Damion Sammarco

With over 60MM views, our social-first campaign for DulcoGas truly went viral. Sales for the entire brand spiked after these online-only videos launched. They were so successful, the brand decided to broadcast them on the Westminster Dog Show (so much for online only). And why not? Talking dogs. A pill that helps you fart. These spots have it all.

With Nerds, we had the chance to reinvent an American icon for a new generation. Our first mission was to reimagine the brand as an entertainment property, rather than a candy. We launched an animated series, introducing the Sweet Little Sparks of Inspiration, followed by a totally new social presence on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, where our first video got over 2MM views. We also brought the Nerds into the world of pop culture with a partnership with Dungeons & Dragons (naturally) and the Rube Goldberg invention contest. Sweet indeed.

I worked on the pitch that brought Volvo in to Grey. At the time, the brand had been virtually dormant for years and needed a relaunch in the US. To give drivers a fresh look at Volvo, we took a revolutionary approach: don't show the car. We focused on pain points, those places drivers don't want to be, and showed how Volvo is designed to help you avoid them. With a new campaign and a fresh lineup of vehicles, Volvo sales jumped nearly 91% in November 2015.*

*http://247wallst.com/autos/2015/12/02/volvo-sales-rise-91-in-november/

V8+ENERGY bucked the energy-drink norm by targeting working moms and dads who want a natural boost to get them through the day. Instead of targeting the normal social platforms, we looked to where folks were really talking about V8+ Energy – Amazon. We took real reviews and turned them into social videos and TV. The result: V8+Energy sold out on Amazon.

FOMO turned into FORO (Fear Of Running Out) to remind parents that nothing can send a meal sideways faster than running out of that red gold. This series of online videos, social posts, and even an emergency hotline number gave desperate parents the 411 on Dinnertime Negotiations. The result: Heinz turned the slowest ketchup-selling season of the year into an unexpected sales boom.

Read the story in AdWeek:
https://www.adweek.com/creativity/heinz-brings-in-a-real-hostage-negotiator-to-resolve-parent-child-standoffs-at-dinner/

I worked on Papa John's during their most profitable year ever. This was driven in no small part by our heavy concentration on growing the social audience and filling our feeds with better content. Along the way, we helped double their Twitter followers, launched the first Thingiverse brand page ever, launched Papa's Snapchat channel, and did a social-only Super Bowl promotion that had their biggest interaction ever.

I also learned that the "Cheese Pull" is just about the hardest move in all of food photography. 

NetJets invented the fractional jet ownership category and dominates it in every way — except price. So we decided to focus on value. Oh, and celebrities.
Lots of celebrities.

Dannon – the yogurt that introduced Americans to yogurt – needed a way to stand out in the overcrowded dairy aisle. Customers wanted something new, but they didn’t want to lose that great Dannon taste. The answer: go Non-GMO. The result: a 26% sales boost in the markets where this campaign ran.

How do you do LTO, retail, food advertising that doesn't suck? Give it some attitude. In this spot, we went back to the very thing that LongHorn was founded on — a steak and a beer.

With all of the emotion and political rhetoric around the gun debate in this country, common sense seems to have taken a back seat. 

The fact of the matter is that an overwhelming majority of guns used in crimes in New York City come from out of state. 

We decided to appeal to a group not known for being soft on crime — NYPD officers — to help fight the illegal flow of cheap, readily available handguns into New York City.

After all, cops are usually the ones staring down the barrel of these illegal guns.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The cockroach of retail. The least-relevant store in the dying strip mall. RadioShack has been a brand in turmoil for decades. We tried to bring some fun back to the brand with our "Let's Play" campaign. It was an attempt to remind people that RadioShack has always sold the cool tech toys that you couldn't get anywhere else.

In an effort to bolster their mobile phone sales, we also created the first ad campaign ever shot entirely on smartphones.

And you know what? RadioShack is still there.

Dinosaurs. Transformers. Superheroes. Impossibly cute pets. Hasbro is a brand that captures the imagination like no other. This was an opportunity to work with some of my childhood heroes (like Optimus Prime) and really do some cool CG animation. It didn't hurt that my kids thought my job was super cool. At least for a little while.

Quiznos had a problem: the competition was eating their lunch — literally. So we proposed a solid program to take back the lunch hour and bring back profitability to the brand. We realized that if every Quizos fan brought just ONE friend in for lunch one time per month, it would mean millions to their bottom line.

Quiznos aren't ones to shy away from (somewhat) adult humor, so we invited our fans to make some sweet lunch to each other. This web-based CRM program added value and fun to the Quiznos experience, instead of just blasting everybody's already swollen inbox with coupons. 

Alas, we didn't win this pitch, but an air freshener that smells like a meatball sandwich? Yes, please.

BMW was really my first client in advertising (marketing) and I spent years writing everything from brochures to emails to ads. There's nothing better than working on a brand you love. It makes telling the world about them an absolute pleasure.

Optimum Business has been locked in a war for the hearts and wallets of small business owners with Verizon for a while now. With these DRTV spots, we got to showcase the good side of what a cable company can do for your business — namely save you money and eliminate headaches. 

Everybody knows the Baby, but E*Trade needed some non-Super-Bowl spots that showed their serious side. We created this campaign to showcase their new trading platform and retirement offerings. When one of my account guys went to work for a competitor, they showed him the most effective spots in the category. And Complete Picture was at the top of the pile.

This was the first "comedy" spot Jif had ever done in its history. (Who knew choosy moms wanted to be entertained?) The spot was so effective sales shot up 40% the week it started running.

What kills more children every year than starvation, AIDS, and Malaria combined? Water.

According to Unicef, every year nearly 11 million children under five die from waterborne disease. So Proctor & Gamble created a simple, cheap, easy-to-use, life-saving innovation. The P&G Water Purification Packet.

What killThe P&G Water Purification Packet is an amazing innovation that quickly turns 10 liters of dirty and potentially deadly water into clean and drinkable water is 20 minutes. Once people see the water purification demo, they understand the power of clean water technology. 

So we put that powerful demo in everyone’s hands with the Shake it Clean app. We let people turn dirty digital water into clean, drinkable water –virtually (and physically). For every digital liter of water they clean, we match with a real liter of clean, safe drinking water.

To create awareness we also launched a new brand of premium bottled water and marketed it as “locally sourced and hand purified by water artisans." Then we revealed that the fancy bottled water people were drinking was actually from some of the most polluted city rivers in the world.