BRAND CREATION

The Mint brand started as a need to fulfill a gap in the mobile market...the online only, value brand. As Creative Director, I wanted to design a brand that felt premium and a bit trendy. The creation of a fox as the brand narrator helped bring some life to an otherwise technical and corporate industry. However, foxes pose a special kind of challenge because they can be seen as clever and cunning in a sneaky way, and a huge part of our business approach was transparency aka no hidden fees, no BS. So I was off to solve an interesting design challenge – I started with the most benign and approachable of all shapes...circles.

ASPIRING TO:

Clever
Approachable
Smart
Hip

BUILDING THE STORY LINE

Once I felt strongly about the shape and characteristics of the fox, it's time to start telling the story. Who is he and why is he that way? Not only does this help sell it to the business folk putting money behind this brand, but it helps the create a north star for the build out of all other creative elements.

FLOPPY EAR STORY

In the very last legs of this character design, the fox was missing a little something that made him feel down to earth and real. My dog Tucker was spending these days in my office watching me spin around in my chair, bang my head against the desk and pace around thinking of solutions to create this f*!ing fox ( I said foxing).

Then it hit me...that ear! That humbling little floppy ear that gave my dog so much charm. Bam! The fox was done. Now I just had to get it approved by the suits:) Shockingly it went through almost without a hitch. What a journey.

EASY. ONLINE. $15 BUCKS. campaign

BROADCAST TV

The “That’s Not Right” campaign was built around a simple but critical objective: make it unmistakably clear that Mint Mobile offers wireless for just $15 a month—and do it in a way people couldn’t ignore. The brief invited exploration around using the fox, whether through animation or live action, and we opened it up to both our internal team and two outside agencies to pitch. Ultimately, our in-house creative team won the work, leaning into a bold, absurdist concept that contrasted “what’s wrong” in the world with what’s refreshingly right—affordable wireless. We developed three spots—carpet showers, chunky-style milk, and finger dipping—each designed to be visually offbeat and instantly memorable, while landing the message with total clarity. The result was a campaign that cut through the noise, stuck with people, and did exactly what it needed to do: make $15 a month feel obvious, disruptive, and real.