November 6, 2024 • 17 mins
It’s a viral sensation, all thanks to people being put on hold. Nick Adams is a versatile copywriter and the brains behind the renowned Pizza Hut chicken wing song. He started his journey in the mailroom at GSD&M, but his persistence and creativity led him to become a writer, crafting memorable campaigns and even winning prestigious awards. On this episode, Chris delves into Nick's unique creative process, his comedic style, and his thoughts on current trends in branding and marketing. They also explore his passion for comedy and desire to make impactful, humorous content in the advertising world. Tune in to hear about Nick’s fascinating career and the creative minds behind some of your favorite ad campaigns.
Show Highlights
- (0:00) Intro
- (2:21) Nick's education and musical background
- (3:04) Getting started in the GSD&M mail room and working his way up
- (5:53) Creating the Pizza Hut chicken wing hold music and going viral
- (7:25) Nick's musical creative process
- (8:45) What came after the song?
- (9:44) Nick's current work post-Pizza Hut
- (10:34) Nick's involvement with Second City and his creative process
- (12:50) How will AI and TikTok affect marketing?
- (13:46) Nick's other creative interests
- (15:06) What brand does Nick admire most right now?
- (16:41) Where you can find more from Nick
About Nick Adams
Nick Adams is a copywriter at GSD&M.
He love chips, salsa and going to bed at a decent hour. His current hobbies include changing diapers and surviving wake windows, but he prefers bikes and basketball when he has the time.
Links:
Nicks website: https://www.bignickcreative.com/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I got my very first brief.
I made a deal with the project managers.
If I dressed up like Justin Timberlake and sang a song to
him for birthday party, then I could get a writing job.
Welcome to We Built This Brand, the podcast where we talk to the
creators and collaborators behind brands and provide you with
practical insights that you can use in growing your own business.
Today, I'm talking to Nick Adams, a copywriter at GSD&M,
(00:23):
and his claim to fame is a hilarious viral song he wrote for
Pizza Hut, which was sung by the one and only Craig Robinson.
It rose to fame when a girl on TikTok posted about
the on hold music she couldn't stop listening to.
TikTok video from @noraeinhellll (00:35):
When you put me on hold, I
heard genuinely one of the best songs I've ever heard ever.
It was like some guy singing about wings.
Would it be really weird if I asked you guys to put me on hold?
Chicken wings.
Chicken wings.
They're the best thing
(01:05):
that's not pizza.
That's right.
Pizza Hut has chicken wings.
Chicken wings.
Stay on hold or order online now at pizzahut.com.
And as a producer of some pretty silly parody music
myself, I was really excited for this conversation.
So, without further ado, here's my interview with Nick Adams.
Alright, so today I'm joined by Nick Adams.
Nick, welcome to the podcast.
How's it going?
Going good, man.
(01:25):
Going good.
How are you?
Doing well.
Thanks for having me.
Yeah, absolutely.
Happy to have you here, and today we've got a bit of a different show.
Most of the time we do We Built This Brand, we're talking to, or at least
recently, it feels like we've been talking to, like, Chief Marketing
Officers and people that are higher up the food chain, doing a lot
of the creative production, the actual building of the businesses.
(01:47):
And This is We Built This Brand.
It is a collective we, and the reason we created that is because
I do want to interview people that are working on the ins-and-outs
of creative branding, marketing, and content for brands.
And so, you know, this is a chance to do one of those deep dives,
and today we've got Nick Adams, who's a copywriter with us, and
(02:10):
we're going to be diving into something that makes him really unique.
A song that went viral about chicken wings.
I can't wait to get into it, and yeah.
And we'll talk more as we go about that.
So Nick, where I like to start these podcasts off is
really just talking about where you got your start and
kind of what led you to the formation of "Chicken Wings."
(02:30):
So let's start back at the beginning.
Obviously, you did a parody song.
So what, do you have a musical background?
Like where did that start for you?
Yeah, I mean, I taught myself piano when I was like 20 years old
in college, and I just always kind of played around on there.
Yeah, I love to sing, and I used to play in bands and stuff like that.
So it's always just kind of been a part of what I do.
(02:51):
Nice.
So, did you, when you were in college, what was your major?
Were you a writing major, an English major?
I studied advertising in college.
Yeah, back at University of North Texas in 2013.
It looked like I read an article that was sent to me recently
about you, and it mentioned that you started in a mail room.
