Stockyard Magazine Launch
Online video ads for the launch of Stockyard, a Chicago-based cultural magazine
Writer, Director, Video Editor
Collaborators: Roswell Thomas (producer), Sarah Marikar (camera)
CHALLENGE
Help launch an online magazine that aspired to be the “New Yorker” of Chicago in a city that, according to the magazine’s founders, frowned upon the notion of “high culture.”
PROCESS
With my producer, translated the client’s brief into a couple actionable tag lines—“refinement finds a way” and “snob on”—that communicated Stockyard as a magazine for unapologetically “high-brow” people.
Brainstormed and settled on two scenarios that became the online ads. To accommodate our low budget, filmed one in a converted fraternity basement, and the other one “guerrilla style” at the Wiener’s Circle—an establishment known in Chicago for insulting customers that were too fussy.
FINAL ADS
RESULT
Stockyard got enough attention to be reviewed by the Chicago Weekly and went on to have a two-year run