Mike O'Malley

START YOUR IMPOSSIBLE

(Paris 2024 GlobalOlympics/Paralympics)

Role: Senior Client Partner / Global Group Account Director

Since 2016, Toyota has been the official mobility partner of the Global Olympic and Paralympic Games, producing work that has moved, inspired and challenged viewers to “Start Your Impossible.”

Heading into the Paris Games, and coming out from under the damper that Covid placed on Tokyo and Beijing, we wanted to craft a campaign that not only honored Toyota’s tremendous athletes, but also celebrated the global communities that have driven them to greatness.

The result was a powerful campaign that was seen throughout the world and no doubt inspired a new generation of viewers to take the first steps toward conquering their respective impossible.

Role: Group Account Director

Resonating with a Sunday Night Football audience is no small task when you’re not the official vehicle of the league. We took one of the greatest athletes of all time, added a heavy dose of nostalgia (in the form of beloved video game “Tecmo Bowl”) and cast the Sorento as an unstoppable force in the backfield. Sports fans went crazy, the spots garnered 97 million earned social impressions and CBS Sports labeled the campaign “Marketing Perfection.”

Role: Account Director

After the first year of Kia’s partnership with LeBron James as official spokesman of the K900, we noticed that a lot of people doubted whether or not someone of LeBron’s stature would actually drive a Kia. Much of this skepticism, naturally, was expressed openly on social media. So, we took three tweets and crafted a campaign where LBJ addressed his skeptics head-on. Keyboard warriors everywhere were put on notice: You better think twice before flexing those finger muscles and questioning the King’s love of his K900.

Role: Account Director

Automotive spokespersons are a dime a dozen. Talking heads, schilling product feature benefits to an audience that has been rendered numb by the waves of a sea of sameness. When Kia partnered with Blake Griffin to be the official spokesperson of the Kia Optima, we saw an opportunity. The Optima was no average mid-size sedan, so why should Blake be just another average spokesperson?  With that in mind, we crafted campaigns that veered off the expected path and instead leveraged Blake’s irreverent sense of humor to deliver product attributes in a manner meant to authentically connect with our NBA audience. This campaign featured Blake in blockbuster movies with his trusty co-star, the Kia Optima.

Role: Freelance Global Account Director

The 2018 Winter Games marked the first year of an eight-year global partnership between Toyota and the Olympic/Paralympic Games. The campaign in support of the partnership represented a huge shift in Toyota’s branding, from mere auto manufacturer to a company that is becoming a global leader in human mobility. I had the good fortune to assist with two of the spots in the campaign and had the pleasure of working with some very talented people from Saatchi. Having now shot in Prague during the Winter, I also have a new-found appreciation for layering and thermals.

Role: Account Director

Baseball.  Football. Basketball. Hot dogs and beer. All steady staples of the American sports fan’s diet and consumed with undying passion and loyalty.  But, what about soccer?  When Kia became a sponsor of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, we saw a unique opportunity to use Kia’s momentum as a brand to champion the growing excitement surrounding the sport of futbol on the world stage.  Through an integrated campaign, and with the help of Adriana Lima, we asked traditional sports fans to put down their bats, helmets and gloves, change the channel and become a fan of futbol for just one month.  Clearly, our invitation was well-received.  Our spots generated over 5.4 million views on YouTube. Digitally, we garnered 177 million impressions and saw traffic to kia.com skyrocket by 32%.  The campaign even out-performed brands like Nike, Hyundai and Adidas in social media, with mentions totaling over 1.3 million on Facebook and Twitter.  

Role: Program Marketing Manager

While freelancing at Facebook for two months as a Program Marketing Manager, I had the unique opportunity to work with a team on a small campaign to promote Facebook’s voting ballot product, which was launching in India.

The ballot product offered something powerful for citizens in India, because it was the first time voters could actually compare/contrast candidates all in the same place and at their fingertips.

We worked quickly, launched two fun videos and hopefully….helped the world’s largest democracy to better inform their vote.

Role: Group Account Director

LeBron James has faced a lot of doubt in his career, despite a track record of continuous improvement, tremendous performances and a work ethic that makes him one of the game’s greats. Similar to LeBron, Kia has faced a lot of doubt from skeptics that didn’t believe that a small Korean car company could compete with the big guys. Hot on the heels of LBJ bringing a championship to Cleveland and Kia being named #1 on J.D. Power’s Initial Quality Study, this campaign quietly and confidently relayed to the critics that when it comes to the greatness of The King and Kia, it’s time to doubt no more.

Role: Group Account Director

By 2017, Kia’s Hamsters were a household name and synonymous with the ready-for-anything Soul. So how do you create excitement and awareness for a new Turbo-charged offering? We chose to create a :90 jail-break featuring a baby (named “Turbo”) whose fast-little legs were only outpaced by Motorhead’s high-octane classic - “Ace of Spades.”

