Horses Filming Horses

We (Cornett) let some horses film a few ads for VisitLEX. The campaign was one of AdWeek's 'Ads Of The Day' and an 'Editor's Pick' on AdAge's Creativity Online. It also go picked up by the Lexington Herald Leader and a ton of horsey pubs. Hit the links below to read all about it. 

"These New Tourism Ads for Lexington, Ky., Were Filmed by Horses" - AdWeek

"A Pair of Horses Shot This Local Tourism Campaign" - Creativity

"THESE NEW ADS FOR VISITLEX WERE FILMED ENTIRELY BY HORSES." -VisitLEX

Southern Rocks

In 2016, we (Kentucky for Kentucky) rolled out a new brand called ‘Southern Socks’ - and it’s doing great! In 2017, we’re rolling out another new brand called ‘Southern Rocks’ - state shaped silicone ice cube trays. We’ll be rolling out new states throughout 2017. Big thanks to Josh Crandall for helping us with the designs and big thanks to Austin Durham for the killer packaging. Website coming soon. 

CreativeMornings Lexington

Lexington, Kentucky is now a CreativeMornings city! Last summer, Celeste Lewis and Jamie Rodgers approached a few of here at Cornett about creating a pitch video to bring CreativeMornings to Lex. We obliged, enlisted Ian Friley of Kong Production to help with the video (check it out below), CreativeMornings was impressed and Lexington now has a chapter. The first event goes down on Friday, January 20th at the 21C Hotel. My pal Drura Parrish of MakeTime will be the first speaker. Gonna be rad. If you are interested in attending, please create a profile here and be ready to snag your free ticket (only 175 available) at 11am on January 16th. Read more about it in the Herald Leader. 

Marketing Buzzword Jar

Introducing the 'Marketing Buzzword Jar' - it's like a swear jar but with a higher ROI. A hot new innovative and disruptive product by Cornett. 

Check it out on AdWeek and Digiday. 

Playboy

My dream of having my epic naked dad bod smothered in cocoa body butter appear in Playboy Magazine finally came true... in the September 2016 issue. On Page 50. 

C O C A I N E B E A R

Look ma, I'm on tv talking about Cocaine Bear! A local news station (LEX 18) recently stopped by the Kentucky Fun Mall and ran a story on 'Cocaine Bear.' Check the video out below. From there, the story got picked up by Atlas Obscura, Neatorama, Oddity Central and BroBible. Our (Kentucky for Kentucky) beloved Cocaine Bear has become quite the Internet sensation and a top Kentucky tourist destination. If you're not familiar with Pablo EskoBear, read the story here. 

DIGIDAY AGENCY INNOVATION CAMP

I recently had the great pleasure of attending Digiday’s Agency Innovation Camp in Vail, Colorado as a mentor and a speaker. 

“Digiday’s Agency Innovation Camp is a unique — by invitation only — multi-day event, created for the brightest minds from today’s leading digital advertising agencies. These are the millennials creating change and innovation — the digital natives who are rethinking and reshaping brand communication through technology and a continuously evolving media landscape.

Over the course of three days, these rising digital media stars focus on modern-day media buying, planning and tech innovation in think tank sessions and workshops. An emphasis on collaboration and leadership is woven throughout the camp, as participants are divided into teams to ultimately compete in a Brand Hackathon.”

I had a blast! I absorbed so much positive millenial energy, I feel like I’m ten years younger. Maybe I feel older. I don’t know. There were around 80 young digital natives attending the camp from agencies all over. They were split up into eight teams that competed in a series of challenges. The most important challenge being a big ‘Brand Hackathon’. All of the teams we’re given a brief, a budget and were tasked with coming up with a pitch to be presented in front of a panel of four judges. My team (the Blue Team) put the epic Digiday smack down and WON it all. They took home the trophy for the big ‘Brand Hackathon’ and they took the trophy for being the overall ‘Camp Champions’. Hell yeah, it was an epic victory! 

While at the Digiday Agency Innovation Camp, I gave a 15 minute talk on "How to Sell your Ideas Internally”. It was fun. A brief description of that talk along with a video clip and my presentation slides can be found below. 

“The struggle to sell your ideas is real! For most young professionals, the battle begins right there in their own agency. Way before their idea hits the client, they’ve got to get it through the gauntlet of trained idea killers: the art directors, creative directors, account planners, chief innovation officers, chief strategy officers, chief insight officers, chief technology officers, chief sitting bull, the officer officers, the mailman and the chief chief of agency chiefs. Unfortunately for most, many ideas never make it out of the notebook. It’s not their fault, they’re just not properly trained to fight for their ideas. We’ll discuss how to give those ‘idea killers’ a swift kick to the nuts.”