SAM CRAWFORD / CREATIVE
DIRECTOR / FILMMAKER
Born on the bayous of Coastal Louisiana, I grew up an art and culture-obsessed kid who constantly looked at the expansive horizon and wondered what the hell was beyond the marsh and grass. I read art magazines when I could find them and dreamed of the world that awaited me. As a teenager, on a trip to Houston, I came across the Rothko Chapel, something of a legend I had only heard about in passing. It was there in that chapel; as my eyes adjusted to the light and I saw the paintings slowly revealing themselves, unfolding new stories and meanings, I discovered that I was entirely in love with art—the radical, the crazy, the weird, the challenging.
I studied Studio Art at UT Austin and got my MFA in Photography from UMASS Amherst. After being included in group exhibitions in New York, I was awarded an artist-in-residence fellowship in the CORE Program in Houston. But while there, all I wanted to do was write scripts and shoot videos; which confused the hell out of everyone. Needing money, I got hired to work on feature films as an assistant production designer. This was my start in the film production world. That quickly led me to event production, shooting films for events, and editing; editing led to producing, which led to writing, directing TV commercials, creative directing, producing, more editing, shooting (cinematography), and eventually building brands and leading teams on collective creative journeys.
I still do all these things as a multi-hyphenate Creative Director. But at my core, I am still an artist at heart. I love culture, music, visuals, concepts, photography, film, and all challenges. I willingly put both feet right into the fire every day as I thrive best under challenge. I can't imagine a life that doesn't involve the sweet tickle of flames on my toes.
On this journey I have won some choice awards… Including The Cannes Lions, The Clios, and The One Show.
FROM 2020-2024 I WAS CONTRACTED TO CREATIVE DIRECT The luXURY MEZCAL BRAND, DEL MAGUEY.
MY CHAllenge, TO TAKE ON the 25-YEAR OLD BRAND THAT created the ARTISINAL MEZcal category, but NEVER HAD any CREATIVE DIRECTION, MARKETING, OR ADVERTISING.
I HAD TO TAKE a deep DIVE into an entirely new culture… Which IS exactly what I love to do!
First came loads of research, interviews with employees and the founders, and evaluating the brand portfolio and what littel material existed. Then I worked with the founders to develop the brand story.
I STARTED CreatING A TON OF new material… On a shoestring budget.
Travelling to remote Oaxacan villages, I set up a series of “run and gun” photo shoots with the actual villagers who distill Mezcal in their primitive “Palenques.” With our guerilla team of four, we trekked all over rural Oaxaca to capture our entirely new brand-defining images.
Some were shot by me, some by my photographers. If I wasn’t shooting, I was holding a flash, piling dry leaves on a fire to create smoke, schlepping gear, or chasing down our amazing subjects.
PRODUCT LABEL REDESIGN PROJECT
Inconsistencies in original design between the company’s 20 unique products, including different logos, colors, patterns, sizes, shapes, and typography, resulted in a lack of communication on the shelf. Customers were confused and we needed a complete overhaul to solve the problem.
At the core we needed to communicate the premium nature of the brand, project an approachability to entry-level Mezcals, group Mezcals by agave type, portray value for higher-priced Expressions, and convey exclusivity for the highest value, rarest of Mezcals.
It was a process that took six months to complete.
ONCE THE LABELS WERE REDESINGED, IT WAS TIME TO shoot PRODUCT content!
With my 4-man “guerilla photography team” we loaded into a 4x4 toyota truck and put some serious miles into the Oaxacan back country. Our mission to shoot artiful images of Del Maguey’s 20 Unique expressions crafted by Maestros in 9 separate villages throughout the mountains and valleys of Oaxaca.
Donkey parties on the road, washed out routes from monsoonal Oaxacan rains… we had some creative detours, and no contact with the outside world. Rolling with the punches with the skill and talent to improvise, all 20 products were lit and photographed with hundreds of beautiful shots executed under the rougest possible conditions - We even slept in open-air thatch-roofed palenques under starlight on hand-made cots, complete with the occasional scorpion. Everyone got their hands dirty and the images really define the brand.
MOTION….
