I’m a hands-on Creative Director, Art Director, Illustrator and Maker with over twenty years of professional experience and a track record for creating thumb-stopping social creative and developing high-performing teams. So yes… I’ve been around the block a few times; and starting my career post-grad in a small town and exhausting all the creative roles there meant that I learned a lot—but the job titles I had never matched what I did. I led all Creative for Dippin’ Dots, Inc. for over five years—and helped develop “Minion Madness Cookie Dough” as a co-branded tie-in with Illumination Entertainment when the first “Despicable Me” came out—but my title there was only ever “Designer.” I’ve driven initiatives for scalable digital creative solutions in addition to leading custom social content and video productions that resulted in double-digit sales increases. My career began in print design and gave me a strong grounding in production specs and “doing work right the first time” to avoid costly reprints. I’ve championed the power of social and new media; leading the launch of Facebook for Dippin’ Dots, Inc. (2007) and TikTok for Arby’s (2018) and The Home Depot (2022). I empower and challenge my teams to think strategically—not just creatively—as we work to elevate the brands we touch and make content that resonates with our audiences. I enjoy passing along what I’ve learned and teach new shooting, editing and software techniques to my teams on a regular basis to help everyone develop new skills. I’ve worked freelance, long-term contract, in-house and agency-side as a single contributor on a larger Marketing team as well as a Creative team leader and mentor—hence the number of titles that don’t accurately reflect the job I was hired to do. I identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and proudly bring my whole self to every role. I’ve won awards for my work, including a Cannes Silver Lion and a Shorty Award for Art Direction; but the one that means the most to me is the HOW Design award for the wedding invitations I created for my husband and me in 2014.
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Arby's Missing Menu

Moxie work for Arby's Restaurants | TikTok Influencer Campaign | October 27, 2020–November 6, 2020

SILVER CANNES LIONS WINNER for Social Influencer

SHORTY AWARD WINNER for TikTok Partnership

You're probably wondering why, if this won a Shorty Award AND a Silver Cannes Lion it's not the very first project on my Work page?

The short answer: I HATED this project while it was going on. It was all done after-hours when the team was already tapped out, and every new piece was a fire drill. There were so many hands involved and so many opinions flying around that it was not fun to work on.

Goes to show that sometimes the work you get behind the least is the work that gets the most notice. Kind of ironic that way.

The best writeup-for this project can be found on the Shorty Awards entry page (it's pasted in below as well). Big props to Ginger and Orin for making sense of this crazy couple of weeks (and weekends, in Jen's case) and getting it all down on paper. There is also a video on YouTube that Fallon put together as part of the Cannes entry.

The entire Design team contributed in every way possible, as we were all in the studio shooting a different set of content pieces when the initial post from @h1t1 (John Casterline) dropped. The only part of this I can claim as "just me" was writing out the word "SPONSORSHIP?" in red Sharpie for the 4th piece of the campaign.

The final campaign became six separate TikToks from Arby's:

• October 27, 2020

• October 28, 2020

• October 31, 2020

• November 1, 2020

• November 2, 2020

• November 6, 2020

The Team

Creative & Art Direction, Photography, Videography, Editing - Jennifer Barclay, Scott Hunt, Clarke Modlin, Hughston May

Copywriting: Orin Heidelberg

Produced in cooperation with Edelman and Fallon.

The Shorty Awards Entry

Objective

Arby's is always on the lookout for buzzworthy opportunities to spark conversation and drive positive brand sentiment––and we know that TikTok is a perfect channel to stand out as a brand by appealing to a younger and more digitally-engaged audience. So, when a Gen Z TikTok user from Florida named @h1t1 posted a TikTok, in which he described buying a $25 flat screen TV, we knew we had a great opportunity to steer the conversation and make something cool happen.

@h1t1’s TV looked normal, except for one thing: when he turned it on, it mysteriously displayed the Arby’s menu board. Arby’s hopped on it quickly, fueling intrigue about the origins of @h1t1’s mysterious television by simply commenting, “we’ve been looking for this!” The massive social and PR buzz that followed over the coming weeks was achieved through a mixture of strategic content planning and genuine consumer engagement.  

Arbys_Missing-Menu_h1t1_Part-3

Strategy

Consumer trust comes from being able to relate to a brand. People like brands that feel authentic and like-minded, especially on social. So, with that in mind, our strategy was to increase social media engagement by connecting with untapped audiences through a fellow fan strategy. We aimed to deliver creative content that strengthens Arby’s relevance and brand affinity by celebrating fans’ interests, creating a space for fans to come together. The result is a deeply loyal and highly engaged fanbase whose affinity for Arby’s brand is unmatched within the QSR industry. 