(03:12):
So tell me, tell me more about that experience.
Yeah.
So I, after I got out of college, I went to a lot of places, and I
would cold call these creative directors and have them look at my book.
They all wanted me to go to portfolio
school, and I just did not want to do that.
So, eventually I met a dude and he got me a job in the mail room at GSD&M.
And I worked there for three years and kind
of worked my way up and became a writer.
(03:35):
That's awesome.
So you became a writer at GSD&M and that sounded like a very challenging
process of like, you know, having to stick it out in the mailroom and stuff.
The visual that comes to mind, I don't know if you've ever
seen, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but that whole mailroom
sequence from that, the famous Pepe Silva is what comes to mind.
(03:56):
So was it anything like that?
Yeah, I think it's exactly like that.
Yeah.
Nice.
And then you got your opportunity.
So a lot of persistence, a lot of focus on
getting to where you wanted to go basically.
Right.
I got my very first brief.
I made a deal with his project managers.
If I dressed up like Justin Timberlake and sang a song to
him for birthday party, then I could get a writing job.
(04:17):
So I did that.
I didn't sell it, but it was an opportunity to get in
front of clients, and I think it helped me for sure.
Yeah.
I mean, dressing up as, I mean, that, that takes a lot of gumption to not
only like be in the mailroom, but then say, "Okay, I'm going to dress up.
I'm going to do something a little silly here and put myself out there."
(04:37):
Yeah, I felt like a jackass walking in with a
keyboard on my shoulder, but it paid off, I guess.
Yeah, sometimes you got to do that.
You got to be willing to be a little silly to get
some interest or, you know, get your foot in the door.
So that's, I think that says a lot about
you that you were willing to do that too.
I guess you have a, I mean, doing that, you
probably have somewhat of a performance background.
(04:57):
You said you were playing in bands and stuff like that.
Are you, was that something that kind of factored into that?
Like, "Oh yeah, I could do that."
I think so.
I, after college, I went to Chicago and did a lot of
improv at like Second City and all those places up there.
So yeah, I have a performance background.
Uh, I don't think that performance is my strong suit.
I love to be like a writer hiding in the
booth up top, but I can perform sometimes.
(05:19):
So you start, you start this career, you
start this job, you're out of the mailroom.
How did you get to the point where you were
writing on hold music, I think is what it was.
I don't think it's a hard leap to get to on hold music from the mail room.
I think that's the job that nobody wants to do.
So it's just like, let's give it to this kid.
And so, yeah, they're just, they're giving me radio spots.
And my boss at the time would always tell me from the first
(05:39):
job, he's like, "I want to win a radio Mercury award."
And so we would always just try to write things to that standard, and I
don't think we ever did it, but eventually that piece got to be in there.
And so this, this is where Pizza Hut comes in, right?
So tell me about that process.
What got you to the point where you were like, "I'm just
going to, I'm just going to belt it and do this crazy song."
(06:01):
Our spokesperson was Craig Robinson at the time, and we had him for
like three hours and we were going to record eight spots with him.
And I knew, I was a huge Craig Robinson fan,
so I knew that he could sing and play piano.
And I thought, let me just write a song for him, I would love to do this.
And so I did, and I recorded a demo for him, and we gave
him the demo, and he played it pretty much exactly like it.
(06:23):
I sang it better, but he made a better piano part for it.
Yeah, he loved the song, he did it, and that's it.
So people got into it.
They got into the, and then, then it was discovered, right?
I'm sure it wasn't, um, was it an immediate
success or was it just like, "Ah, cool.
He, he did it.
He recorded it."
Yeah, he did it, and he recorded it.
It was since 2021.
So it was just like a fun thing for me, like being a Craig fan.
(06:45):
I was like, I love this.
It was on my website, but we didn't think anything of it, and then 2024,
I was on paternity leave, and my aunt sends me a news article that she
got from Denver and saying about Pizza Hut, hold music going viral.
And she's like, "Did you do this?"
And I read it, and I was like, hell yeah, I did that.
That's a really cool moment.
I'm sure a lot of validation in that it's like, "Oh yeah.
(07:06):
Okay."
Now, not that you weren't doing anything important before, but like,
"Okay, now I've got something that's really stuck with the culture."
I'm assuming this was your first real big breakthrough.
Would that be fair to say?
Yeah, I would say so for sure.
