Richard Wersel

They were mostly using B2B AI-style content for their social posts before, so I developed a voice to be folksy, rugged and sincere with a little grit. A personal favorite of mine to write for.

A silly TikTok I made for laughs in a group chat, but it’s always fun to take something hyper-masculine and mix in a little camp and levity.

This short-lived client was mainly PPC (specifically Google Search Ads) and SEO. They only signed on for a handful of creative services, but they desperately needed a creative overhaul. I came up with and fully designed this LinkedIn carousel concept in Photoshop to target bakery owners, who tend to be more creative.

At the time, I just wanted to do something different than the depressing “🚀 Elevate Your Refrigeration Game and Force Multiply Your ROI Across Synergistic Workflows For Optimum Stakeholder Value 🚀” which was gaining popularity at the time.

Sam and Clem is my Grandma’s children’s book. It was sitting in a PDF, and I turned it into a fully interactive e-book for Mother’s Day. She has more stories. I plan to turn the rest into e-books and create a website to host them and maybe an app as well.

You can test it out.

I fully concepted and designed this for a print ad class. The assignment was to take a product typically marketed to one sex and make it appealing to the opposite. I chose concealer (this was pre-looksmaxxing) because it offers the practical benefit of looking fresh and well-rested, despite being a mess the night before. I went with a neon sign outer glow effect to go with the theme.

The assignment was to highlight a key differentiator of Excedrin. I chose the fact that it contains caffeine to mitigate the post-migraine fog and drew a comparison to thunderstorms.

The assignment was to make a radio ad selling BoltBus, which can take you from NYC to DC for just $15, to college students. What I turned in was a little more tame, but I revisited it and decided to have a little fun. I’m gay. I can joke about these things.

Broadcast scripts featuring members of the Oklahoma City Thunder. While the client loved these... the NBA had a few words. Unfortunately, we had to go with something more traditional, but these inspired enough confidence in the client to get them to sign on to a large production deal.

Broadcast script for a Nissan dealership. They’re based out of Jacksonville, NC. Right next to Camp Lejeune and not too far from where I went to high school. Decided to go with a heartfelt military appreciation angle to stand out among typical dealership spots. “THINK Don Williamson Nissan” is the branding they use in every spot.

GP1 is one of the largest automotive groups in the country,  with annual revenue in the tens of billions and countless dealerships under its belt.  I used to write monthly TV scripts and social calendars for about 50 of them.  Below are a few posts where I tried to keep the brand voice,  be fun and engaging enough for social,  all without being too "wacky-wavy-inflatabale-arm-flailing-tube-man".

Right before a major industry convention, a personalization token failed in an email sent to the entire convention list. It greeted the opener with “Hello {FirstName}”, instead of their first...name. An embarrassing moment for most industries, but when a small mistake in the manufacturing process can lead to total engine failure, any sign of carelessness can cause lasting damage to the brand.

In the first damage control email we sent to client, we went with a more cute angle. Blaming it on a little gremlin. The higher-ups wanted something more professional, so I came up with a buttoned-up but not boring one that tells the truth: They’re engineers, not HubSpot experts.

Threadstrong is their aftermarket brand. Made a bunch of retargeting for several makes, but the Ramnesia line is my favorite and outperformed what they were using before.

Short story: A damage control email sequence with over $20,000 in sales. The original v1 product had some complaints. The client wanted to fall on their sword to promote the upgrade. After doing some research, it turned out the reviewers didn’t hate it; they just weren’t excited about it. That distinction informed a tone that was honest about the upgrade without trashing what came before.

Background: This is the first time I worked on this client and I had to start from scratch because many B2B clients and some agencies see copy as a math problem: “pain point + solution = perfect copy every time.”

Human psychology is never that simple and leads are, in fact, still people. This is what they had been doing before. Think “synergize your engineering game for elevated efficiency.” So, any sort of legible tone or angle was 100% my input.

We honed in on two demos: CMOs who want to promote their brand or business, and HR professionals looking to throw an internal company event. The B2B instinct can be to lean into corporate jargon to the point that even the most soulless amongst us would find it grating. We lead with fun.