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My team’s award winning creative platform won a competition against 51 young advertisers and earned the business of Pagoda, a CJ Schwan’s company.
Pagoda is a frozen Asian food brand fighting a number of problems:
• The assumption that frozen food can't be both good and convenient
• Standing out in an overcrowded food aisle
• Claiming a truly unique brand identity to accompany their expanding product line
Our concept, Unbox Your Fortune, is the solution. We closed the gap by giving every purchase what takeout had and frozen food didn't: a moment of surprise, delivered through fortunes. Some fortunes are punchy, modernized jokes. Others, however, are luckier, unlocking free Pagoda food, digital rewards, or cash prizes. This mechanic doubles as a unique brand identity no other frozen brand has claimed.
We built the campaign around a simple, repeatable script: someone opens their Pagoda, finds a strange fortune, watches it come true in a funny and unexpected way, but is even more surprised that food this good came out of a freezer. That script anchored our YouTube spot and TikTok short, and carried through in a more grounded form across out-of-home, in-store, and online ads, each leaning on the chance at extra prizes and guarantee of quality.
Intended Results: Establish a unique brand identity for Pagoda that gets skeptics in the door and lets the flavor do the rest of the convincing.
Target Audience: People who default to takeout over frozen food, assuming frozen can't match the taste or experience of a restaurant meal.
Why It Works: Fortunes serve as a vehicle for the message that frozen food can deliver on taste, while matching the experiential excitement of takeout, and giving Pagoda a brand identity distinct from frozen competitors.
Assets: Branding designs and mockups, commercial spot, short-form video, copy, out-of-home, packaging, web banner.
Process & Contributions
This project was a live client pitch for Pagoda frozen foods through Boundaryless, an industry-judged simulation. We won against five competing teams and 51 total advertisers. Our team's work is now being pitched to Pagoda leadership for potential real-world use.
I led our team's creative vision as Art Director across design, copy, and video. I wrote and art directed the AI-generated video spot. I designed the in-store ad and fortune mockups. I also wrote the copy on the in-store ad, a number of the fortunes, and other branding copy.
Art Director Kathy Dinh (kathydinh.com) gave us the foundational idea of fortunes, designed web ads, billboard ads, and other branding, additionally leading the design of the pitch deck and editing the video presentation. Copywriter Keegan McDevitt (keeganmcdevitt.me) wrote and directed the TikTok video, wrote fortunes and taglines for billboard and web banner ads. He also laid foundational concepting across the presentation and numerous activations. Strategist Gabrielle Ronnenberg (gabrielleronnenberg.carrd.co) grounded strategy, gathered research, and wrote and spoke for much of our presentation.
Fortune Packaging - Mike Schmidt & Keegan McDevitt
YouTube Spot - Mike Schmidt
In-Store Ad - Mike Schmidt
TikTok Spot - Keegan McDevitt
Out-of-Home - Kathy Dinh, Keegan McDevitt
Web Banner Ads - Kathy Dinh, Keegan McDevitt
Full Presentation