Yeah, well, we've done fun things in the past, but
nothing that made a splash like this, for sure.
So when it comes to creating songs like this,
(07:26):
so was it just in an hour that you created it?
Like, walk me through the creative process for these types of projects.
Like, what's your approach to creating music like this?
Creating a song about chicken wings?
I think I was working from home at the time, and I think just
one night, I sat down on my piano, there was probably some
drugs involved, but I just started singing about chicken wings.
(07:46):
Totally legal drugs, of course.
Right.
Legal ones in Texas for sure.
Yeah, exactly.
So then you just, you got it and then send it off to Craig.
I've been, I've been a fan of Craig Robinson's as well since I was like,
golly, I guess since, since The Office is when I really first noticed him.
I was like, this guy's cool.
[laughs] Brought in a unique vibe to the show, but that's
(08:08):
neat that you got to work with him, and I remember that those
campaigns with Pizza Hut, because he, yeah, it was just different.
It was unique.
So were you on the bigger project as well, helping out with that?
Or was it just really the on hold music that you were a part of.
No, I did a couple of TV spots.
My first job out of the mailroom was, uh, I won the stuff crust TV spot.
So it was like, I got out of the mailroom.
(08:29):
I made a stuff crust TV commercial.
That was like a dream come true.
And then it was COVID still, so we were doing remote
shoots, but I got to just like write all jokes for Craig.
And I thought that was like the peak of my career, just
like writing things for him to say, and I love that.
So the song became successful.
What happened after that?
Cause you won some big awards for this.
(08:50):
Yeah, we got a, uh, a Radio Mercury award.
Um, the first ever from GSD&M, which is pretty cool.
And then it got a Cannes shortlist, which they say is very cool.
Did you get to go to Cannes for that?
No, of course I did not go to Cannes, but
everyone else did and they had a great time.
Cool.
So you won Cannes.
Was there another one in there or was that?
Uh, just the Radio, Radio Mercury was the other one.
That's, that's really cool.
So, what has been the end result of this campaign?
(09:11):
Like what have you seen as like, obviously there's a virality to it.
Has there been any other, outside of the awards, has there
been anything else that you've seen as a result of this?
Like how has it impacted your career?
I mean, I got to go to New York and go to an award show.
That was pretty cool.
The agency says my name a lot more now, and that's a different, I think.
Yeah, nothing's really changed too much yet.
(09:32):
I'm still working on the same things, but hopefully it will soon.
So I guess from a work perspective, like where, what are you
working, like what kinds of things are you working on now?
I don't want to pry too deep because I know
some of that's probably confidential, but.
like what are the kinds of things you're working on?
I've been doing a campaign for a grocery store right now, which is pretty fun.
We've done some new business pitches, and I have another
(09:54):
song that kind of helped us win a new business pitch.
So there's more music, a little heartfelt moments in the grocery things.
Lots of, lots of fun stuff.
Is it safe to say that like songwriting then is your specialty?
Is that kind of become your thing since you got started in this or?
Uh, no, and I don't want songwriting to, I don't want to be the songwriter.
I want to be, I would say like I'm a "comedy first" writer.
(10:16):
I just want to do funny stuff, and if I have
to write a song to be funny, then I'll do that.
But I really just, I want to get the call when we need something funny.
Like, "and then Nick comes in."
You said you worked at Second City or not worked at, but
I guess you were involved with Second City at some point.
Yeah.
I like to say, "I studied there."
Studied there.
There we go.
What is that?
Like, I think that's like, you can pay for classes and do things like that.
(10:38):
And some people go on to SNL and I know we actually have
a client whose wife studied at Second City for a while.
So, that's been a pretty neat experience to have feedback/input on that stuff.
So, comedy is more your thing.
What kind of comedy would you say really inspires you
when you're thinking about comedic content for campaigns?
(11:01):
When I work for campaigns, I always picture brands as a character.
So like, when you write for Pizza Hut, Pizza Hut is a character.
It's this person that loves pizza.
When I first got kicked off on the brand, it was a 13-year-old
stuck in a 30-year-old's body, and so I always just look
at everything through that lens, and just things that I
think would be funny coming out of a brand's mouth, I guess.
(11:23):
And is it when you're in these processes, is it
a lot of like back and forth with the client?
Do they come to you and just say, "Here you go.
Create it and good luck," or what is that process like?
