Samuel Ekstrom - National Scout Reserve Scholarship Award Winner

I'm proud of Samuel for earning the 2017 Scouts - Summit Bechtel Reserve Scholarship in honor of Dan McCarthy. The Summit Bechtel Reserve (SBR) Staff Association awarded $2,000 to the 2017 recipients. Samuel served as the Aquatics Director at the waterfront for camp and used the scholarship to help pay for his last year at Central Michigan University.

Samuel Ekstrom was the Lead Professional Lifeguard and Lead Instructor for all Aquatics related programs at Summit Bechtel Reserve - James C. Justice Summer Camp.

Sam was responsible for developing an advancement program, training/supervising staff and overall responsibility for the well-being of all participants taking part in any aquatics activity including Paddleboarding, kayaking, swimming, water reality and fishing. 

 The waterfront at the James C. Justice National Scout Camp at SBR is the busiest in the nation. His responsibilities including overseeing all aquatics activities for the Senior Scout Camp, Appalachian Adventure programs on Goodrich Lake. 

The waterfront had as many as 800 scouts in attendance at any one time, with professional staff and volunteer staff under Samuel's leadership and supervision. 

Samuel attended the BSA National Camping School and received his Aquatics Director certification in order to take on this significant aquatics and management position.

This year he worked as a Manager at the waterfront and completed his Marketing/Advertising internship at SBR by working as a Media Content Creator. Samuel shot photos and video at SBR to help promote the program on all media and social channels.  

Sam shot photos and video for Facebook, Instagram and more for the 2018 year for Summit Bechtel. 

Prior to working as the Aquatics Director, Sam worked at the Shooting Sports Academy as an NRA certified Rifle and Shotgun instructor. Sam helped scouts and visiting guests to camp experience and develop their rifle, shotgun, muzzle loader, pistol and archery skills. 

Jeep USAB Basketball Copywriter

Wrote this copy for the jeep.com / USAB page. The Jeep brand and USA Basketball in 2012. They both share many of the same core values - including their quest excellence and ability to tap into their inner strength, courage and passion for a noble cause. Click here for a full-size layout. Worked closely with Steve Koch in our Toronto office to create the messaging/copy for this page:

BELIEVING IN THE POWER WITHIN YOU

Digging deep. Surmounting obstacles. And enjoying every moment. It's all about drive and excellence as the Jeep brand supports another American icon: USA Basketball. Come along. It's always going to be an exciting journey.

A LEGENDARY VEHICLE PROUDLY SUPPORTING A LEGENDARY TEAM
Jeep(r) Brand and USA Basketball have always shared: a drive for excellence. Always honing their capabilities and working to overcome every obstacle, both define unmatched performance and unparalleled ability across the globe. Today, the Jeep brand is proud to applaud our team for using their inner strength, courage and passion to pave the road to victory. Now, we'd like to invite you to celebrate that experience and believe in the drive that we know also lies within you.

Optimizing Google Search Results: Findings in Jeep Wrangler / Call of Duty Campaign

Our Jeep Creative team at SapientNitro was tasked with creating a buzz model page for the 2012 Jeep Wrangler Call of Duty. The Jeep brand created a special Call of Duty: MW3 Edition to support the $10 million ad campaign. I wrote the copy for this Buzz Model Page to support the campaign. 

I met previously with Michael Allen, our Search expert in the SapientNitro Toronto office, about optimizing key words for the features and specs section of jeep.com. He mentioned that headlines are a an important ingredient in the processing that is often overlooked. So a lightbulb goes off in my head.  In order to get higher Google search ratings, I researched key terminology used in past Call of Duty campaigns. This "test" of sorts was would help me on future projects of a similar nature.

Now writing clever headlines for a page is one thing - especially when you're trying to be true to your core values and branding. Trying to weave in key phrases from a co-branding partner is a whole new challenge. First the search for phrases. Then trying to incorporate them without being to forced. Getting our great clients to buy into the idea. It required extra work, but it ended up working on many different levels. In all I incorporated over 20 achievement/trophy phrases into the headlines and body copy (started out with 28, but client review took that down a bit). Titles such as "Back in the Saddle", "The French Connection", "The Dragon Within", "Locked and Loaded", and "Ground Control" were all trophy phrases that gamers would tag with "Call of Duty" to find cheats, or ways to get through difficult levels, in game play. 

Google search results were dramatically increased by associating this Jeep Call of Duty page with key phrases. (Note: I'm basing this in comparison to other projects that didn't incorporate similar techniques). Type in "Call of Duty" in a Google search and the Jeep Call of Duty page comes up 8th on the list - first page - that's without using Jeep in the search cue. Type in "Locked and Loaded" and "Call of Duty" in a Google search (without any reference to Jeep) and the page comes up first in the search.

