Michael Allen Nesmith

Introduction

Crowd-Powered Campaigns

From orange cubes on snowy slopes to balloon-bombed city squares to a smack-talk charity challenge, these activations turn passers-by into protagonists and feeds into echo chambers. I stage real-world stunts that beg for a hashtag, then wire them to social so the ripple outpaces the spend.

1stBank orange cube is hung on a snowy pine tree like an ornament. In the background is a snowy forest.

Challenge No. 1

Capture The Cube

An annual interactive, multimedia promotion for FirstBank in the form of a treasure hunt. 100 orange cubes were hidden at Copper Mountain for skiers and snowboarders to discover and redeem for a free pair of skis or a snowboard.

A "Where's Waldo?" style illustration showing a ski resort packed with various of cars, people, and buildings.

A pair of snowboards on bright orange background.

The Solution

I amped the hunt’s allure with prizes too cool to leave buried

I designed limited-edition skis and snowboards in partnership with NeverSummer and Icelantic Skis. Each deck featured my “exploded Matryoshka” artwork—layered silhouettes of Copper Mountain’s top predators—from mountain cougar to owl. The one-of-a-kind boards turned the cubes into must-find loot and pushed participation to the summit. Then I worked on an representative map of Copper Mountain ski resort broken down in square grids and uploaded on @CaptureTheCube Instagram account. Users clicked on images to see details, hidden characters, and clues—a snowy nod to "Where’s Waldo?"

A man with white hair stands next to a woman sitting on suitcases and holding an umbrella in middle of a grass field. In the background, a hot air balloon is rising with bunch of people holding suitcases in the basket.

Challenge No. 2

Small Budget, Big Happy

Pink Martini's new album 'Get Happy' needed a launch as upbeat as its title—but with almost no ad spend. The task: spark maximum buzz and reach both die-hard fans and curious newcomers using low-cost, high-flair tactics that could travel far on word of mouth alone.

A Pink Martini live concert with crowd of concert-goers in foreground.

The Solution

We turned downtown Portland into a pop-up party

Vacant storefronts became poster walls, 5,000 balloons flooded the streets, and a surprise Pink Martini concert filled the square—no tickets, just show up and sway. The buzz ballooned east: a subway-car performance and another 5,000 balloons in Central Park set New York humming. Word-of-mouth did the media’s job, and 'Get Happy' danced its way onto the Billboard Top 100.

A giant outdoor billboard says "Curing cancer is more important than selling shoes." —Phil Knight

Challenge No. 3

Take Phil's Money

Dr. Druker and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) proposed a 10-year capital campaign with a goal of $500,000,000 towards cancer research, and Phil Knight (CEO of Nike and a long-time philanthropist for OHSU) announced that if they could pull it off in 2 years, he would match it. We told Phil Knight that he was a son of a bitch and that was the campaign.

A newspaper spread is saying "To whom it may concern at Oregon Health and Science University, If you can raise $500 million dollars for cancer research by December 31, 2015. I will match it. If you raise a penny less. I will not give a penny. JUST DO IT. —Phil Knight

A letter targeting doctors with a question "Do you want to write grants or cure cancer?"

A dark computer screen with black keyboard and mouse on a gray background. The screen says "$000,000,000 is not $500,000,000" with a countdown timer.

The Solution

We flipped philanthropy into a Nike mentality

Brand the entire capital drive “Take Phil’s Money,” plaster the line across social, print, and a Nike-swooshed microsite, and dare anyone to empty Knight’s pockets before the clock hit two years. The provocation lit up alumni, runners, and sneakerheads alike, turning donations into scoreboard points and pushing the $500 million goal over the line—forcing Phil to pony up the matching half-billion. All for finding a cure to cancer.

Final Thoughts on Experiential & Social Impact

Big ideas don’t need fat wallets. If you give people something playful to chase, a story worth retelling, and an easy way to blast it online, the crowd does the heavy lifting. Orange cubes, runaway balloons, and a cheeky challenge to bleed Phil Knight’s bank account all prove the same thing: when everyone can jump in, everyone helps spread the word.