I mean, there's a lot of back and forth with the client, but
as far as radio goes, they were pretty hands off with that.
It was kind of like a Wild West.
They just one person is checking off on things,
(11:44):
but they're really not paying too much attention.
It seems like
That can be fun when you get to have that creative vacuum
where you're just like, "I've got to experiment and do
what I want," and if they think it's crazy, then good luck.
[laughs] it's what they pay me for.
[laughs] Exactly.
We had a project a while back where we did a "Real Man of Genius"
(12:04):
parody, and that was one of those where it was kind of like, "Just do it.
I don't care what you do.
Just bring us something."
And that one worked out really well, but that's been, that's really neat.
So like, so what, what are some other
things you're passionate about in branding?
You said you don't want to do music as like the thing you're known for, so.
And comedy is the thing you want to do, so is there something specific
(12:26):
within copywriting where you're like, "Man, if I could go this direction.
This is my dream within copywriting."
No.
I think just having a brave client is down for whatever, and if you come up
with a crazy idea that they'll do, then that's, that's what I want to do.
What is top of mind for you?
Like where things are headed?
Like do you see AI being more a part of your creative process, or is there
(12:48):
something else in tech or something else in just in terms of trends that
you're seeing, like TikTok versus Instagram or any, anything like that.
That's what's top of mind in those regards.
Well, I'm not too worried about AI right now because I think on
that new business pitch that I was talking about where we wrote
the song, we had some people run the song through AI first, and
(13:09):
it spit out a version, and it was horrible, and I had to come in.
It took me longer, but I wrote a better song than that computer did.
So, I'm really not worried about AI taking my job yet
because I don't think they have nuances of things that we do.
So I'm not worried about that.
I think TikTok is a really cool thing because I mean, that's
where the chicken wing song got popular was on TikTok.
So the fact that this girl recorded it and put it on there and people liked
(13:33):
it there, it gave new life to this whole message that was really cool.
So do you create, do you have any creative
stuff you do outside of say your day job?
Is there anything that you're- you mentioned being in bands and stuff like that.
Are you doing improv?
Are you doing music?
Like anything like that that you're pursuing?
I play a lot of music at home.
(13:53):
I always say that I like to make my work fun
enough that I don't have to work outside of work.
So do something I like and fulfills me and
then go home and I don't have to do that.
I have a six month old daughter right now, so I feel like
that's my hobby outside of work is trying to raise that girl.
Congratulations as a father of two, [laughs] as the father of two, I feel you.
(14:17):
You're in the calm before the storm.
I will just say that.
She's very wiggly right now, and she's
starting to move out of our laps and stuff.
So it's getting hard already.
Yeah.
It's a lot of fun.
It's a lot of fun being a parent.
And that's really a great place to be to, to be able to do what you enjoy.
Stick with that and then being able to come home and focus on family.
I mean, that's really key.
(14:39):
So.
Yeah.
One day I would love to be a TV writer, but until then,
if I can just make fun stuff here and I'll do that.
Yeah.
I've definitely seen that trajectory before people go
from being copywriters to gotten an idea for a TV show
and you pitch it, and next thing you know, it takes off.
So, um, well, last question we always ask on the show is,
(15:01):
you know, what brand do you admire the most right now?
So, We'd just love to know from you, Nick, like,
is there a brand that you're like, "Man, this is...
when I think about branding and marketing,
this is the one I really look to right now."
I think Tubi's really cool.
I still think about their Super Bowl thing a couple years ago.
Like, that made me laugh out loud.
And it scared the shit out of me too, because I
was in bed, and by myself, and the channel changed.
(15:23):
I thought somebody was in the house.
I've always loved Little Caesars branding.
I think that they're so funny, and they don't have to talk about Pizza.
They don't have to make jokes about pizza or RTBs.
It's just like really funny stuff and always memorable.
Yeah.
Just things like that.
I love Skittles too.
Skittles never gets old.
Yeah.
Skittles always does the weirdest, most esoteric commercials.
(15:45):
I feel like.
Dave's Hot Chicken.
Have you seen Dave's Hot Chicken stuff?
I don't think I have.
No.
That's one of my favorite things right now.
I'm going to have to check it out.
Is that like a chain restaurant or?
Yeah.
Chain restaurant, but their whole thing is don't die
before you try it, and it's just very dark and I love it.
Yeah.
