Steve Morris Creative Director/Writer

Mazda had invested millions on new engine technology and design and wanted people to appreciate their cars as the brilliant machines they are. But though brand loyalists and the car press were engaged and excited, Mazda's previous campaign wasn’t connecting strongly enough with the hearts of everyday drivers.  

What does connect all drivers are the stories they have about past drives. In this sense, the Driving Matters campaign strategy was hugely successful. It inspired people from all over the world to share their stories on why the freedom of driving, and the fun of driving a great car, is so central to their lives.

The campaign resulted in a massive uptick in brand consideration and loyalty, and helped Mazda surpass all previous sales records. 

The first shoe Adidas ever made was a running shoe. They built their company on them and suddenly Nike was outselling them in the category. If they were to reclaim the throne, they had to let hard-core runners know they understood running better than any other shoe company on earth. 

Adidas gives this campaign credit for helping them become the number one running shoe company again. 

I try to create advertising that’s based on sound insights, deep intuition and eternal truth. Like the less cash college students spend on eating, the more they have left over for partying.

The new Prius comes with advanced safety features like radar cruise control, lane departure alert and pedestrian detection at no extra cost.

Since the campaign was for outdoor, online banners, mobile and print, the idea had to quickly convey the benefits of the complex technology. 

Why pay more for a name product and fancy packaging if the food is the same? Aldi is a low-price, no frills grocery store chain that offers quality foods and other household products and is expanding into new states in 2017.

Spouses were buying Oil of Olay’s body wash for men for their husbands and it was killing Gillette’s market share. Gillette wanted them to know that their husband’s daily accumulation of man-stink required something a tad stronger. 

As a result, Gillette's body wash portfolio experienced double-digit sales turnarounds and became the fastest growing North American male body wash brand of 2010.

Global print campaign honoring the adidas-sponsored athletes who were training for Olympic glory. 

This campaign launched Motorola Solutions as an independent company. They create the devices and networks that first responders, police officers, supply chain supervisors and others depend on to do their jobs from moment to moment. And to to do them effectively they need to be prepared with the best technology at their fingertips anytime and anywhere. 

In its first quarterly report, Motorola Solutions' revenue rose from $1.9 billion to $2.3 billion with this work at the forefront of all their communications and sales content. 

The microsite also took home a Webby Award and was shortlisted at Cannes.

Versa - Autoclaustrophobia

While economical, sub-compact cars feature cramped and suffocating interiors with little legroom and even less headroom. Prolonged containment within these vehicles has bred a terrible new affliction of the human psyche called Autoclaustrophobia. The Versa is Nissan’s cure for people who are ready for a roomier small car.

Like most sports, soccer was dominated by boys. But that was about to change because America's team was about to compete with the best in the world at the Women's World Cup.

Working with athletes from Germany, China, and the US, we depicted their early childhood and innate athleticism. The spots hit a chord with parents and young girls and the campaign took home top honors that year, including from the Advertising Women of New York who awarded it with their Best of Show.

It takes courage, conviction and creativity for a small Japanese car company to literally rise from the rubble of war and reinvent itself after an atomic bomb flattens most of the city surrounding its headquarters.

Perhaps it accounts for why the people at Mazda in Hiroshima, Japan have continued throughout the years to take bold conceptual risks and push automotive boundaries.

From the weird yet highly-efficient rotary engine that propelled underdog Mazda to first place at Daytona to today's upending Skyactive Technology, Mazda tenaciously continues - to borrow an expression from Teddy Roosevelt - to "dare mighty things."

KQED is the public service broadcast station for the entire Bay Area in Northern California. It has large and faithful audiences both on television and radio. Our job was to remind them it was time well spent. 

These Toulouse Lautrec-inspired transit posters felt more like art than advertising when you encountered them in San Francisco and made the opera seem less stuffy. As a result La Boheme sold out every show, 67% of the attendees were first-time opera goers and the SF Opera’s average age dropped from 55 to 35. The success was so unpredictable, it was reported in the New York Times, WSJ and on NPR.

The new ES was five years in the making. To launch it on TV, we decided to make drivers wait just a tiny bit longer.

I was on Adidas for four years. I considered myself extremely lucky. It was by far my favorite brand to work on because there were so many facets to it. I worked with super-talented people in San Francisco and Beaverton and made ads for soccer, swimming, running, tennis, golf, track, baseball, basketball, the Olympics, NFL team sponsorships and more. Here's some of the work.

It feels good making commercials that help enact new anti-smoking laws. Especially when the most vulnerable among us can't speak up for themselves. 

How do you rally a nation to perform good deeds on the tenth anniversary of 9/11?  The “I Will” campaign was created to let people share their personal good deed pledges in honor of those who perished that day. 

Social, digital, TV, print and outdoor drove thousands nationwide to a Facebook hub where they uploaded their “I Will” videos, shared 9/11 stories, and with the added volume of celebrity voices, spread the word on Twitter,  until “I Will” became a number one trending topic for a week up to the event.

The man cave is where you’ll find me whenever my work is done, the surf is flat, the family is happy and I have some time to myself to practice some new beats.