JON FREIR CREATIVE DIRECTOR/COPY BRAND CREATION + INNOVATION

Creative Director - Portfolio

McDonald's Big Mac Bacon "It's not a Big Mac"

Feature spot for the Big Mac Bacon campaign that paved the way for an ongoing series of arguments between our two guys that would later draw other characters in. This campaign was eventually adapted by global partners.

McDonald's 'Friends Wanted' - "Ruth"

"World's Collide"

So, what happens when we start to combine storylines? We eventually created a small universe involving different characters from our various product storylines interacting with each other.

HITACHI - 'The Farmer'

Hitachi dedicates a lot of resources to the 'Social Innovation' initiative to help build a more sustainable world and helping those with the same goals.

Lexus RX - "The Rules"

The brief was to show how the Lexus RX redefines luxury.

Lexus RX - The world's most inaccessible drive-thru

A gourmet test track drive-thru at the top of a mountain? Sure, let's do it.

TIFF - 'Snowden'

To promote the movie 'Snowden', we went full deep state and surveilled people, without their knowledge, in Toronto's busiest pedestrian destination.

Creative 9-1-1 Services

Emergency ECD. High impact, written creative strategy.

You brief me once. I disappear. Then I return with sharp, strategic creative solutions — delivered in writing, not more Teams calls.

Pick 1–2 issues like:

Clarifying your brand story or pitch
Developing a tagline or product name
High-level conceptual ideas & thinking
Refocusing and rewriting your homepage or About page

Timeline: 48–72 hours - includes 1 round of revisions

Emergency Copywriting. One focused copywriting deliverable. Fast.

For when you need pro-level messaging yesterday.
You tell me what it is — I build it and send it back clean.

Examples:

Homepage copy (hero to CTA)
Product names or descriptions
3–5 email sequence
Tagline + explainer line
Deck section rewrites

Timeline: 48–72 hours - includes 1 round of revisions

Brand Story in a Box. A complete mini-brand, built from scratch in 3–5 days.

For DTC companies, agencies and creative leads, founders, solo creators, or new ventures who need to go from “idea” to “ready to go” at speed and without excessive costs.

You get:

Brand positioning + core messaging
Brand voice & tone guide
Tagline + one-liner pitch
Homepage wireframe (copy + structure)
Optional: name ideas, elevator pitch, deck copy

Timeline: 3–5 days - includes: 1 round of revisions

Brand Creation + Development

RENARD & CO.

To extend my wife’s Interior Design brand, we opened a store that featured a curated selection of home goods, cafe, and a selection of fine foods. We affectionately call it the ‘BEAUDEGA’. It was a great exercise in applying our marketing & creative backgrounds into a real life retail brand experience which has given us a true appreciation for the marketing needs of a business when you have actual skin in the game.

SPLASH Spiked Sparkling Water.

In partnership with Sleeman/Sapporo, I created a spirit based beverage brand from scratch. It's the very first time the brewer has stepped outside its brewing roots. Creating and building a product from the get-go taught me all I needed to know about the critical aspects of building a brand from a business’ perspective.

Mensch.

Having extensive ties to the Jewish community, through friends and community, and all the unfortunate events of the recent past, I thought I could do something to help. I created a clothing brand named ‘Mensch.’ Often called one myself, I thought it was the perfect way for people to do some good and feel good about doing good. In short, being a mensch. Partial proceeds go to the UJA.

https://renardhomestore.myshopify.com/collections/mensch?_pos=1&_psq=mensch&_ss=e&_v=1.0

Cannabis Beverages

After the successful creation, development and launch of Splash Spiked Sparkling Water, Cossette Communications brought me on board to help develop a comprehensive portfolio of cannabis beverage brands for the newly formed Constellation/Canopy partnership. In total, I created over 100 brands for myriad style of beverages. The one on the right here was my favourite.