Shannon O'Malley

Gay Men Draw Vaginas

Myself and artist Keith Wilson earned $62,000 on Kickstarter to produce the first hardback edition. And we’ve produced two other versions since then. Get the new paperback and coloring book today!

Vagina Collection Booths

We got drawings from fine artists and your average Joe Homo. Many drawings came from outdoor art booth sessions held in San Francisco, some of them were mailed to us out of nowhere, and some of them we asked for.

I wrote our Kickstarter campaign video and promoted it through Facebook, Twitter, InstaVag, email and journalist outreach.

Aruba Networks

Aruba, a challenger in the enterprise networking space, asked for a bold awareness campaign that would turn IT brass heads and position Aruba as the leader in supporting the Internet-of-Things. Our solution: empathize with IT managers’ feeling that they’re constantly catering to convenience-pampered users.

Interactive signage at Aruba headquarters. A lobby touchscreen introduces the campaign to Aruba employees, clients and visitors.

Adobe Creative Cloud

Adobe needed to roll out Creative Cloud to its designer audience—folks resistant to the new digital subscription model. Our campaign focused on the new tools designers could use to work on what really matters to them: the details.

Front of 18x24 poster mailed to designers

Poster back: a numerical legend to the front.

Poster copy

Fancy email

Another fancy email

Kalamuna, a Web Agency

Kalamuna is a web development startup that makes sites for schools and non-profits. They didn’t have a brand, so I wrote the manifesto and creative executions below to establish the company as an outlier in its space, win RFPs, and inspire countless creative pieces for over 3 years.

A Kalamuna.com job application page

It's like a mad-lib. Neat!

I wrote the agency brand guide.

I tried to make staff blog posts funny.

We launched a development product called "Kalabox" via Kickstarter that earned $30,000 on a $23,000 ask. I led the strategy, creative + PR.

Web developers like snark.

SF SPCA Veterinary Hospital

Would you disguise yourself to get the best medical care? The San Francisco SPCA runs a state-of-the-art pet hospital that's one of the best in the nation. When talking to people who had taken their pets to the hospital, we kept hearing the same phrase: "I wish my hospital was that nice." We let that thought drive our campaign.

Ventura Dog Food

Most dog foods focus on features: nutrients, proprietary formulas, etc., so our strategy team found an opportunity: what if a new brand focused not on the ingredients, but on the experiences dogs crave? What if our new brand was all about “feeding life?” Our product would incorporate the scents, tastes and textures of things dogs love. We developed a complete go-to-market strategy including packaging, POS, site, app and advertising.

Apocalypse Cakes: Recipes for the End

Published by Running Press, it’s my blog-gone-cookbook in homage to apocalyptic eventualities.

Black Deforestation Cake 1200w 180dpi copy.png

Before Apocalypse Cakes was a book, It was a set of 12 recipe cards sold at arty places.

But first it was a blog.

Before my book's launch, Christian radio evangelist Harold Camping predicted the world would end May 21, 2011. I told Apocalypse Cakes Facebook followers that if they posted their city name on May 20, I would respond live with a prediction on how that city would meet its demise the next day. I spent the whole day online. Results: 34% follower participation and 23% new followers in 24 hours.

The Drupal 6 Jazz Funeral

How do you get everyone at a tech conference to want to work for your web agency? Throw a funeral party for an outdated technology.

Everyone at the New Orleans event was anticipating the release of their newest technology, Drupal 8, so our agency, Kalamuna, stole the show with a massive second line funeral march for it's predecessor, Drupal 6. Our band marched the throng to a bar for the memorial, where we plied potential hires with Sazeracs.

Developers wail in the streets of New Orleans for their dead content management framework.

But first, you have to get everyone out of the boring conference hall with a band.

Since you came all this way, you might as well read the blog post about this project.

The Hill Country Ride for AIDS

Long known as an important cause, the Hill Country Ride for AIDS wanted to give cyclists a new reason to join: fun. And we found it in spandex. Our “Spandex Saves” campaign launched a new microsite for signups and fundraiser photo sharing, the “Elastic Fantastics” street team, wearables, a PR campaign, and more.

Austin Chamber of Commerce

California businesses were afraid to move to Texas, and the Austin Chamber of Commerce knew it. So, we sent biz decision makers sets of cards that fought preconceptions about living in Texas. (And offered them free trips to visit.)

The front of each card in a deck sent to California business owners posed a question about a Texas stereotype, the back countered it with facts about Austin.

Derby Day Party Invitation

Every year, The First Tee of Greater Austin, a nonprofit that teaches golf to kids, holds a Kentucky Derby-themed gala for donors. Our job was to delight them into attending.

Card 1 in a pack of 6 sent to Derby Day Party Invitees

Impeach President Bannon

In 2017 far-right media exec Steve Bannon served as President Trump’s chief strategist and member of the US National Security Council, and it seemed apparent that he was calling the president’s shots.

Inspired by Trump’s egotism, this public art campaign came together in two weeks—from concept, to GoFundMe page, to design, to media buy—and launched on President’s Day 2017.

We had 154 poster locations across New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles and San Francisco. It was written up by Yahoo News, The Hill and a few other outlets, which, along with the wild posting coverage, gave us nearly 1,000,000 impressions.

I played the role of crowdfunding advisor and social media strategist; Allison Khoury instigated and produced the campaign; Jay Lorenzini designed the posters.

The result? Bannon was fired in August 2017. Our optimistic friends think the campaign helped rise the tide against Bannon. I’m just glad he’s out of the White House.