In 2013, my close friends Jonathan Campo, Josh Frankel, and I founded Gravy Boat Regatta, a Brooklyn-based advertising and entertainment studio. We write, direct, illustrate, and animate original comedy that lives online and on television. We also provide select clients a range of advertising, design, and video production services. Take a deeper dive at GravyBoatRegatta.com. In the meantime, here are a few of our comedy sketches.
TripTank
TripTank is an animated sketch comedy show on Comedy Central. Gravy Boat Regatta has animated a couple of sketches for Season 2, slated to air in the fall of 2016: 'Press Conference' and 'Rest Assured.'
Heavenly Buddies
Pluto and Neptune are palls.
The Stickler Cop
Reginald only uses his left turn signal when he's turning left.
Working It Out
Todd and Lucy are married but their relationship is wrought with conflict. The only things keeping them together are the enthusiasm they shared for aerobic fitness, and the sexual attraction they have for each other’s fit bods.
Extra Ordinary
Gravy Boat Regatta created a pilot for an animated sketch comedy show of our own called, 'Extra Ordinary.' The show aims to glorify the mundane and celebrate the absurdity of day-to-day life in contemporary America. The show's protagonist, Duke, is a hyper-sensitive loner who's senses are constantly assaulted by his surroundings. Duke's world serves as the show's home-base, from which we cut away to other sketches rendered in a range of different visual styles. Each episode's sketches are organized around a central unifying theme, and show's themes change from one episode to the next.
Fridge And Oven
When you're hanging with your roommate it's a party all the time FRIDGE AND OVEN! Gravy Boat Regatta wrote and produced 16 of these sketches. If you have appetite for more, watch all 16 here.
Portraits
Free Shipping. And Handling.
The Ask - Get people excited about free shipping.
The Answer - Remind people with some TV spots, social posts, and video billboards, that there's free shipping, and handling, at Dell.com.
[CW – Henry Mathieu | AD - Jonathan Campo]
The Ask - Get people who are excited about defending Earth from the next alien invasion to consider a job in the U.S. Army.
The Answer - Jonathan and I worked with MRM//McCann to make this digital experience. The site is the center of a larger co-branded campaign between 20th Century Fox to promote their movie Independence Day Resurgence, and the U.S. Army to drive recruitment. The site features four mini-games, each simulating a different role an Earth Space Defense soldier would be asked to perform in the event of an alien invasion. If you think fighting aliens is exciting, watch the movie, and then join the U.S. Army.
Site - [CW – Henry Mathieu + Katie Dropick | AD - Jonathan Campo | CD – Roberto Santellena | 10+ other creatives, developers, & account supervisors]
Videos - [MRM//McCann + 20th Century Fox | I was only involved in creating the site]
The Ask - Throw off a few social posts to generate awareness and solicit donations for people who've lost everything in house fires.
The Answer - We created a fully integrated campaign with social activation at the core. Our campaign line, 'Give What Fire Takes,' became an internal rallying cry for people working at the American Red Cross, and the #hashtag for an elaborate disaster relief program spanning 600 local chapters nationwide. Our on-line efforts quickly crept off-line onto billboards and into local news stories across the country. The 'Give What Fire Takes,' campaign set records for donations, shares, and reach. Most importantly, the campaign helped American Red Cross volunteers extend relief to victims of house fires left with nothing. See the #GiveWhatFireTakes Twitter feed here, and donate at the Crowdrise page here.
[CD/CW – Henry Mathieu | CD/AD - Steve Giraldi | AD's – Mariam Guessous + Mariam Langsam]
Clean Water For Every Body.
The Ask - Help Liquidity, a nano-technology company based in Alameda, California, launch a consumer product.
The Answer - Liquidity manufactures a water filtration membrane that removes 99.9999% of bacteria and cysts that cause waterborne illnesses. My creative studio, Gravy Boat Regatta, works with Liquidity to promote their consumer brand, Naked Filter. We've helped them run a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign for the Naked Filter Water Bottle. We've designed their web site, printed collateral, digital collateral, and packaging. We've strategized, created, and implemented their social media campaign, and we've produced a video (featured) that celebrates their 2015 TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Battlefield victory.
[CD/CW - Henry Mathieu | CD/AD - Jonathan Campo]
Hardcore Lives. Hardcore Knives.
The Ask - Give the KA-Bar Brand some personality. KA-Bar makes some of the world's finest military, hunting, and tactical knives, but most of their sales come through word of mouth recommendations. They needed a sophisticated advertising campaign.
The Answer - We created a campaign that featured KA-Bar diehards - servicemen, hunters, outdoorsmen - who lead hardcore lives. We brought their stories to life on KA-Bar's website, in print, and through testimonial video content where we animated some hardcore tattoos. In moments of extreme adversity, those who know rely on KA-BAR.
Video - [CD/CW - Henry Mathieu | Director - Josh Frankel]
Print - [CD - Henry Mathieu | CW's - Henry Mathieu + Michael Smith | AD - Zach Arnold]
All My Pills.
The Ask - When most parents think of drugs, they think of illegal contraband: marijuana, cocaine, and heroin, etc. The Office of National Drug Control and Prevention needed our help educating parents. The most common form of drug abuse among teens isn't illegal drug abuse; it's prescription drug abuse.
The Answer - Launch some TV commercials on Super Bowl Sunday. 'All My Pills' features a teen who has stolen a wide variety of prescription drugs from various medicine cabinets in order to get high. This was a tricky brief because we had to get the message to parents without making Rx drug abuse look cool to teenagers.
[CW – Henry Mathieu | AD – Jim Mochnsky]
Milk's Favorite Cookie.
