Andrew Richmond has gone from crafting ads to being the star of one.
The former One Method design director, who left the industry in 2013 to help run the agency’s spinoff restaurant business, is featured as the main subject in a new ad from Axe.
The ad, part of Axe’s “Selfmaker” video series, documents Richmond’s decision to leave advertising behind and enter the food business, as well as his life as CEO of Monarchs and Misfits, the company behind the restaurant brands La Carnita, Sweet Jesus and Home of the Brave.
Conceived by Sid Lee and produced in collaboration with Blue Ant Media, the selfmaker series tells the stories of entrepreneurs and creative types such as photographers who have forged careers outside the typical nine-to-five world.
Jessica Grigoriou, marketing director for haircare and deodorant at Unilever Canada, said the brand was looking for “self-made men who took a risk” and Richmond fit the bill.
“We love his story. We know food is a passion point for millennial males and we wanted to showcase a self-maker in that vertical,” Grigoriou said. “We thought Andrew was the perfect fit. Not only are his restaurants very popular within our target group, but his story really aligns with who a ‘selfmaker’ is.”
“He took a huge risk leaving a stable career in advertising, but he did it to pursue his passion.”
Richmond is one of four ‘selfmakers’ selected for this year’s campaign. According to Sid Lee managing partner Eve Rémillard-Larose, Richmond’s name emerged after each of the agencies working on the campaign brainstromed men who fit the criteria. (Edelman and Mindshare also worked on the campaign.)
The ‘Selfmaker’ campaign follows up on three similar videos from 2015. Building on that campaign’s success, Axe partnered with Ten Thousand Coffees to create an online hub where consumers who aspire to careers featured in the ads can speak to this year’s selfmakers.
The campaign is currently running as YouTube pre-roll and via paid media on Facebook and Instagram. Mindshare handled the media buy.
