Trupo
Social posts for Trupo, the first short-term disability insurance for freelancers.
Roles: Writer, Art Director, Creative Director
Trupo
Social posts for Trupo, the first short-term disability insurance for freelancers.
Roles: Writer, Art Director, Creative Director
Trupo
Social posts for Trupo, the first short-term disability insurance for freelancers.
Roles: Writer, Art Director, Creative Director
Trupo
Social posts for Trupo, the first short-term disability insurance for freelancers.
Roles: Writer, Art Director, Creative Director
Writer/Creative Director
Smarty Plants: Free Knowledge in Every Jar
I led the creation of this cannabis brand from the ground up, beginning with the core brand experience, values, and positioning. Since it's weed, and I just used the word "experience," you're probably assuming that means sitting around and smoking pot, but I'm actually talking about real creative and strategic work.
The thing that made Smarty Plants so popular was The Knowledge Blog, which I also curated myself. The Knowledge Blog was a spectacular buffet of stories and oddities from the annals of history, science, sports, math, and pop culture.
The blog served two purposes: (1) It could be accessed by a QR code on the lid of the jar, making it sort of like the prize in a cereal box; something with no intrinsic value, but a great deal of experiential value. (2) It enabled us to skirt the advertising rules on social media and a handful of ad networks. The media gods still will now allow you to run ads or post content that links out to a site that sells cannabis–but if you're running ads or boosting content that links out to a blog and that blog happens to sell merch and that merch happens to be associated with a brand of cannabis, well, that's apparently okay.
Smarty Plants was about celebrating oddness and sharing the delight of obscure knowledge. We (I was also a stakeholder) made this brand for all the kids who were the weird ones in high school–knowing that deep down, even the coolest kids felt weird because when they're honest, everyone's weird.
The whole experience was downright poetic. And, oh yeah–really fucking effective.
Smarty Plants was the #2 brand of flower in the state of California in 2021. And again in 2022.




Here's the brand video.
Some screenshots from The Knowledge Blog, which I curated myself.



Here's an ad that ran on adult sites, because they have no problem advertising weed.
I concepted and produced (hands-on, 100% solo) 84 videos for social media in 18 months. These are some of my favorites.