(16:05):
We've, we've had a lot of responses from folks that say Liquid
Death is their favorite, so it sounds like it's along those lines.
Yeah.
I think it's from the same people that do a lot of Liquid Death stuff as well.
Um, Party Land?
I always enjoy the more absurd, weird
commercials, so I'll have to check that out.
Dave's Hot Chicken, it's not local to me, so I'm curious.
(16:29):
I'm curious about it now, so.
Awesome.
Alright, well Nick, thank you.
Thank you for your time.
If people want to get connected with you,
where can they, where can they reach out?
Where can they find you?
Find me at bignickcreative.com.
Okay.
Awesome.
We'll let people know to go to bignickcreative.com and go from there.
So, awesome.
(16:50):
Well, Nick, thank you for being on the show today.
Yeah.
Thank you so much, Chris.
I got my very first brief.
I made a deal with the project managers.
If I dressed up like Justin Timberlake and sang a song to
him for birthday party, then I could get a writing job.
Welcome to We Built This Brand, the podcast where we talk to the
creators and collaborators behind brands and provide you with
practical insights that you can use in growing your own business.
Today, I'm talking to Nick Adams, a copywriter at GSD&M,
(00:23):
and his claim to fame is a hilarious viral song he wrote for
Pizza Hut, which was sung by the one and only Craig Robinson.
It rose to fame when a girl on TikTok posted about
the on hold music she couldn't stop listening to.
TikTok video from @noraeinhellll (00:35):
When you put me on hold, I
heard genuinely one of the best songs I've ever heard ever.
It was like some guy singing about wings.
Would it be really weird if I asked you guys to put me on hold?
Chicken wings.
Chicken wings.
They're the best thing
(01:05):
that's not pizza.
That's right.
Pizza Hut has chicken wings.
Chicken wings.
Stay on hold or order online now at pizzahut.com.
And as a producer of some pretty silly parody music
myself, I was really excited for this conversation.
So, without further ado, here's my interview with Nick Adams.
Alright, so today I'm joined by Nick Adams.
Nick, welcome to the podcast.
How's it going?
Going good, man.
(01:25):
Going good.
How are you?
Doing well.
Thanks for having me.
Yeah, absolutely.
Happy to have you here, and today we've got a bit of a different show.
Most of the time we do We Built This Brand, we're talking to, or at least
recently, it feels like we've been talking to, like, Chief Marketing
Officers and people that are higher up the food chain, doing a lot
of the creative production, the actual building of the businesses.
(01:47):
And This is We Built This Brand.
It is a collective we, and the reason we created that is because
I do want to interview people that are working on the ins-and-outs
of creative branding, marketing, and content for brands.
And so, you know, this is a chance to do one of those deep dives,
and today we've got Nick Adams, who's a copywriter with us, and
(02:10):
we're going to be diving into something that makes him really unique.
A song that went viral about chicken wings.
I can't wait to get into it, and yeah.
And we'll talk more as we go about that.
So Nick, where I like to start these podcasts off is
really just talking about where you got your start and
kind of what led you to the formation of "Chicken Wings."
(02:30):
So let's start back at the beginning.
Obviously, you did a parody song.
So what, do you have a musical background?
Like where did that start for you?
Yeah, I mean, I taught myself piano when I was like 20 years old
in college, and I just always kind of played around on there.
Yeah, I love to sing, and I used to play in bands and stuff like that.
So it's always just kind of been a part of what I do.
(02:51):
Nice.
So, did you, when you were in college, what was your major?
Were you a writing major, an English major?
I studied advertising in college.
Yeah, back at University of North Texas in 2013.
It looked like I read an article that was sent to me recently
about you, and it mentioned that you started in a mail room.
(03:12):
So tell me, tell me more about that experience.
Yeah.
So I, after I got out of college, I went to a lot of places, and I
would cold call these creative directors and have them look at my book.
They all wanted me to go to portfolio
school, and I just did not want to do that.
So, eventually I met a dude and he got me a job in the mail room at GSD&M.
And I worked there for three years and kind
of worked my way up and became a writer.
(03:35):
That's awesome.
So you became a writer at GSD&M and that sounded like a very challenging
process of like, you know, having to stick it out in the mailroom and stuff.
The visual that comes to mind, I don't know if you've ever
seen, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but that whole mailroom
sequence from that, the famous Pepe Silva is what comes to mind.
(03:56):
So was it anything like that?
Yeah, I think it's exactly like that.
