Overview: Holiday campaigns are everywhere. Most are designed to be seen. Very few are designed to make people act.

When I stepped into Chewy Claus, the program already existed—but it wasn’t yet operating at its full potential. It lived primarily as a site experience, supported by static content.

Opportunity: The opportunity wasn’t to make more content. It was to make people care enough to participate. 

I believe the most effective brand storytelling doesn’t just reach people—it moves them to act. And if you want participation at scale, emotion isn’t optional. It’s the system. Goal:

  • Increase wish submissions (core KPI)

  • Drive donations at scale

  • Build a repeatable holiday platform

What I Built: Instead of treating Chewy Claus as a campaign, I rebuilt it as a storytelling engine—designed to turn real pet wishes into emotionally resonant content that could scale across platforms—a system designed to convert feeling into action.

My Role:

  • Identified the core opportunity: emotion → participation

  • Reframed the program from content → system

  • Built a modular framework for scale and repeatability

  • Instrumental in defining story arcs, the franchise’s visual language, and establishing cinematic pacing for long-form viewing retention

  • Led creative direction across storytelling, production, and post

  • Guided teams to deliver emotionally consistent, high-performing work

Execution: Every piece of content had one job: Make the impact of a single wish inspire others to submit their own wish → every wish → 5 meals donated.

Video-First Storytelling System

  • Flagship documentary films centered on real wish fulfillment stories

  • Modular content framework: < :60 / :30 / :15 / :06 cuts across formats

  • Multi-aspect, platform-native execution

Scalable Campaign Engine

  • 3-month teaser + drip ecosystem (Oct–Dec)

  • Paid + organic distribution strategy

  • One production → dozens of performance assets

Impact:

  • Drove millions of pet wish submissions annually

  • Powered up to 16M meals donated per season (5 meals per wish)

  • Generated millions of video views annually (2024–2025)

  • Accelerated production and approvals using AI-driven pre-visualization workflow

  • Established Chewy Claus as a repeatable, ownable holiday platform

Chewy Claus

Turned holiday storytelling into a scalable engine for participation and millions of actions.

Role: Creative Director, Video

Platforms: OTT, YouTube, Meta, TikTok

Years: 2024-25

Credits:

  • Art Director (Brand): Andres Toledo

  • Copywriter (Brand): Chris Kessler

  • Directors: Dylan Coleman, Max Grunner

  • Art Directors (Studio): Ashleigh Nord, Carolyn Pilz

  • DPs: Santiago Guiastrennec, Jonathan Mervine

  • Editors: Kezi Sayre, Juan Asuaje

  • Graphics: Andres Ochoa, Pagiel Israel 

  • Audio: Jonathan Palomino, Antonio Piñeros

  • Color: Chelsea Rubi

  • Producer: Eddy Casamayor

  • Post Producer: Sara Scala

  • Studio PM: Shakira Parks

Flagship Brand Films (Hero Layer)

  • Centered on real wish fulfillment stories

  • Focused on authentic emotion, human–pet connection, and payoff moments

  • Elevated Chewy Claus from a program → storytelling platform

Always-On Holiday Campaign (Distribution Layer)

  • Launched 3-month teaser + drip campaigns (Oct–Dec)

  • Combined:

    • Paid social (performance + reach)

    • Organic storytelling (engagement)

  • Optimized for early awareness→ emotional engagement → conversion (wish submission)

  • Result: one production → dozens of assets

Today Show - Chewy Helps Pet Duck’s Christmas Wish Come True

Scalable Campaign System (Engine Layer)

  • Built a templated, repeatable content framework

  • Transformed long-form films into:

    • < :60 hero cuts

    • :30 performance edits

    • :15 / :06 high-frequency units

  • Delivered in multiple aspect ratios for platform-native performance

Next

THE TAKEDOWN