Type in "The Dragon Within" and "Call of Duty" in a Google search (without any reference to Jeep) and we are come up second in the ranking.

Another example is "Call of Duty" and "Prevent Collateral Damage" - ranks number one in the search again. 

The key phrases goes on and on with first to third rankings on a Google search. But does it work for words that are buried in copy? Seems to help there too. Consider "Raining Pain" and "Call of Duty" - comes up as the third result in a Google search.

Best search results are also had with "The French Connection", "Back in the Saddle", "Elevate Your Senses", and "End Justify the Means". We didn't use any of the key phrases in the Meta Data/Key Words - only traditional Jeep and Call of Duty tags: 

title>2012 Wrangler | Call of Duty&reg;: MW3 Edition | Jeep</title><meta name="description" content="2012 Jeep Wrangler Call of Duty: Black Ops Edition; the only vehicle tough enough to play in this world." /> <meta name="keywords" content="Call of Duty,Call of Duty black ops,Call of Duty black,black ops jeep,jeep wrangler Call of Duty black ops edition,Call of Duty black ops jeep,Call of Duty jeep wrangler,jeep wrangler Call of Duty" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/en/includes/css/min.css" />

So where does that leave us? My low-tech test seems to show that using unique terminology, catch phrases, slogans, and key words from co-marketing / co-branding partners in headlines can be very effective in cross-linking the two brands and elevating rankings in Google searches. 

Jeep CJ-7 All-Weather Advertisement

Jeep CJ-7 All-Weather Advertisement, a photo by lee.ekstrom on Flickr.

Great all-weather advertisement for the 1980 Jeep CJ-7 Renegade. Just as true today as it was then. I love the "it has weathered passing styles..." line. Trends tend to lead to forgotten brands. Fads fade over time. You can be confident that the Jeep brand's iconic, purpose-built style will adventure on. A timeless classic.

Copy:
A legend must weather many storms.

Let it snow. Let it drift. Let it sleet. Let the streets go unplowed and let the faint of spirit stay locked behind garage doors till spring thaw.

The storms of winter matter little to the legendary Jeep CJ. It has been plowing snow, getting kids to school, taking skiers to the slopes and weathering storms for more than a quarter of a century. Dress it for work with plow and winch or dress it for play with ski rack and Tracker radials - history's most famous 4-wheeler will get you through in heart warming comfort.

There's room for four. The options of a weather-tight hardtop, high-back soft buckets, carpeting and stereo sound. And something you'll appreciate every time you drive: the highest gas mileage of any 4-wheeler made in America.

The most important thing Jeep CJ can give any driver, though, is a feeling of confidence. Not just because it's been weathering storms longer than a lot of vehicles have even existed. But because it has weathered passing styles for just as long. That's the confidence of owning a legend.

Jeep Wrangler Call of Duty: MW3 Edition

Recently wrote copy for the new 2012 Jeep Wrangler Call of Duty: MW3 Edition on jeep.com (note: "toughest vehicle in the world" headline was supplied). Keeping with the Call of Duty game-theme, I incorporated over 20 achievement/trophy phrases into the headlines and body copy. This helped raise key word and search awareness as well as give an authentic tone to this hard-core special edition Wrangler.

Jeep Brand History iPad App

The Jeep brand just launched a new free iPad app on iTunes. This app was an extension of the Jeep Touch Screen Display that our SapientNitro team put together to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the Jeep brand.

I had to shorten some of the copy to fit, but it's almost the same copy throughout. Great execution with nice touches by Art Director Extraordinaire, David Fasullo.

The app lets consumers explore photos and copy of
Jeep vehicles from the past seven decades, including the Willys MB - the original 4x4 freedom machine.

You can download the app at the iTunes store. If you like what you see, give a good rating and leave a nice comment at the iTunes store.

2005 Jeep Gladiator Concept Flyer 2 of 2

2005 Jeep Gladiator Concept Flyer 2 of 2
Originally uploaded by lee.ekstrom

The 2005 Jeep Gladiator Concept Vehicle seems to be making its way back in the press again. Jeep CEO Mike Manley showed dealers a version of this multipurpose vehicle (aka "pickup truck") at a dealer meeting in Orlando, Florida last year. Its expected that production of a Jeep exotic will begin in the third quarter of 2011, and be badged as a 2012.

My art director partner, Dennis Outlaw and I created this Auto Show Flyer/Brochure when we worked at BBDO Detroit on the Jeep Creative team.