Jason Donahoe

Hard luxury isn’t an easy sector to advertise. Gone are the days of the cheeky and plainspoken Porsche ad, the utility-focused Rolex campaign. These days, it’s all high poetry and hyperbole. We sought to change that at WatchBox.

The international brand is the world’s largest retailer of pre-owned luxury timepieces (although we don’t like to use the word “pre-owned.”) As a consultant, I helped WatchBox define its brand voice and messaging strategy. We focused on the deeply personal, white-glove service WatchBox provides clients, and the intense passion for horology that connects us with collectors around the world.

Once I joined the team full time, I helped execute messaging across Print, Video, Web, App, OOH, Email and Social and worked to develop our e-commerce messaging and campaign strategy.

IRSC is a batshit crazy community college near the Treasure Coast of Florida. Armed with a serious endowment bequeathed upon them by Jeff Bezos’s ex-wife, they were looking to take the world of higher education by storm. For basically-free tuition costs, IRSC offers everything from Barbering Certificates to Paralegal and Engineering Degrees, and even have a Law Enforcement training center on campus where you can learn to drive police cars. Wow!

Agency: Truth & Consequences

They say the practice of copywriting is an inch deep and a mile wide. At the very end of that mile is a product that you probably don’t even know exists. But it, too, can use some copy to sell it.

Keystone Capsules is the first and only American manufacturer to produce tin wine capsules (the metal sleeve that caps the cork on a nice bottle of merlot). J2 was helping them launch their brand and asked me to lend some words to the endeavor.

Agency: J2

The SUNY system has shaped the lives of millions of New Yorkers. Now, SUNY Online is set to expand that impact around the country. We created two distinct directions to help bring SUNY to the world. Some of my favorite lines are on this page.

Agency: Truth & Consequences

Philadelphia is the poorest large city in the country. Founded by The United Way, The Promise is a city-wide movement to have 100,000 fewer people experiencing poverty by 2025. It focuses on removing barriers to secure, stabilize, and grow income for Philadelphians living below the poverty line. With J2, I helped share the Promise with Philadelphia with a bold launch video and messaging across channels.

Agency: J2

Some favorite print concepts for the NY Islanders pitch that never saw the light of day. Revived and revised for your enjoyment because it's good to finish what you start.

Near the tail end of a historic season, we pitched the Islanders some deeply moving campaign ideas. Sandwiched between two campaigns was this humble little video, a thank-you to the Isles’ diehard fans. It was meant to be a palate cleanser. It became their playoff campaign.

Director: Max Paolucci
Designer: Justin Spinozzi

Is it possible to make soup sexy? We certainly tried. Good Stock is a (very) small soup business based in Brooklyn that was looking to bring its homemade, flash frozen soups directly to consumers. I helped them pump up their language for weekly email blasts and newsletters. From Black Bean to Gazpacho, you can now find Good Stock at a Whole Foods near you.

Building Bradley’s established “Built to Beyond” brand, I helped develop a suite of admissions materials for the Illinois university, including a viewbook, a search piece, and a thrifty new yield piece whose budget was intentionally repurposed to fund new student organizations.

Mr. Harvey moved to Los Angeles, but wanted his viewers to know he was still the same old Steve. So we developed key art and messaging for the third season of his relocated show. The 5 o’clock shadow grew in, the tagline stayed (mostly) intact, and we learned some great life lessons along the way.

Partner: PJ Crisanti

Built from the merger of Philadelphia University and Thomas Jefferson University, Jefferson is redrawing the limits of higher ed to deliver an education built for the 21st century.  So how do you introduce the world to a new University built from the combined 328-year legacy of two institutions? With a massive OOH campaign and an 80+ page viewbook.

Campaign Design: PJ Crisanti, Lindsey Tweed
Viewbook Concept: PJ Crisanti
Viewbook Design: Justin Spinozzi

Sometimes things get out of hand at agency happy hour and you buy a 33-wiener hot dog roller and you decide to write and design a brand for it in your down time. The only missing link is the actual product. If you know a wiener guy, HMU.

Logo Development: Courtney Brown
Truck Design: Juliann Gates