They stripped this tool to the bone. There’s nothing left but the tools you need. If you can’t get out of trouble with these tools, you probably don’t deserve to get out anyway.

These ads helped launch the Leatherman Skeletool and Skeletool CX. I carry mine everywhere, and despite how light it is, I can feel it when I’ve somehow forgotten it. Forgetting your Leatherman feels like forgetting to wear your seatbelt. It feels like walking out with your fly down. It feels like going on the jobsite without a helmet.

Target Audience

Alternate GIF backup to the Flash ads we created. I wish we'd made a poster out of this one.

The Leatherman Skeletool represented a giant step forward for the brand. It spoke to a younger audience: more outsidehub.com and less Field & Stream. More GPS and less Jeep. More backpacking and less horsebacking. (Yes, I know “horsebacking” isn’t a word. Who’s the copywriter here?)

The Skeletool also looks completely bad-ass.

Using data from Nielsen @Plan, the team targeted a younger outdoor crowd online. We found they post their photos online, love to talk gear, and tend to be a little more affluent.

We also found a sub-genre of people who love techy looking gear like this, and while they may not be the ones leading the charge up Mt. Baldy, they do aspire to be that guy.

The Creative

The copy had to stay sparse. We knew we just needed to show the tool and the name and we’d have people hooked.

So knowing all that, I Sharpie’d up a few approaches with my designer. The GIF ad here was actually just a back up, albeit a very provocative one. The brand has headed in a different direction (see our re-launch of the Leatherman website).

This GIF represents the tougher side of Leatherman, but it’s not a position they actively court. Their competitor, Gerber, is the Red State, blood-n-guts, Ford F-350 brand. Leatherman wants the smarter, wilier, quieter, more respected outdoorsman.

The SWF ads took a more aspirational approach. One thing that I’m particularly proud of is very subtle: Notice how the clouds are sort of moving in the background? We were struggling with that last screen feeling very static, so I suggested we copy the look of those sweet Gatorade ads with Kevin Garnett — the ones where they fake slow-mo using AfterEffects? — to give it a little bit of motion.

Inspiration: League of Clutch from Gatorade

Who gets paid to write stuff this fun?

When Leatherman celebrated their 25th Anniversary, it marked a big year for the company. They rolled out amazing new products like the Skeletool, and planned several more big steps forward.

That said, they were still working within their old “Tool Tales” branding, which featured monologues by the tools on the front page. Pretty fun stuff.

We worked with our client to make several updates for the 25th Anniversary, including a contest, a historical look back, and some fresh content for the About Us section.

Like a lot of projects that seem to take off, no one initially cared about the timeline. But once a few people at Leatherman saw it, they ended up printing up a huge version that now hangs in their lobby, and they brought a vinyl banner to several tradeshows that year. Our client told us “even Tim likes it!” High praise, indeed.

One of the most rewarding research projects from my tenure at Pop Art

A fun poke at how Oregon's natural beauty kept reaching out and killing people.