We created films and animations for the brand aimed at our “Artistic Soul.”
PAID SOCIAL ANIMAtion CAMPAIGN
I partnered with our outside agency and an animation company to create fifteen second social media animations that conveyed our style and identity, while creating mystery around the brand.
THE ORGANIC SOCIAL REVAMP!
Typically Creative Directors don’t handle social media entirely by themselves… But from Feb of 2022 to July of 2023, that’s exactly what I was charged to do.
NOTE: Instagram @delmagueymezcal posts between March 1st 2022 and June 30th 2023 are mine.. Any others may use my material but were not created by me or under my guidance.
GRAPHICS, OUT-OF-HOME, AND SEARCH ADS
DeL MAGUEY
GRAPHIC STYLE
Our style centered on a concept I called “The Yin-Yang”; Beauty meets danger, comfort meets ruggedness, masculine meets feminine. This approach led to the “A+B=C” directive of using disparate images and juxtaposition them in ways that leads to new meaning.
Our strategy of paid social ads, search, out-of-home digital, and wild postings, reached a new audience for the brand and grew the presence in the market while maintaining the providence associated with Del Maguey.
The message was mystery, adventure, and the unique flavors of ultra-premium mezcal.
OUT-OF-HOME / WILD POSTINGS
We took our mysterious Del Maguey imagery and placed it in wild postings all over Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Los Angeles to introduce the brand in a hyper-targeted way. The project was a huge success with Del Maguey fans, new and old, sharing their surprise findings from their neighborhoods on social media.
Banners & SEARCH
Our message was integrated to highly refined search and banner ads as animated gifs.
CODIFIED INTO BRAND LAW!
Del Maguey had never had a set of brand guidelines. I spearheaded the development of the brand’s North Star to unify the brand's style and messaging, set all design, photography, type, activation, and communication guardrails, and define our social identity and tactics.
THE Success showed
During my time as Creative Director at Del Maguey the business grew at a average of 30% per year. Outperforming expectations and leading the category every single year. We introduced new products and doubled our advertising budget. At the time of aquisition and hand-off, the company was sitting in an amazing place creatively, with hundreds of new assest, a brand voice unlike any other, and the structure in place for the creative to continue to excel and propel the brand forward.
concept to completion.
I thrive on taking projects from concept to completion.
I was contracted to ideate, pitch, write, direct, and produce a campaign for a brand new ultra-luxury, multi-million dollar 100,000 sq foot sports training facility in Los Angeles.
From the intital meetigs, tour of their raw space, and even a trip to Maryland to participate in training the client wanted my to go through for “team building”, I was ideated three concepts, created an audio/visual presentations from my inspiration, and pitched a big idea project.
The client loved it… They actually cheered. Two films were green-lit that we shot over several fast-paced days at athletic facilities and locations all over Los Angeles.
Not only did I write, pitch and develop the project, but I Exec Produced via my own production company, directed, and edited the films. In order to complete our ambitious project, ever moment had to be thoroughly storeboarded and planed down to the minute. The cast was nearly 100 strong and the crew nearly as large.
THE FILMS WE SHOT
LEGENDS
RISE
Over a decade I partnered with a B2B agency to develop experiential, documentary, integreted, and film projects for mulit-billion dollar North American paper company, Domtar. I came in during diffenent stages of developement, often pitching projects with the agnecy to to client, but always producing, directing, and devloping the projects from script-to-screen. Below are few examples.
what we did
Handwriting and it’s loss in the current generation was the focus of this project. It’s been proven that handwriting increases cognitive activity in the brain. It enhances connection, helps in learning, and activates the mind. We utilized a groundbreaking digital ink pen that tracked all metrics related to hadwriting: speed of writing, shapes, attitude of the pen, pressure, hesitation, etc. With my software partner, I developed an app that recorded the handwriting of children on practice papers in real-time, uploading the information into the cloud so that teachers could review the handwriting in class. The app could indicate to the teacher any warning signs of disability signified by handwriting and help the teacher to assist more children faster. We tested the app in a real classroom at an Elementary School in Los angeles.
For this project we were awarded a Cannes Silver lion
