Calvin Lai

Product Campaign Launches / Film / Photography / Digital / Social
Agency: Monks
Role: ACD

For decades, Shure microphones have put their superior products at the center of all their campaign efforts. But knowing our audience, we insisted that the performers be front and center, too. In multiple product campaigns, we shined a spotlight on the microphones and the bands that rely on them night after night.

And if you’re looking for some new music, check out these incredible indie acts: Jungle Bobby and Featurette.

Campaign Launch / Film / Digital / Social / CRM
Agency: Monks
Role: ACD

The Philips Hue Sync Box syncs your LED lights to what’s playing on your screen. It’s an immersive experience for anyone, especially gamers. So we penned this idea for a product campaign that went global: Game changing sync. What does it look like to have everything in sync and then out of sync? We won’t just show it to you, we’ll let you feel it.

Campaign Launch / Film / Digital / Social / CRM / Package Design
Agency: Monks
Role: ACD

The ingenuity behind Philip Hue lightstrips is what makes them outshine the competition. Our “Simply brilliant” campaign launched around the world with the simplest of taglines. Our clients also asked us to show people using the lightstrips over and over again. So we did just that.

Internal Comms / Collateral
Agency: Monks
Role: ACD

Handbooks that address issues like diversity and inclusion can be super helpful tools for organizations. But there’s one problem: no one reads them. That’s why we wrote and illustrated a comic book instead for the Google France office. “The Kitchen Chronicles” was our answer to tackling the stereotypes of the Arab+ community with just the right amount of levity.

B2B / Partnership marketing / Campaign / Video / Digital
Agency: Monks
Role: ACD

French marketers have a persistent challenge: they’re constantly overwhelmed with information, some useful, some not so much. Our “Bringing data to life” campaign showed how HubSpot’s seamless Google Ads integration helps these marketers get the most out of the right data. Spanning three continents, our team’s amazing collaboration paid off. We helped Google and HubSpot surpass their campaign goals: 1.5 times more impressions and over 3 times more clicks.

Digital / UX-UI / Content Strategy
Agency: GALE Partners
Role: Creative Lead

As a global IT distribution leader that's ranked #133 on the Fortune 500 list, Arrow is perhaps the biggest company you never heard of. Our agency was asked to redesign its Enterprise Computing Solutions site from the ground up so that it could speak directly to the resellers, vendors and service providers that make up the IT ecosystem. I led the team that developed the UX, design and content for this 40-page website – and was inspired by the unique creative challenges of B2B.

Product campaign / Collateral
Agency: GALE Partners
Role: ACD

Every Pella window is tested against extreme elements, like blistering sun, pelting rain and snow, severe winds and hurricanes – all so you can rest assured your windows will protect you from Mother Nature’s extremes. We showed potential customers just how rigorous these weather tests are by putting a postcard through the same tests. The resulting wear and tear made them unsuitable for mailing. But they could still make a lasting impression at branch locations across North America.

Campaign Launch / Video Content / Localization
Agency: GALE Partners
Role: ACD

I co-led the team that pitched, won and ran the Pella AOR business for 40 individual markets across North America. In our first year, we helped drive 11% sales growth despite decreasing the media spend by 18%. We achieved this through hyper targeting and localized creative, including our “A Window Into” content series which pulled back the curtain on Pella’s thermal efficiency testing, installations and everything in between.

Customer Journey / CRM
Agency: GALE Partners
Role: ACD

My partner and I led a 10-person team of designers, writers, motion artists, production artists and developers to create BMW USA’s first-ever CRM journey for prospects and owners. By putting the drivers at the center of the experience, we helped grow the brand from the #3 best-selling luxury automaker to #1 within two years.

Product Launch / Direct Mail / Partnerships
Agency: GALE Partners
Role: ACD

Known as a performance-first brand, BMW had to convince prospective buyers that the All-New 7 Series flagship sedan also embodies luxury. Our solution: a multi-dimensional mailer that mirrors the heightened sensory experience of the 7 Series – from the Ambient Air Suite to Vernasca leather trim to the Bowers & Wilkins stereo experience. Layer by layer, we ignited all the senses. And we didn’t just change perceptions about luxury. We helped drive sales: 1,895 purchases in the first two months.

Website / Content Strategy & Development
Agency: GALE Partners
Role: ACD/Writer

Despite being ranked the top performing bank in Canada and the #1 most sustainable bank in North America, BMO is still viewed as a challenger brand in many ways. And there are few things I love more in this business than helping challenger brands get in the ring and fight for their business. Aside from needing a new site for their wealth management offering, our clients required two more things: a new way to speak and a new way to connect with their audience. By focusing on the users’ needs first, not BMO’s services, we delivered all three.

Campaign Launch / Digital Content / Video / Collateral
Agency: Fathom Communications
Role: Creative Lead

All Business is more than an advertising idea. It’s a 24 hour test drive where business owners get to put the van to work. My agency partnered with Escape Velocity Content to produce a mini-documentary series that followed four business owners for an entire work day. The campaign garnered rave reviews with the leadership team at Fiat Chrysler and triggered a nationwide dealership program. My role included crafting the identity, interviewing the business owners and writing the copy.