Role: Account Director

Did I ever tell you about the time Blake Griffin and Jack McBrayer teamed up to fight crime that showed its ugly face in the form of ordinary citizens shopping for boring sedans? Legend has it their presence can still be felt in city streets and non-Kia dealerships around the country.

Role: Brand Communications Manager

The Honda Civic has long been an iconic representation of youth, as evidenced by high school parking lots everywhere both past and present. To celebrate the Civic’s youthful spirit, we turned to a known associate: music. By carving grooves in a desolate highway in Lancaster, CA, we were able to have the Civic play the William Tell Overture simply by racing effortlessly down the grooved desert highway. The fact that the Civic performed the tune flawlessly was no surprise. What caught us off guard was that the general public was driving down the street and filming their own cars’ performance merely hours after we wrapped. The result was tremendous PR buzz and one attention-grabbing campaign.

Role: Group Account Director

When it comes to helping out the environment, sometimes little changes can go along way. After all, not everyone has the time, commitment or skillset to be a full-fledged eco-warrior. That was the insight we landed on when it came time to launch Kia’s all-new crossover, the Niro. So, with help from Melissa McCarthy, we used humor, nostalgia and one epic journey to launch the product and capture the minds and hearts of Super Bowl viewers everywhere. As a result, Kia was the first car brand to win USA Today Ad Meter & YouTube AdBlitz awards and traffic to Edmunds increased by 869% (on game day) while the creative garnered over 886 million impressions.

Role: Account Director

During a stint at WDCW, I had the good fortune to work with some very talented folks on ESPN’s College GameDay account. Sure, we launched a campaign that year to promote awareness for what was already an iconic Saturday morning show. But, we also did something pretty special and out of the ordinary. That something special came in the form of an online Facebook voting contest that allowed the victorious school to have their very own GameDay commercial shot on their campus. The winner, after an offsides or two, was Texas A&M and the result was one unforgettable experience in College Station.

Role: Account Director

When LeBron James approached Kia Motors and expressed his interest in the all-new K900, an opportunity arose to make LBJ the official spokesperson of Kia’s flagship luxury model. But how do you position King James with Kia? We decided that the best way was simple authenticity. So, we showed how LeBron’s newfound favorite ride played into the everyday aspects of his life. With media specifically targeted to an NBA audience, our efforts resulted in increased consideration and opinion for the product. Although surrounded by the right people, I was sadly not offered any D-League contracts despite my large frame and uncanny ability to take charges.

Role: Account Director

Anyone who’s played basketball for an extended period of time can tell you that there are special moments in the game when the rim looks as big as the ocean and you simply can’t miss a shot. It’s often called being “In the zone,” and there’s nothing quite like it. We took this notion and applied it to the Kia Optima with a guy who’s no stranger to being in the zone himself. Sure, it was a fun way to position the Optima against more bland mid-size competitors. But more importantly, the campaign was an excellent example of connecting with a specific audience in a manner that was authentic and contextually relevant.

Role: Account Director

When you drive the Official Vehicle of the NBA, it’s easy to take the league’s swagger with you everywhere you go. But even if driving the Optima makes you feel like you can drop 35 points, 12 boards & 10 assists……you probably shouldn’t quit your day job.

Role: Account Director

Full Tilt Poker came to us with a simple ask: Relaunch the brand globally and let players know that the site was back to offering real action. So, we grabbed three of the world’s best players, told a story where the stakes were unconventionally high and ultimately propelled the brand back to global prominence as an online poker destination.

Role: Founder of Matthias Allwater

All my life I’ve loved to fish. Freshwater fishing, saltwater fishing, ponds - it didn’t matter, as long as I was on the water. As a tribute to the family legacy that introduced me to fishing (Matthias - my mom’s side of the family), I launched Matthias Allwater in August of 2020.

Matthias Allwater is a lifestyle-based fishing apparel company that offers hats, shirts and performance gear to anglers from coast to coast. With any luck, we’ll introduce some additional products in the years to come.

The logo and designs were created by my friend and very talented designer, Christopher Berry. I built the site, am responsible for 99% of the photography, handle all web/social copy + strategy and, of course, am the one who fulfills all orders and gift packs from my glamorous spare room….err…I mean corporate office.

While just a side project, Matthias Allwater has been an excellent way to apply 20+ years of marketing/advertising experience to an industry and sport that I’m passionate about. It also proves that I can do much more than just sell subcompact cars.

While I’ve spent the majority of my career in brand management, there have been a few instances when I’ve been called upon to write.

In 2018, I had the fortune of being a dedicated freelance copywriter at David&Goliath, where I wrote for Kia. This resulted in a handful of print ads, some fun Kia/NBA radio, social work and about three hundred dead Tier 2 scripts.

If you think this writing is solid, you should see my conference reports.