christian sternal

creative director | copywriter

Wildfire is a jerk. It can turn a neighborhood into ashes in minutes, but unless there’s one raging nearby, most people don’t ever think about what they can do to be prepared for it—until it’s too late. The Firewise Communities program (now Firewise USA) was started to get people to think about wildfire preparedness before they have to—and way, way before it’s too late.

Wildfire is a jerk. It can turn a neighborhood into ashes in minutes, but unless there’s one raging nearby, most people don’t ever think about what they can do to be prepared for it—until it’s too late. The Firewise Communities program (now Firewise USA) was started to get people to think about wildfire preparedness before they have to—and way, way before it’s too late.

'Assault"

It’s hard to get people to think about and prepare for things like wildfires, earthquakes and tornados. Because they’re inconceivable, intangible—and they mostly happen to other people. That’s why we decided to personify wildfire. Turn it into something physical and sinister. Something nobody wants anywhere near them, their family or their home.

“What do you have to lose, except everything?”

Behind the Scenes with The Fire Demons

This was one of those weird days on set when you just have to remind yourself to trust the process. Sit back and be confident that all the post-production CGI magic should transform our talent in masks, foam and chroma key-able red nylon suits into super nasty smoldering hell beasts. BTW, we chose red for the CGI key color because there was so much natural green and blue on location. 

Guinness World Records “Most flexible man alive,” Daniel Browning Smith, aka “The Rubberboy,” played one of the fire demons in this spot. We knew he was a contortionist, but we had no idea who he was until mentioned it on set.

Wildfire Radio

Unlike any other kind of campaign messaging, radio has the power to be pure theater of the mind if we let it. It can transport your audience to any time or place instantly. All we have to do is provide a narrative and build some atmosphere—reward consumers for listening—instead of just barking at them. Like I did here.

Succulent Print

With an almost non-existent print budget and no ad specs or media scheduled yet, we focused on just one simple thing you can do to help protect your home. 

Flash Banner Flash-back

Hey, remember when people were amused by interactive Flash banner ads? No? Well…they were. They actually wanted to click on and play them. Yeah, on purpose. Ads like this one. A jiggling match teased viewers to “pick it up” with your mouse cursor and strike it to see what happens. 

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