Washington Mutual

The strategy seemed simple enough: promote home loans from Washington Mutual. The executive team had sat through endless presentations from internal creatives as well as from ad agencies spread across the US. There were impressive ideas from lots of groups, but the Execs felt something was missing.

My phone rang, and a voice from my Wells Fargo work told me she wanted me to develop a memorable, jaw-dropping campaign. I was told the launch would take place in downtown Chicago. As it turns out, the largest commuter area went through the downtown and had an estimated 700 thousand daily commuters. I started with a campaign that would end up costing close to a million dollars, I had to hire a Burbank fabrication company that had Disney, Lego World, Universal, and many Vegas hotel amusement areas like Pirates of the Caribbean on its resume. I presented the idea to the client and the agency I was working for - create three lifelike structures that included a cave with a couple moving in, a log cabin with its themed couple, and a modern-day home. All three structures had the same headline prominently placed on each structure. It read, We’ve been putting people in their dream homes across the ages followed by the WaMu logo. Seen by millions over 12 months, we saw the ad structures garner attention from local and national publications, news stations, and celebrities posing with the larger-than-life ads.