Over his career, Pat’s work has appeared in the Communication Arts Advertising Annual, been the recipient of Clios, Pioneers, Halos and ADDYs. Yet, the accomplishment he is most proud is his very first ad campaign, penned long before ever stepping foot into an actual ad agency. It was for Seattle's little known (at the time) minor league hockey team, the Seattle Thunderbirds.

 

Having just graduated from Washington State University and knowing how tough it can be to land a writer’s position just starting out, Patrick and a fistfull of friends formed their own pro-bono agency, with each filling key agency positions: media, account executive, art director,and Patrick as the group's CD and writer.  

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The Thunderbird work was named "One of The Decade's 5 most effective ad campaigns" by Media Inc, while the Puget Sound Business Journal awarded its tagline, "The Slogan of The Decade."

 

While brainstorming potential clients during a hard-hitting yet sparsely attended match between Kamloops and the Thunderbirds, the group agreed  it was a shame more people didn’t know about Seattle's underappreciated, overachieving hockey team. The group decided then and there that the team would become the focus of its “pro bono” activities — and Ad Hoc was born.

 

To introduce themselves to the Thnderbirds, Patrick masterminded a mailer that read, “Wouldn’t Hockey be a better sport if you didn't have to make all those painful checks?” Upon opening the piece, the Thunderbirds' marketing director is presented with a check written for $120,000, along with the payoff: “This is one check you won’t have to make.” The copy went on to describe Ad Hoc's intention of creating a pro-bono campaign for the team.

 

 

The ploy worked. The Thunderbirds provided Ad Hoc its entire $70,000 marketing budget to work with, and the team's gamble paid off as well. By the time the season opener came around, Pat had written one of the year’s most memorable radio spots, had been honored by the Puget Sound Business Journal as having penned “The Slogan of The Decade,” and was credited with crafting “One of the decades top-five most-effective ad campaigns,” by Media Inc. 

 

Ad Hoc’s campaign for the Thunderbirds was so successful, the team moved its home-opener from the puny Seattle Center Arena to the much larger 15,777-seat Seattle Center Coliseum, which quickly sold every seat in the house — leading to the largest audience ever to attend a Western Hockey League game, a sold out season, and record season ticket sales.

 

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The phenomenal success of Ad Hoc’s campaign and its team of fledgling ad execs lead the Puget Sound Business Journal to write a front page feature story on the group, you can read here.

 

Another of Pat's personal milestones — this one, unrelated to advertising — was having his glass artistry presented to the Dalai Lama as an official gift of the United States Institute of Peace.