I made a video spoofing focus groups

Josh Fokas is the #1 focus group moderator in the world. According to his research.

Here's the real story: A client of the ad agency I work at is having a big meeting to train employees on how to do consumer research, and they thought it would be fun to open with a humourous video about what not to do when running focus groups. There wasn't much of a budget. So my ad agency assigned me the project. I wrote a script, took my camcorder to the office and acted in the video along with some innocent co-workers who got pulled into it. The client thinks the video is hilarious. But I'm secretly hoping that some people don't realize it's a joke and hire me to be a focus group moderator. I think I'd be good at it. And I could sure use some egg salad sandwiches.

I'm the 63rd best copywriter in Canada

Each year, Strategy Magazine publishes their Creative Report Card, where they rank the country's advertising creatives based on the number of awards they've won that year. You can see the full list by clicking here. This year, my name was in the credits on enough award-winning pieces to land me at #63 on the Copywriter list. Which is pretty good. But my mom says that on her list, I'm #1. Which is even better. (Ok, she didn't say that. But I like to believe she's thinking it.)

I wrote the Special K cereal box

Last night while shopping for overpriced cereal in a variety store, I started reading the Special K box and thought, "Wow, this writer really understands women." And then I realized I wrote that box. Sigh. If only I could translate my understanding women into, say, getting a woman to like me.

I wrote the IKEA Winter Sale radio ad

To promote the IKEA Winter Sale, I wrote this commercial featuring Jonas (the IKEA voice) interviewing a Snow Woman he built. Snow big deal, that's just how I roll.

I wrote the IKEA Midnight Madness radio ad

For IKEA Midnight Madness, I wrote a script involving Jonas (the IKEA voice) being Auto-Tuned. Since I had to write so many scripts before getting one approved by the Group Creative Director and then by IKEA, I'm pretty tapped out of witty writing. So I'll just paste in what the sound house director, Andrew Bradley, posted on his blog: "I had the opportunity to direct another IKEA radio spot recently. Josh Rachlis wrote a fun script involving Jonas (the IKEA voice) being Auto-Tuned. I think Jonas had a great time doing it and let’s be honest, the only time we’d want to hear him sing is if it was electronically assisted like this. Comedy he can do. Singing, not so much."

TITLE: Auto-Tuned

CLIENT: IKEA

AGENCY: Leo Burnett Toronto

CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Morgan Kurchak

COPYWRITER: Josh Rachlis

DIRECTOR: Andrew Bradley, RMW

ENGINEER: Kyle Gudmundson, RMW

Thanks to VoiceTrax West, L.A. for patching us in to Jonas.

On November 30th, 2012, we recorded at RMW Music. There's me in the studio, with the producer drinking coffee, and the IKEA announcer woman in the booth. I can't remember her name, but she's got a nice voice.

Kevin Braithwaite played the DJ. While we recording, I half-jokingly and fully-racistly asked him: "You're black. What's some street hip hop language?" He was like, "I dunno, man. I like rock." So basically, we're both about the same level of blackness. Which, as you can tell from my attempt at an urban pose here, is not very black.

I sat on a panel about The Future of Advertising

On Oct. 17th, I sat on a panel at an Advertising Summit on "The Future of Advertising, PR and Corporate Communications" sponsored by HOMAD (Heads of Media and Design), with all the heads of Media and Design college programs in attendance at George Brown College. Panelists were to "address how changes in the industry are impacting their specific role/discipline and offer insight on how educators can prepare graduates for employment in the ever-changing advertising/communications world." I mostly ranted about what pisses me off about the ad biz and threw out ideas for what I think young creative people should do in their job search. But afterward, the profs came up to me to thank me for my great thinking. One was telling me that he teaches kids drawing and that they think they have to draw like him. He liked my vision for teaching young people that there are lots of different ways to express yourself. Hopefully I'll be sent the footage from the event so that I can post my ramblings. In the meantime, you can read about the event by visiting the report by Boost Agents here.

