Identity Theft

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I believe it’s the sincerest form of laziness. Which is why I was completely surprised to discover a video I wrote for a children’s cancer research fundraiser event in my early 20s had been pretty closely lifted by a major agency to inspire women to shave their legs — right down to the “Goddess” language and the cadence of the script. Come on, creatives. Do better! And J. Lo, I expected more out of you.

My Glamorama Introduction Video, 2004

Gillette Venus Commercial, 2011

Can you see it, too? 

I’m all over the place.

For years, I was happy with my website. Well, to be honest, I tolerated it to a point where we could go out and get drinks together in public and be fine. Now, I’m not so crazy about it. In that time, portfolio websites have gotten better. My ability to consolidate my work onto one website hasn’t, however. Until it does, please check out my latest work on these sites:

monkmpls.com
behance.net/adamreynolds
cargocollective.com/adamreynolds

Or connect with me.
Twitter: @monkwork
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/monkwork/

A Downtown Showdown

Life Time Athletic: Diamond Fight Night from Adam Reynolds on Vimeo. Director/Editor: Juan Antonio del Rosario; Creative Director/Copywriter: Adam Reynolds; Designer: Mike Hagan

On a cold November night in downtown Minneapolis, 14 of Minneapolis’s greatest Golden Gloves boxers went round to round, fist to fist, blow to blow — competing for nothing more than great pride and respect.

Created exclusively for Life Time Athletic Diamond Members, Diamond Fight Night proved to be an exciting event filled with great fights, great food, and definitely great-looking people — well, besides the ones getting their teeth knocked in.

Prior to this night, and knowing the potential this event had, my creative partner, Mike Hagan, and I wanted to see how far we could push the branding before the client eventually shoved back. Fortunately, they were in our corner the whole time. We managed to turn their request of a single in-club poster into a full-on advertising attack — complete with banners, coasters, screen-printed posters, round cards, and even spit buckets. These tactics and new vision helped the client see that their one-night, one-city event had the potential to be a heavyweight. I’m excited to say that Diamond Fight Night will now be held at 5 locations throughout the US — including New York and Las Vegas. And I’d like to believe that it’s just the beginning.

Before the event, we also saw the opportunity to gather assets that would help us sell the event to members in other cities — and, most importantly, potential sponsors of the event. We hired Juan Antonio del Rosario to capture footage of the event, that we’d later turn into the above video, to not only entice future ticket sales, but subliminally highlight potential sponsorship opportunities. We also worked closely with Kelly Loverud to photograph the event to help us build an image library we could use in future marketing.

In all, we managed to double our earnings from last year while turning the event into a night to remember. Or in the case of some boxers, one they’d like to soon forget.

Creative team:
Adam Reynolds, Creative Director/Copywriter
Mike Hagan, Lead Designer
Kevin Freidberg, Copywriter
Juan Antonio del Rosario, Director/Editor
Kelly Loverud, Photographer

Kelly Loverud “Diamond Fight Night” photography

Way to Grow: A story of love

Way to Grow: A story of love from Adam Reynolds on Vimeo.

Way to Grow is quickly becoming the premier early learning advocate and provider in Minneapolis. This video was created to help tell the story of how it all started in a little yellow house in North Minneapolis. It was concepted and written to have a storybook feel — a device Way to Grow implements to teach families. It also gave me the honor of working with a longtime favorite musician, Chan Poling.

Concept: Adam Reynolds, Lindsay Fischer, Jennifer Levreault. Copy: Adam Reynolds. Animation: Make. Music: Chan Poling.

CMYK46Cover

Credit report

Copywriter Adam Reynolds seeks out recognition for his un-credited work he found featured on the cover of CMYK Magazine. Everything’s okay. This is one he’ll get through.

Adam Reynolds: DraWords

DraWords

Artist Craig Frazier had a fun idea: illustrate different scenes for a year, and let the world write the captions. As a hack writer, I couldn’t wait to try my hand at this. While I’m not the greatest artist, I loved the idea of adding my words and collaborating online. And with someone I’ve never met.

Somehow, I managed to almost get the featured headline right from the start. Maybe only 10 people were submitting captions at the time. I never did get another comment selected. (Though I know I wrote better ones than what were picked. If I do say so myself.)

Want to read them all? Buy the book. Want to read mine? Here you go.

Adam Reynolds: DraWords

Free Bikes 4 Kidz

This fall, my design partner and friend, Jon Stone, and I were asked to create a campaign for a nonprofit group that collects used bikes to give to kids. The organization, aptly named “Free Bikes 4 Kidz,” looked to build on its initial bike drive one year ago. Having collected 250 bikes in 2 weeks last year, we were excited to see how our efforts could help this year. With a notebook full of great ideas, one little dude stood above them all, Bike Boy. Figuring my stick drawings might need a little help, I called up the talented Andrew Chesworth to bring the boy to life. Well, illustrated life.

Ladies and gents, I bring to you, Bike Boy:

BikeBoy_1Comic.12.11.09.hiresComic.12.10.09.hires

I’m happy to report that Bike Boy, and the dedicated Free Bikes 4 Kidz family, collected more than 700 bikes this year — and gave away over 350 in two days to kids in need. Good wheel to all is right!