Redesigning the American flag. Reenergizing sales.

One career highlight for me so far has been pitching and winning AOR for Sun-Maid against agencies you’ve heard of while I was working at one you probably haven’t. As I led the creative teams and developed our creative approach, I also helped develop the brand and overall comms strategy for the pitch. A lot of great work was produced in a short amount of time by a lot of great people with the hope of winning a classic American brand.

When we got the call that we’d won the business, the agency erupted in celebration. Champagne and booze and pigs in a blanket flowed as we congratulated one another while letting out a collective sigh of relief. All of the late nights and teeth gnashing and hair pulling paid off. It was incredible news. It was pure joy.

And then a couple weeks later we got some bad news: Sun-Maid was putting it’s branding and packaging up for a separate review. Not because they didn’t think we could do it, they knew our design capabilities, but they were worried with all the other Sun-Maid work already on our plate that we wouldn’t have time to do it. I asked the client to be included in the pitch and they gave us a shot. Against design agencies you’ve heard of. And we won that work, too.

“If you redesign that little red box it’s like redesigning the American flag. Better be careful.”

Prior to jumping into designs, we conducted focus groups across the country asking people what they thought of the current branding and packaging and how Sun-Maid could change them to resonate better for millennial consumers. We heard all kinds of crazy stuff, as you typically do in focus groups, but that quote about the American flag stuck with me.

I remember sitting in the Sun-Maid war room in the agency one night, looking at hundreds of designs taped to the wall, and thinking about that quote. As I began the process of whittling down the options and preparing feedback for the ones moving forward, I couldn’t help but feel humility and gratitude. It’s not often you get asked to lead the redesign of a true American icon. And I knew that our approach needed to be evolutionary, not revolutionary.

Not only were the redesigns embraced by the design community, consumers embraced them, along with a new brand campaign, too. And for the first time in years, Sun-Maid saw positive sales in the raisin category.

Not bad work for a guy you’ve probably never heard of. Right?

The suckiest bunch of sucks who ever sucked.

Whether you’re the one commissioning them or the one designing them, logos are hard. I know — I’ve done both. When we decided to update the Sauder logo, I hired a designer for the job. I gave him some direction and after several rounds of thumbnails we decided to present nine refined sketches to the client. Yes, that’s a lot. From there, based on feedback, we whittled the nine to three and presented to the owner.

And then the designer fell ill and was hospitalized.

With an approaching deadline, a shrinking budget and a toiling group of designers, I decided to finish the logos myself. The three logos became two and I began further refinement — picking and setting the type, picking the color palettes, fretting over alignments, etc. One logo finally emerged and after a little more refinement the new Sauder logo was born.

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Now, I’ve never had one of my logos reviewed on site like Brand New. Not sure what that says about my logos or me. But when a new logo is unleashed upon the internet, I am constantly amazed at the number of negative, hateful comments left by “guest” reviewers. Creative people are an insecure lot — that, I get. We’re constantly being told our ideas suck. By our partners. Our CDs. Our AEs. Clients. Wives. In-laws. Etc.

So I wonder why we bash one another? That, I don’t get.

Some say it’s the cloak of anonymity that propels people to say things they otherwise wouldn’t in person. I’m not sure I buy it. I’ve never posted anonymously. If I’ve had something to say, I’ve said it as myself. I don’t have an online or offline persona — I have me.

Others argue that the reason people troll is because they can throw a comment out, leave, and not be held accountable for their words. Okay. But aren’t people accountable to themselves? I’ve said and done plenty of stupid things in my life. In public, no less. But I’ve always been accountable and have always taken responsibility for my words and actions — not that ownership gives me a pass to be a jerk.

I can’t sleep with a jerk.

Did the person who designed the new Olive Garden logo deserve all the hate? I feel bad for them — even Fast Company got in a few jabs. And why, when somebody leaves an agency, do the people who comment on AgencySpy happily, anonymously, tell the rest of the world how much that person sucks?

It’s a poor reflection on our industry. An industry that I love. And, according to "experts" on the internet, an industry that’s filled with a bunch of people who suck.