After 13 years of making ads, I’m starting my next BIG challenge.

No, I’m not quitting advertising.

Quite the opposite.

But before I jump into the details, a little backstory.

In college I majored in advertising. However, I actually studied animation first with the goal of getting into the animation program (here’s a post where I talk about how that didn’t work out).

I even had a job in college where I created little animations in Flash (now Adobe Animator) for an education company.

And now, after all those years, my career is coming full circle. 

In addition to my duties as Chief Creative Officer at Harmon Brothers, I will be directing and creating a 2D animated show for kids that teaches about principles of freedom and economics.

WHAT?!

Yep. Kids. And economics. And freedom. All mashed together in one show. In a cartoon. And with a nice dose of comedy, of course. :)

I ACTUALLY HATE POLITICS

As anyone who follows me can tell, I’m not often super vocal on LinkedIn about politics.

And not just because LinkedIn isn’t really the platform for it. I just HATE politics.

I hate party over principles.

I hate the two party system.

I hate the “my team vs your team” mentality.

I hate the focus on differences rather than on similarities.

I hate the divisive, argumentative nature of the whole system.

And I hate all the special interests vying for a piece of the pie, or trying to restrict the rights of others.

I’M PASSIONATE ABOUT FREEDOM

What I AM passionate about is freedom FOR ALL (not just select groups), common sense economic principles, and individual human rights.

I’m passionate about principles that lead to the greatest measure of peace, prosperity and happiness for all.

So I’m directing a cartoon that will educate kids (and adults) on those very things to hopefully make the world a better place.

It’s a big dream, but life isn’t much fun without big dreams, right?!

I have a hunch that humans like their freedoms (no matter the political party). They just don’t always know what that looks like.

ABOUT THE TV SHOW

The show will be based on a book series called The Tuttle Twins that has now sold over 1 million copies. For context, The Martian had sold just 700 thousand copies when they secured the movie rights for it.

My vision for the series is to mix the humor of shows like The Simpsons, Phineas and Ferb, and Gravity Falls with the education and family friendliness of The Magic School Bus.

The story will revolve around the Tuttle Twins, their Grandma, and her time-traveling wheelchair (hence the header image for this article).

The hope is to make it entertaining for kids, and enjoyable for adults.

I’m not gonna lie. I’m in WAY over my head with this. I’m very experienced in storytelling...for live action ads. Not so much in 2D animated shows. But I was also in over my head when we did Squatty Potty, Purple, Chatbooks, FiberFix, Save the Storks, and so on (as I mentioned in this post).

I’ve done some of my best work when I don’t know exactly what I’m doing (like I said in this post).

Is it possible to be simultaneously overwhelmed and confident that you will somehow figure it out?

YES!!

I’m extremely excited about this.

What makes Harmon Brothers’ ads so special is the storytelling: great characters in entertaining worlds who have to overcome some obstacle to come out on top.

This isn’t a switch of focus for our agency. We believe making a TV show will enhance our story telling skills and make us even better advertisers. 

Advertising has prepared me for original content, and original content will better inform my advertising going forward.

If you want to follow along the journey as we make this show, please drop a comment and I'll send you a link.

#sharebetterstories #harmonbrothers #originalcontent #creativeadvertising