Yeah.
Nice.
And then you got your opportunity.
So a lot of persistence, a lot of focus on
getting to where you wanted to go basically.
Right.
I got my very first brief.
I made a deal with his project managers.
If I dressed up like Justin Timberlake and sang a song to
him for birthday party, then I could get a writing job.
(04:17):
So I did that.
I didn't sell it, but it was an opportunity to get in
front of clients, and I think it helped me for sure.
Yeah.
I mean, dressing up as, I mean, that, that takes a lot of gumption to not
only like be in the mailroom, but then say, "Okay, I'm going to dress up.
I'm going to do something a little silly here and put myself out there."
(04:37):
Yeah, I felt like a jackass walking in with a
keyboard on my shoulder, but it paid off, I guess.
Yeah, sometimes you got to do that.
You got to be willing to be a little silly to get
some interest or, you know, get your foot in the door.
So that's, I think that says a lot about
you that you were willing to do that too.
I guess you have a, I mean, doing that, you
probably have somewhat of a performance background.
(04:57):
You said you were playing in bands and stuff like that.
Are you, was that something that kind of factored into that?
Like, "Oh yeah, I could do that."
I think so.
I, after college, I went to Chicago and did a lot of
improv at like Second City and all those places up there.
So yeah, I have a performance background.
Uh, I don't think that performance is my strong suit.
I love to be like a writer hiding in the
booth up top, but I can perform sometimes.
(05:19):
So you start, you start this career, you
start this job, you're out of the mailroom.
How did you get to the point where you were
writing on hold music, I think is what it was.
I don't think it's a hard leap to get to on hold music from the mail room.
I think that's the job that nobody wants to do.
So it's just like, let's give it to this kid.
And so, yeah, they're just, they're giving me radio spots.
And my boss at the time would always tell me from the first
(05:39):
job, he's like, "I want to win a radio Mercury award."
And so we would always just try to write things to that standard, and I
don't think we ever did it, but eventually that piece got to be in there.
And so this, this is where Pizza Hut comes in, right?
So tell me about that process.
What got you to the point where you were like, "I'm just
going to, I'm just going to belt it and do this crazy song."
(06:01):
Our spokesperson was Craig Robinson at the time, and we had him for
like three hours and we were going to record eight spots with him.
And I knew, I was a huge Craig Robinson fan,
so I knew that he could sing and play piano.
And I thought, let me just write a song for him, I would love to do this.
And so I did, and I recorded a demo for him, and we gave
him the demo, and he played it pretty much exactly like it.
(06:23):
I sang it better, but he made a better piano part for it.
Yeah, he loved the song, he did it, and that's it.
So people got into it.
They got into the, and then, then it was discovered, right?
I'm sure it wasn't, um, was it an immediate
success or was it just like, "Ah, cool.
He, he did it.
He recorded it."
Yeah, he did it, and he recorded it.
It was since 2021.
So it was just like a fun thing for me, like being a Craig fan.
(06:45):
I was like, I love this.
It was on my website, but we didn't think anything of it, and then 2024,
I was on paternity leave, and my aunt sends me a news article that she
got from Denver and saying about Pizza Hut, hold music going viral.
And she's like, "Did you do this?"
And I read it, and I was like, hell yeah, I did that.
That's a really cool moment.
I'm sure a lot of validation in that it's like, "Oh yeah.
(07:06):
Okay."
Now, not that you weren't doing anything important before, but like,
"Okay, now I've got something that's really stuck with the culture."
I'm assuming this was your first real big breakthrough.
Would that be fair to say?
Yeah, I would say so for sure.
Yeah, well, we've done fun things in the past, but
nothing that made a splash like this, for sure.
So when it comes to creating songs like this,
(07:26):
so was it just in an hour that you created it?
Like, walk me through the creative process for these types of projects.
Like, what's your approach to creating music like this?
Creating a song about chicken wings?
I think I was working from home at the time, and I think just
one night, I sat down on my piano, there was probably some
drugs involved, but I just started singing about chicken wings.
(07:46):
Totally legal drugs, of course.
Right.
Legal ones in Texas for sure.
Yeah, exactly.
So then you just, you got it and then send it off to Craig.
I've been, I've been a fan of Craig Robinson's as well since I was like,
golly, I guess since, since The Office is when I really first noticed him.
I was like, this guy's cool.