The Ask - Oreo sales were falling because parents believed cream filled chocolate cookies were bad for their children. Silly parents. We needed to stop the bleeding and get kids back on cookies.
The Answer - Convince parents that the best way to get their kids to drink a full glass of milk is with an Oreo. The Oreo Mini ad made its way into the December 2007 Communication Arts Advertising Annual, and won FBC’s ‘Best Print Ad of the Year’ award.
[CW – Henry Mathieu | AD's – Noah Davis + Seth Cohen]
Double Stuf Oreo | Ready. Set. Lick.
The Ask - Oreo wanted to have an, 'eating ritual,' for their Double Stuf cookies.
The Answer - Traditional Oreo advertising has always been about TWIST (the cookie), LICK (the cream), and DUNK (the Oreo into the milk). We took the twist, lick, and dunk traditional Oreo ritual, and made it a twist, lick, lick, lick, lick, lick, lick, lick, lick, lick, and dunk Double Stuf Oreo ritual. In other words, we transformed the classic Oreo ritual into a Double Stuf lick race.
[CW – Henry Mathieu | AD – Seth Cohen]
Every Occasion.
The Ask - Diet Coke sales were declining because 'super-dailies' - people who drink more than 4 Diet Cokes per day - were choosing to drink coffee in the morning and water with meals.
The Answer - Remind 'super-dailies' that Diet Coke is perfect for every occasion! This print campaign was designed to remind hardcore Diet Coke drinkers that Diet Coke is a more satisfying choice than water, coffee, or any other beverage on planet Earth. If you love Diet Coke, it's your 'go to' from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep. When they launched, these ads were favorably reviewed on AdCritic, and 'super-dailies' bought more Diet Coke.
[CW's - Henry Mathieu + Rodd Chant | AD Richard Velloso]
Never Be Flat.
The Ask - Reinforce what people already know: Diet Coke gives you an effervescent lift.
The Answer - Make the effervesce look really appealing. This, 'Never Be Flat,' integrated campaign featured animated bubbles emanating from the iconic silver can. This was the first TV spot I wrote that was broadcast nationally. I have fond memories of my family blowing up my cell phone with textos, "We saw your commercial on the Winter Olympics!"
[CW – Henry Mathieu | AD – Mark Warfield | CD – Gary Resch]
Foodly Foodly.
The Ask - Remind South Carolinians that Piggly Wiggly has all the food you need to make you smile all summer long (that was actually what the brief said verbatim).
The Answer - This 360 campaign was based on a very simple device: PiggLY WiggLY -> FoodLY FoodLY. We ran happy happy, campy campy, foodLY foodLY TV, print, outdoor, and radio ads all summer long, until people started putting -LY suffixes after everything they ate.
[CD/CW – Henry Mathieu | AD – Justin Harris]
Won't Solve My Problem...
The Ask - Make weekly, 'Price & Item,' ads that people will want to watch on TV or listen to on the radio.
The Answer - Remind people that Piggly Wiggly's low-priced groceries won't solve all your problems, but they will save you money. Note, I wrote and directed these TV commercials.
[CD/CW/Director – Henry Mathieu | AD – Bob LaBarge + Jen Tarsio]
Odds & Ends.
If you scroll all the way down the page, you'll be rewarded with a ridiculous Thanksgiving TV commercial I wrote and directed, a couple of odd TV commercials featuring an English-to-English translator, and some bumper sticker designs you might recognize if you've ever spent any time in the South. If you still haven't had enough, go back to 'The Work,' click on the 'Radio' tile, and listen to some gripping Piggly Wiggly radio spots I wrote during my tenure at Rawle Murdy. Enjoy.
Spay. Neuter.
The Ask - Remind people to spay and neuter their pets. It's the right thing to do.
The Answer - Pose commuters billboard riddles as they ride along. The ASPCA was one of Rawle Murdy’s pro bono clients. The app came from a partnership the ASPCA had with Walmart. If Walmart customers bought certain pet supplies online, a portion of the sales would go to the ASPCA and help them spay and neuter shelter animals.
[CW – Henry Mathieu | AD – Justin Harris]
Kettle Roasted For Extra Crunch. Way Extra.
The Ask - The brief for this campaign was simple. Planters Kettle Roasted nuts are the crunchiest nuts out there; show us what that looks like.
The Answer - Feature some extremely happy customers in print publications across the US.
[CW – Henry Mathieu | AD – Seth Cohen]
Follow Your Instincts Back To Nature.
The Ask - Back to Nature is an all natural, sometimes organic food company that sells breakfast bars, cereal, crackers, nuts, and trail mix, etc. Kraft acquired Back to Nature in order to establish a foothold in Whole Foods, and they needed our help in taking the brand mainstream.
The Answer - Reinforce people's anxieties about eating food that isn't all natural. People instinctually know high fructose corn syrup, artificial coloring, and strange sounding preservatives aren't healthy. So we encouraged people to, ‘Follow Your Instincts Back To Nature,’ and put anthropomorphized animals into everyday human situations. If an animal wouldn’t eat something that doesn't come from nature, why should you?
[CW – Henry Mathieu | AD – Jim Mochnsky]
Santee Cooper Green.
The Ask - Santee Cooper, a power company in South Carolina, was getting a lot of negative press about their environmental policies. They needed a campaign to shift perceptions and remind customers that there are measures we can all take to be more green.
The Answer - We created a campaign that reminded South Carolinians that, "A lot of little things make a big difference."
[ACD – Henry Mathieu | CW's Steve Romanenghi + Patrick Rhyne + Henry Mathieu | AD's – Bob LaBarge + Justin Harris]