One of Arby’s key strategies for connecting with fans on that ultra-personal level is leveraging social listening to identify opportunities for the brand to activate on real-time, trending moments. Arby’s responded quickly to the initial viral video from @h1t1 and was able to craft a real-time narrative that carried out the following weeks, driving high engagement throughout while staying true to Arby’s witty, down-to-earth, fellow fan tone on social. 

As audiences on TikTok and beyond caught wind of the hilarious “beef” between Arby’s and @h1t1, users began creating their own videos around the narrative. From new characters in @h1t1’s stolen menu story to people “discovering” similar Arby’s TV menus in unexpected places like new cars and used electronics, it took on a life of its own. 

Arby’s seized the opportunity to proactively engage in the conversation, giving its audience even more reasons to share and participate. From hacking an actual Arby’s menu screen to display @h1t1's original video to tracking down @h1t1 and flying an airplane towing a banner over his head that read “we want our TV back,” Arby’s curated real moments that allowed @h1t1 to create his own original content to keep his fans engaged.

The banter and “negotiations” between Arby’s and @h1t1 continued over 40 TikTok videos, ultimately landing on an agreement for Arby’s to send a Mystery Box in exchange for the “missing menu.” Fans speculated what was inside, and news outlets from coast to coast reported on the now viral interactions. 

The Mystery Box included a giant flatscreen to replace his “broken” one, as fans had speculated it might, but it also included an announcement that converted views to actual transactions: a secret menu deal called “The $5 Missing Menu Meal” available at Arby’s locations nationwide. All fans had to do was say, “I have your TV” at the drive-thru to redeem the deal for a limited time. 

Arbys_Missing-Menu_h1t1_Part-2

Results

What started out as a "broken TV" turned into far-exceeding results for not only Arby's, but @h1t1's TikTok page:

• 1+ billion PR impressions, and still climbing

• 273+ million video views, with more than 14,000+ videos created around the meme and promotion

• 200,000+ new Arby's followers on TikTok 

• 3,000+ Missing Menu orders at Arby's locations

  - 41% of which were new or lapsed customers* 

  - Average transaction at redemption was double the cost of the deal (source: Arby's internal sales data)

• Incredible media coverage on Rolling Stone, Mashed, Nation's Restaurant News and TikTok's Newsroom 

• Each interaction resulted in millions of views and thousands of comments, including: “It’s official, Arby’s has the best TikTok”

  - "No way Arby’s rented a plane just to do that"

  - "Arby’s advertising team: built: different"

  - "Arby’s marketing team is winning big with this one. A++++"

  - "THIS IS THE BIGGEST AND BEST ADVERTISING ALL 2020" 

  - "Literally this makes me want to try Arby’s. I literally have never been there.”

Entry Credits

• Scott Hunt - Moxie*

• Orin Heidelberg - Moxie

• Hughston May - Moxie

• Clarke Modlin - Moxie

• Jennifer Barclay - Moxie

• Mike Singletary - Moxie

• Stephanie Marcone - Moxie

• Nikita Desai - Moxie

• Anna Neubauer - Moxie

• Jared Kozel - Moxie

• Christian Lozano - Moxie

• Ginger Williford - Moxie

• Ashlyn Remillard - Moxie

• Jodi Phillips - Moxie

• Catherine Morgan - Moxie

• Rick Utzinger - Fallon

• Joanne Torres - Fallon

• Joe Johnson - Fallon

• Adam Chorney - Fallon

• Mark Nelson - Fallon

• Pat Sidoti - Fallon

• Brendan Lawrence - Fallon

• Desdemona Almsted - Fallon

• Chris Campbell - Fallon

• Sam Tuttle - Fallon

• Greg Swan - Fallon

• Mara Keller - Fallon

• Nick Massahos - Fallon

• Hadley Swaggert - Fallon

• Andy Rhode - Fallon

• Machen Davis - Fallon

• Sam Donovan - Fallon

• Chris Potter - Edelman

• Maggie Cancelosi - Edelman

• Catherine Salm - Edelman

• Alisha Johnson - Edelman

• Deborah von Kutzleben - Arby's

• Emily Ciccone - Arby's

• Jimmy Beck - Arby's

• Michael Nguyen - Arby's

*This is the exact listing from the Shorty Awards. No, I did not list myself first. Ginger sent in the listing for the Shorty entry.

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