[laughs] Brought in a unique vibe to the show, but that's
(08:08):
neat that you got to work with him, and I remember that those
campaigns with Pizza Hut, because he, yeah, it was just different.
It was unique.
So were you on the bigger project as well, helping out with that?
Or was it just really the on hold music that you were a part of.
No, I did a couple of TV spots.
My first job out of the mailroom was, uh, I won the stuff crust TV spot.
So it was like, I got out of the mailroom.
(08:29):
I made a stuff crust TV commercial.
That was like a dream come true.
And then it was COVID still, so we were doing remote
shoots, but I got to just like write all jokes for Craig.
And I thought that was like the peak of my career, just
like writing things for him to say, and I love that.
So the song became successful.
What happened after that?
Cause you won some big awards for this.
(08:50):
Yeah, we got a, uh, a Radio Mercury award.
Um, the first ever from GSD&M, which is pretty cool.
And then it got a Cannes shortlist, which they say is very cool.
Did you get to go to Cannes for that?
No, of course I did not go to Cannes, but
everyone else did and they had a great time.
Cool.
So you won Cannes.
Was there another one in there or was that?
Uh, just the Radio, Radio Mercury was the other one.
That's, that's really cool.
So, what has been the end result of this campaign?
(09:11):
Like what have you seen as like, obviously there's a virality to it.
Has there been any other, outside of the awards, has there
been anything else that you've seen as a result of this?
Like how has it impacted your career?
I mean, I got to go to New York and go to an award show.
That was pretty cool.
The agency says my name a lot more now, and that's a different, I think.
Yeah, nothing's really changed too much yet.
(09:32):
I'm still working on the same things, but hopefully it will soon.
So I guess from a work perspective, like where, what are you
working, like what kinds of things are you working on now?
I don't want to pry too deep because I know
some of that's probably confidential, but.
like what are the kinds of things you're working on?
I've been doing a campaign for a grocery store right now, which is pretty fun.
We've done some new business pitches, and I have another
(09:54):
song that kind of helped us win a new business pitch.
So there's more music, a little heartfelt moments in the grocery things.
Lots of, lots of fun stuff.
Is it safe to say that like songwriting then is your specialty?
Is that kind of become your thing since you got started in this or?
Uh, no, and I don't want songwriting to, I don't want to be the songwriter.
I want to be, I would say like I'm a "comedy first" writer.
(10:16):
I just want to do funny stuff, and if I have
to write a song to be funny, then I'll do that.
But I really just, I want to get the call when we need something funny.
Like, "and then Nick comes in."
You said you worked at Second City or not worked at, but
I guess you were involved with Second City at some point.
Yeah.
I like to say, "I studied there."
Studied there.
There we go.
What is that?
Like, I think that's like, you can pay for classes and do things like that.
(10:38):
And some people go on to SNL and I know we actually have
a client whose wife studied at Second City for a while.
So, that's been a pretty neat experience to have feedback/input on that stuff.
So, comedy is more your thing.
What kind of comedy would you say really inspires you
when you're thinking about comedic content for campaigns?
(11:01):
When I work for campaigns, I always picture brands as a character.
So like, when you write for Pizza Hut, Pizza Hut is a character.
It's this person that loves pizza.
When I first got kicked off on the brand, it was a 13-year-old
stuck in a 30-year-old's body, and so I always just look
at everything through that lens, and just things that I
think would be funny coming out of a brand's mouth, I guess.
(11:23):
And is it when you're in these processes, is it
a lot of like back and forth with the client?
Do they come to you and just say, "Here you go.
Create it and good luck," or what is that process like?
I mean, there's a lot of back and forth with the client, but
as far as radio goes, they were pretty hands off with that.
It was kind of like a Wild West.
They just one person is checking off on things,
(11:44):
but they're really not paying too much attention.
It seems like
That can be fun when you get to have that creative vacuum
where you're just like, "I've got to experiment and do
what I want," and if they think it's crazy, then good luck.
[laughs] it's what they pay me for.
[laughs] Exactly.
We had a project a while back where we did a "Real Man of Genius"
(12:04):
parody, and that was one of those where it was kind of like, "Just do it.
I don't care what you do.
Just bring us something."
And that one worked out really well, but that's been, that's really neat.
So like, so what, what are some other
things you're passionate about in branding?
You said you don't want to do music as like the thing you're known for, so.
