Thrillist’s Really Dough? & Other Video Content
The Ask: When I came to Thrillist, I was part of a new wave of hires being brought in specifically around a kind of “don’t call it a rebrand” rebrand. The company and its affiliates were growing at a brisk clip, and the content and aesthetics needed to mature at pace with revenues, both real and projected.
The biggest “business needs” components of the job were juicing their Youtube channel and in-line Facebook videos for said revenue, as well as making sure their B2B and paid video and social content looked as good as possible. It was a scrappy operation to be sure, and turnaround times could be comically brutal. But that scarcity of resources and time led to a lot of innovation and creative play, and slowly but surely a new brand video identity began to take root.
All styles were welcome, but eventually Really Dough? settled into a kind of Monty Python absurdist collage and stop animation feel.
When I started, work on season 1 of Really Dough? had just begun in earnest. It featured an NYC “pizza tour guide” (who later went on to be a figure of some controversy, how does this happen?) and legendary pizzaillo and world-class good sport Mark Iacono of Lucali fame, tasting and debating the merits of the most outlandish pizzas around NYC, and then the eastern seaboard. It was often a blast, sometimes a surreal and very strange mess, but almost always compelling. It went on to be a major hit for the brand, picking up awards from both the Webbys and Society of Publication Designers. Through 3 seasons of RD? as well as other highlights like the celebrity food tour vehicle Instachef, the Pop-Up Video-meets-Galloping Gourmet chaos of Send Foods, and one-offs around international holidays and sporting events, we grew the Thrillist video channels and their corresponding coffers dramatically.
Role: Creative direction, art direction, animation, design
Newark, NJ’s own “Tony Baloney” became a recurring guest and comic foil.
The Outcome:
• Our new creative team led the charge on major windfalls for Thrillist in revenue, engagement, and audience growth. When we started in 2018, their Youtube channel had just over 100K subscribers, with videos averaging around 10–50K views. In just under 2 years, we took it to over 500K subscribers, with videos performing below 150K views on premiere considered a fail. This helped us drive significant new revenue through sponsored content and B2B partnerships with Verizon, Facebook, Expedia, Solo, and Cafe Bustelo (a personal highlight, don’t ask) to name a few.
• We further put the brand on the map by garnering its first industry recognition from the Webbys (2018) and the Society of Publication Designers (2019), both for seasons of Really Dough?
• Though we weren’t given the time to complete the brand bible project that had begun in Q3 of 2019, the voice and aesthetic we helped to create* is still largely what defines the brand today.
*like a looser, less self-conscious, stonier cousin to both the try-hard cool of Vice and the freewheeling goofiness of BonApp’s Test Kitchen videos
The Daily Hit was an ambitious and ultimately failed attempt at somewhat random daily video content from anywhere across the Thrillist editorial slate. Because of the low-budget, run-and-gun nature of the content, we based the bumpers and graphics on small town morning show gfx and NYC public access gfx from the 80s and 90s.
Really Dough? ran for 3 seasons on Youtube, driving major increases in audience and revenue, as well as industry and awards recognition
Credits
Ted McGrath: Creative Direction
Tom O’Quinn: Additional Creative Direction
Megan Chong: Art Director, Design, Animation
Fredy Delgado: Design, Animation
Jason Hoffman: Illustration