I wrote this Eggo commercial sequel

My creative partner George Longley and I created the musical Eggo commercial that launched in April 2012. (Check it out here.) At the time, we also created a second spot with a different song. At long last, the toaster has popped, so to speak, and the second spot is on the air! Feast your eyes and ears on it below:

I wrote the Bounce ad in today's Metro

I actually wrote this print ad over a year ago, I think. But I came across it this morning while reading today's Metro paper on the subway. I guess it's so clever that it keeps on working for Bounce. Just like Bounce freshness keeps on working. (See what I did there? Watch and learn, aspiring copywriters. Watch and learn.)










The 1st part of the headline refers to the sheets, the 2nd part to the bar. The body copy reads: "Like taking control with sheets? Or want to kick back and let the dryer bar give you automatic Bounce freshness for about 4 months at a time? Whichever type you are, you'll be the type of person who has awesomely fresh laundry every time." Tagline: "How do you get your Bounce?"

I wrote the end-of-summer IKEA flyer

Did you get one of these IKEA flyers in the mail yet? If so, you should think of two things. 1) Great deals on stylish furniture, and 2) Me slaving away to entertain you with a few short words that convey style, savings and selection, all at the same time. You'd be surprised at how particular IKEA is about having just the right headlines for their flyers. But after many back-and-forths, here are my 3 headline masterpieces! Now, I just have to figure out how to make my condo look like these photos.

I wrote this IKEA Back To School radio ad

Here's an IKEA Back To School radio ad that I wrote. It's called "Agreeing" and went to air on July 30. I know, I know - It's Back To School time already? How depressing! But hopefully this ad will help cheer you up. To listen to it, click here: IKEA Agreeing

On the left is Katherine Cappellacci, who played the daughter. Then there's me, who wrote this brilliant piece of comedy. Then there's Tracey Hoyt, who played the mom. And in the frame is a childhood photo of Jonas, who is the Swedish voice of IKEA and is in the radio ad too. Not sure why his childhood photo was in the recording studio, but it worked out for the purposes of this shot.

I adapted this Special K commercial for Canada

Here's a little something that popped up when I Googled myself this morning. (Yes, I'm that vain/lonely. Deal with it.) The photography studio Sugino Studio just blogged about the back-end of a Canadian Special K commercial they worked on, which I helped adapt from an American commercial. For this kind of thing, I rewrite the script so that it speaks to Canadians and takes into account any differences in the product up here, and I help direct the voice over artist, in this case the talented actress/comedian Katie Crown, whom we patched in from her new home base in Los Angeles. The spot likely won't win me a Lion at Cannes, but it's part of what I do every day, and it's always a joy to help get the message out about delightful Kellogg's products. And for Special K in particular, it's fun to be able to use my profound understanding of the female mind to talk to women in a way they can relate to. Sigh. If only I was as good at dating women as I am at marketing to them. To see the blog post and the clip from the commercial, click here.

I'm shortlisted at Cannes for copywriting and illustrating

I'm not personally attending the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity that's happening this week. But I've just learned that a couple of things I worked on have been shortlisted. Which is almost as exciting as cavorting on a beach in the South of France. That's what I'm telling myself, anyway.

In terms of my Copywriting - The Mr. Clean facebook page, for which I helped develop the Mr. Clean character and wrote many of his status updates, is in there:

http://www.canneslions.com/work/2012/interactive/entry.cfm?entryid=32848&award=101&order=0&direction=1

And get this... I'm in this James Ready Beer campaign as an Illustrator. That's right, I was asked to draw some of the newsletters that came in the beer boxes. I knew that doodling on my school notebooks would come in handy one day.

http://www.canneslions.com/work/2012/effectiveness/entry.cfm?entryid=3856&award=101&order=1&direction=1

I wrote Cinnamon Pops commercials that will pop your head

Kellogg's needed to let the world know about their new Cinnamon Pops cereal. They wanted to highlight the crunchiness, the cinnamon, the deliciousness. And of course it all had be entertaining. Right after the briefing meeting, my art director and I cracked the problem in 5 minutes while eating hors d'oeuvres at an agency party. Inspiration may or may not have come from a segment on my Rogers Community Cable show 20 years ago where I would draw a face on an egg and then crush it. See that segment below and decide for yourself.