And comedy is the thing you want to do, so is there something specific
(12:26):
within copywriting where you're like, "Man, if I could go this direction.
This is my dream within copywriting."
No.
I think just having a brave client is down for whatever, and if you come up
with a crazy idea that they'll do, then that's, that's what I want to do.
What is top of mind for you?
Like where things are headed?
Like do you see AI being more a part of your creative process, or is there
(12:48):
something else in tech or something else in just in terms of trends that
you're seeing, like TikTok versus Instagram or any, anything like that.
That's what's top of mind in those regards.
Well, I'm not too worried about AI right now because I think on
that new business pitch that I was talking about where we wrote
the song, we had some people run the song through AI first, and
(13:09):
it spit out a version, and it was horrible, and I had to come in.
It took me longer, but I wrote a better song than that computer did.
So, I'm really not worried about AI taking my job yet
because I don't think they have nuances of things that we do.
So I'm not worried about that.
I think TikTok is a really cool thing because I mean, that's
where the chicken wing song got popular was on TikTok.
So the fact that this girl recorded it and put it on there and people liked
(13:33):
it there, it gave new life to this whole message that was really cool.
So do you create, do you have any creative
stuff you do outside of say your day job?
Is there anything that you're- you mentioned being in bands and stuff like that.
Are you doing improv?
Are you doing music?
Like anything like that that you're pursuing?
I play a lot of music at home.
(13:53):
I always say that I like to make my work fun
enough that I don't have to work outside of work.
So do something I like and fulfills me and
then go home and I don't have to do that.
I have a six month old daughter right now, so I feel like
that's my hobby outside of work is trying to raise that girl.
Congratulations as a father of two, [laughs] as the father of two, I feel you.
(14:17):
You're in the calm before the storm.
I will just say that.
She's very wiggly right now, and she's
starting to move out of our laps and stuff.
So it's getting hard already.
Yeah.
It's a lot of fun.
It's a lot of fun being a parent.
And that's really a great place to be to, to be able to do what you enjoy.
Stick with that and then being able to come home and focus on family.
I mean, that's really key.
(14:39):
So.
Yeah.
One day I would love to be a TV writer, but until then,
if I can just make fun stuff here and I'll do that.
Yeah.
I've definitely seen that trajectory before people go
from being copywriters to gotten an idea for a TV show
and you pitch it, and next thing you know, it takes off.
So, um, well, last question we always ask on the show is,
(15:01):
you know, what brand do you admire the most right now?
So, We'd just love to know from you, Nick, like,
is there a brand that you're like, "Man, this is...
when I think about branding and marketing,
this is the one I really look to right now."
I think Tubi's really cool.
I still think about their Super Bowl thing a couple years ago.
Like, that made me laugh out loud.
And it scared the shit out of me too, because I
was in bed, and by myself, and the channel changed.
(15:23):
I thought somebody was in the house.
I've always loved Little Caesars branding.
I think that they're so funny, and they don't have to talk about Pizza.
They don't have to make jokes about pizza or RTBs.
It's just like really funny stuff and always memorable.
Yeah.
Just things like that.
I love Skittles too.
Skittles never gets old.
Yeah.
Skittles always does the weirdest, most esoteric commercials.
(15:45):
I feel like.
Dave's Hot Chicken.
Have you seen Dave's Hot Chicken stuff?
I don't think I have.
No.
That's one of my favorite things right now.
I'm going to have to check it out.
Is that like a chain restaurant or?
Yeah.
Chain restaurant, but their whole thing is don't die
before you try it, and it's just very dark and I love it.
Yeah.
(16:05):
We've, we've had a lot of responses from folks that say Liquid
Death is their favorite, so it sounds like it's along those lines.
Yeah.
I think it's from the same people that do a lot of Liquid Death stuff as well.
Um, Party Land?
I always enjoy the more absurd, weird
commercials, so I'll have to check that out.
Dave's Hot Chicken, it's not local to me, so I'm curious.
(16:29):
I'm curious about it now, so.
Awesome.
Alright, well Nick, thank you.
Thank you for your time.
If people want to get connected with you,
where can they, where can they reach out?
Where can they find you?
Find me at bignickcreative.com.
Okay.
Awesome.
We'll let people know to go to bignickcreative.com and go from there.
So, awesome.
(16:50):
Well, Nick, thank you for being on the show today.
Yeah.
Thank you so much, Chris.
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