rakuten is back with the latest installment of the “Power of R” campaign, this time featuring a relatively well-known professional basketball player.

The partners of Duncan Channon; Robert Duncan, Parker Channon, Michael Lemme, Andy Berkenfield and Amy Coteleer are all polished in black posing sleekly for the camera. They are in a room with vintage designed wallpaper that is black in white. Robert Duncan is wearing his signature luchador mask.

New partner, new locations, new DC

We’re thrilled to announce the acquisition of A2G, a pioneering experiential and social influencer agency with offices in LA and New York.

The lazy tyranny of Facebook's best practices

Our ECD John Kovacevich challenges whether Facebook's "best practices" are really the best we can do. He is also aware that he uses lots of ironic quotation marks.

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.

Rakuten makes Grammy debut

The Japanese e-commerce giant dropped its first ever North American campaign during last night’s Grammys. Directed by acclaimed duo Vania & Muggia, the TV introduces Rakuten as a premium lifestyle brand and is the introduction of a months-long, DC-led brand overhaul.

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.

Ad exec/poll worker

For yesterday’s midterms, a big chunk of DCers added the title poll worker to their already sparkling resumes.

Kovacevich accepts the rose

After arm-twisting, haranguing and even shedding the occasional tear, DC finally convinced the multi-talented John Kovacevich to join us full-time as executive creative director.

Golden State Warriors: Game recognize game

The new campaign for the NBA champs celebrates the franchise's 47-year legacy in Oakland through novel pairings of Warriors — old-school and new — playing in perfect sync across a continuum of time.

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.

Social smoking hurts more than you think

While children of the 1990s and 80s grew up seeing anti-tobacco efforts targeted at heavy ‘pack-a-day’ smokers, social smokers age 21 to 35 typically don’t view themselves as ‘smokers’ — and thus, underestimate the harm.

Universal appeal

Our assignment was to convince teens and tweens that Universal was the “what’s next” vacation for them and their families.

Shiseido relaunches

What better venue to make a grand re-entrance than Fashion Week? Shiseido’s pop-up experience drove huge engagement, reintroducing the brand in style.

Being Purposeful this Football Season

With pre-season underway, our Purpose Practice Director, MJ Deery, recommends some serious changes to the NFL’s playbook in Adweek.

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.

DriveTime's new direction

The new campaign from DriveTime asks the burning question: if you’re not buying your car at DriveTime, how smart are you?

Hey World! Upwork’s here to help

DC’s first campaign for Upwork positions the freelancer network as a movement of motivated people who are here to roll up collective sleeves and make stuff happen.