There are more commercials to come. Currently online are the spots "Spelling Bee" and "Ghost." And on TV and in movie theatres is the spot "Opera."

Oh, and I'm also the voice of the announcer in all the spots and of the sleeping man in the Ghost spot. If you could tell that already, well, you're probably my mom.





And here are those clips from my old cable show. The egg crushing segment starts at 3:22.

I wrote this Eggo commercial that's music to your mouth

Got a song about Eggo waffles stuck in your head these days? That might be the fault of me and my Art Director, George Longley. George and I are a creative team at Leo Burnett (Canada's most award-winning ad agency this year) and we were asked to make a commercial communicating that Eggos can inspire kids to be creative. The result is a TV spot we call "Eggo Tunes" below. Take a bite. I mean, a listen.

My "Mini Man" commercial scripts, for a deaf fan

Recently, a guy requested to be my friend on Facebook. Before accepting, I asked him if I knew him. Our exchange is below. I think it’s a pretty touching story, and he said he’d be cool with me sharing it on my blog. Hopefully it inspires us all to keep smiling in the face of adversity.

friend request

Between Bryan Adam Grant and You

Josh Rachlis 01 February at 09:44

hi, do i know you?

Bryan Adam Grant 01 February at 09:47

Not really. Are you the same Josh Rachlis who's in those Mini-Man commercials?

Josh Rachlis 01 February at 09:52

aye, laddie. that's me!

Bryan Adam Grant 01 February at 09:55

Sweet! :) Can you do me a favour then? I'm deaf you see and I saw those commercials when I still had my hearing but now since I can't hear, I can't remember what's being said. I can remember a bit but not the whole thing. I was wondering if I could get the text for both of them, if it's not too much trouble? I would really appreciate it.

So, for Bryan - obviously a man of bravery and of impeccable taste in comedy - below are the videos, accompanied by the words I wrote and spoke.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ey2kcE3avc

“Mini Man”

MINI MAN: New Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Mini Granola Bites. Chewy granola mixed with delicious flavours… Oh, it’s so true. But I’m not sure why they call them “mini.” Because they’re huge! Here, look at the size of this baby! (Aaah) Pieces of fruit the size of my nephew’s head! Oh, but you can eat a lot or just a little. Who could eat even one of these behemoths! This could feed an army for a year! Oh, hello… Aaaahhh!!

WOMAN: Aaaah!!!!

ANNOUNCER: New Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Mini Granola Bites. They’re mini… If you’re not.

MINI MAN: I’m okay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAue8sfTNZ4

“Mini Lawyer”

MINI MAN: Ladies and gentlemen. The same Kellogg’s that deceived you with Mini Granola Bites now brings us… this! Oh, the goodness of Nutri-Grain, but mini. Which would be wonderful, aye. If… it… were… TRUE! Does this delicious snack look mini to any of you? “No.” “Why?” Because it’s huge! This is classic size misrepresentation!

ANNOUNCER: Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Mini Cereal Bars. They’re mini… If you’re not.

MINI MAN: I rest my case.

Listen to me in GreenSaver radio ads!

Why am I doing things like hiding in an air duct and sitting on my front steps nude? Long story. But suffice it to say, it's thanks to the great work of GreenSaver. GreenSaver is a home energy audit company that will come to your home and tell you all the things you can do to save energy, money and the environment. I wrote them some scripts for fun YouTube videos. They decided to produce them as radio ads. And they asked me to act in them! (I'm sure you're particularly glad that the nude one got done as radio instead of being filmed.) As an eco-friendly guy, I'm excited to be helping out such a great green company. Book your home energy audit today at greensaver.ca. No hiding in air ducts or nudity required.