Hydro-Québec
This project was my first foray into the public/political ad space. The idea was convince Mainers to vote NO on a proposition that would allow Massachusetts — and Maine — to gain access to hydroelectricity from Canada. We did tons of social and print, built a website (twice), dabbled in guerrilla, and the TV ranged from basic testimonials all the way to doomsday political spots. In the end, we moved the needle quite a bit in terms of public opinion, but we couldn’t quite get people past NIMBYism and the fact that despite Hydro-Québec’s good reputation the corridor was being built locally by the worst ranked electric company in the U.S. (four years in a row)!
Broadcast
This first spot, which I wrote and art directed, started as a feature for the website. The concept was so well received that we turned it into a TV spot and it aired during the Super Bowl pre game show.
The Mighty Raindrop
As election day drew close, folks obsessed over the numbers, and a bit of desperation set in. The decision was made to change the tenor of our campaign. I wrote a bunch of these “dark” spots, one is enough to get the idea.
Retroactive!
We tried all kinds of ideas, and every time one made inroads, the opposition would adjust their campaign to block — and we’d start over. Here are some of the more interesting approaches we took.
Campaign Website
Much like the campaign, we needed to evolve the companion website. Although each had several iterations there were two main versions.
