what custom art commissions
when & where Draftfcb, 2011
why & how On behalf of Sprite, we worked with street artists Billi Kidd, Cope 2, David Cooper, Joe Iurato and Chris Stain to create custom artwork celebrating the fusion of Sprite, music, basketball, style and of course LeBron James. Artwork was used in prizing for that year's Sprite Under the Cap promotion.
The man behind Public Work Department and our main point of contact for these commissions, Billi Kid somehow managed to not only curate all 4 other pieces — wrangling all feedback between us and them — but also find time to create this killer piece for us.
I was primarily on the Brown Forman tequila accounts at the time, but the Sprite account at Draftfcb was small and led by a copy ACD, so my creative director, Suzanna, pulled me in to art direct the commissions. I live for working with artists, plus I love street art, so I was thrilled.
I got the opportunity to stop by David Cooper's studio back in 2011 when he was creating this piece, and made a cameo in his blog post (yes, I'm the unnamed "art director") — it's a pretty cool visual walk-through of his process, as well as ours. Also, he is a super nice guy. Just fyi ;)
I found this through Billi's flickr — he found it on ebay, years later and bought it.
sr. art director Anne Baker
creative director Suzanna Bierwirth
art director Jeremy Van Cleef
artists Billi Kidd, David Cooper, Joe Iurato, Cope 2, Chris Stain