Campaign Launch / Branded Content / Social / Video
Agency: Fathom Communications
Role: Creative Lead

Traditional tourism ads don’t cut it anymore. So my team developed a campaign that goes beneath the surface to reveal Canada’s unique values. “True North” is all about putting aside the stereotypes in favor of stories that capture Canada’s true essence. To pull it off, we needed two things: open-minded clients and a talented content partner like Great Big Story. Luckily, we had both. The campaign generated well over 1 million views in just the first two weeks. And by the following year, 14.3 million U.S. tourists visited Canada, the highest figure in 12 years.

Campaign Launch / Digital / Social / Video / Point of Sale / Promotions
Agency: Fathom Communications
Role: Copywriter

Hunter wanted to celebrate its rich heritage and disrupt the ceiling fan category. My agency’s pitch-winning idea: Bring founder John Hunter back from the 19th century and set him loose to espouse his love of Hunter. I was instrumental in shaping John’s voice and introducing it into various marketing efforts, from product launches to social media sweeps. Much to Hunter’s satisfaction, the campaign more than doubled the brand’s historical social engagement measures.

Campaign Launch / Social / Print / Promotions
Agency: Fathom Communications
Role: Copywriter

To help resurrect this PepsiCo challenger brand, we repositioned Propel as the one true workout water. This led to the development of the “Real Workouts, Real People” campaign, featuring brand ambassadors instead of models. The work struck an indelible chord with our audience and brought the brand back to relevance once again. We have the numbers to prove it: we boosted Propel’s social engagement by an astounding 92%.

Brand Launch / Digital / Social / Mobile / Environmental / Collateral
Agency: Fathom Communications
Role: Creative Lead

While Life Fitness is known more for its treadmills and exercise machines, we helped them launch a new company that goes beyond the gym called InMovement. Its mission is to promote healthy lifestyles, increase productivity and boost morale in workplaces across the country. We created a 360 campaign that encouraged employees to do one simple thing while they’re at work: take a stand.

Digital / Video / Retail / In-store / CRM / Print
Agency: Fathom Communications
Role: Copywriter

There are few things humans loathe more than their internet-cable company. So how do we change customer sentiment for a big regional player like Optimum? With a good dose of empathy. Our creative strategy “We see it the way they see it” connected with audiences across several business units, including retail, B2B and multi-cultural. Our proof: a 15% growth rate.

Campaign Launch / Advocacy / Out-of-Home / Print / Digital
Role: Creative Lead

For 5 incredible years, I escaped the agency world and huddled inside an Upper Eastside brownstone to help New York’s iconic nonprofit, The Doe Fund. Their mission is to empower homeless individuals to reenter the workforce. There aren’t many missions that are more inspiring. While I was there, I wrote anything that came across my desk— donor letters, grant proposals, speeches, collateral, websites and this campaign here.

Campaign Launch / Print
Agency: Wunderman New York
Role: Copywriter

One of the most meaningful projects that I’ve ever worked on was an initiative to help the NYPD lower the alarming increase in cop suicides. We canvased precincts around the city with posters that encouraged at-risk cops to call for backup. The work helped reverse the trend, and enabled our agency to win more assignments with the NYPD.

Campaign Launch / Retail / Sponsorships / Print / Radio
Agency: Ogilvy New York
Role: Copywriter

Love it or hate it, mLife worked. Our team transformed a landline telecom giant into a relevant voice in the mobile space, boosting brand recognition by over 50%. We also surpassed our clients' customer acquisition goals by 9% in the first year.

Campaign Launch / Advocacy / Print
Agency: Bozell New York
Role: Copywriter

The Family Violence Prevention Fund asked our agency to help them direct domestic violence victims to life-saving resources. After learning that the majority of victims suffer silently, we broke the silence with the “Hidden Scars” campaign, a poster series that made some noise in offices across the country.

Campaign Launch / Print
Agency: Adler Boschetto Peebles & Partners
Role: Copywriter

In the wake of NASCAR’s steady decline in television viewership, my team repositioned the sport’s primary telecast, switching the fan’s point of view from the stands to the driver’s seat. From this perspective, it would no longer feel like a bunch of grown men driving in circles. Television viewership increased, but more significantly, NASCAR went on to become a cultural phenomenon as the fastest growing sport in America.

Campaign Extension / Collateral / Retail
Agency: Mezzina/Brown
Role: Copywriter

One of my first ad assignments was a seemingly dull one: create a print catalog for Camel’s loyalty program, Camel Cash. My team and I made sure it was anything but pedestrian, turning the catalog into an anthemic recount of the brand’s 85 year history. The brand book “Timeless Collectibles” told stories only previously recorded at R.J. Reynolds’ archives in Winston-Salem. Along with these narratives, both cultural milestones and Camel collectibles helped bring each era to life. The work was recognized as an Ad Age Landmark.