The Work That Made Me: Matt McDermott
Matt McDermott is a creative strategist and loving sceptic who’s worked in advertising and marketing for more than two decades. He’s built and led multi-disciplinary teams at numerous small agencies, creating award-winning work that earns attention. In 2021, he bought The Harvey Agency, an advertising firm founded in 1986 that was known for its work with CoverGirl, DeWalt, Flying Dog Brewery, and other regional and national CPG Brands. In 2023, he reorganised the agency, culminating in its rebrand under the new name, Humble & Wallop.
Matt’s worked with brands across industries, including Comcast Universal, Stanley Black & Decker, Johns Hopkins University, National Geographic, the Smithsonian, the US Navy, and the United Way.
LBB> The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me…
Matt> When I was a kid, I watched a lot of TV. Even as far as Gen Xers go. It was the word of God, passed down by reruns of Mr. Ed on Nick @ Night and video-taped Dukes of Hazzard marathons. The commercials were also a part of the experience. I remember a particular one, featuring a local personal injury attorney. Those commercials stuck with me. Production-wise and stylistically, they were on par with the other ambulance chasers’ spots. Flashing emergency lights. Dramatic '80s synth music. Painfully serious guy in a suit.
But it was their tagline that just clicked: “If you have a phone, you have a lawyer.” Quick, simple, accessible. Repeatable. Ad-nauseam-repeatable for an eight-year-old TV-addicted twerp like myself. The frequency with which I assured - hell, practically encouraged - my parents to have accidents because they had a telephone is probably still discussed in child therapist break rooms to this day.
LBB> The ad/music video/game/web platform that made me want to get into the industry…
Matt> The campaign Errol Morris shot for Miller High Life. It was subtly brilliant. Tapped into the nostalgia of mid-century masculinity without making it toxic. It was a Kodachrome-tinted tip of the sweat-stained baseball cap to the people who could back their boat into a driveway.
Or the guy working on his car who doesn’t bother to wash the grease off his hands before eating a powdered doughnut. A love letter to the “chiefs”, “buddies”, and “pals” who enjoyed the simple pleasures - and the beer that made their way of life the High Life. The writing, the production - just brilliant.
LBB> The creative work that I keep revisiting…
Matt> Wes Anderson’s 'Moonrise Kingdom'. The film has Anderson’s arm’s-length quirk and detailed surrealism. But it has more emotional depth than most of his other films. The love these two prepubescent kids have is more complex than that of most adults. The humour is so weirdly satisfying. And the art direction is like a children’s book viewed through the lens of the ‘60s end-of-innocence. Every time I watch it, I find something new to fall in love with.
LBB> My first professional project…
Matt> Writing direct response commercials for Comcast. They were rubbish. But it was exciting to see my rubbish on TV. To think that a paid actor was speaking the words I put in his mouth, that viewers were watching the action I told them to watch. I was drunk on power at 21.
LBB> The piece of work that made me so angry that I vowed to never make anything like *that*…
Matt> Anything that was immediately forgettable. Anything that failed to teach, entertain, or evoke. Anything that left me wishing I had those precious seconds of my life back. Honestly, that was a lot of my early career. And sometimes middle parts, too. You swing the pickaxe in the ad mines as long as you have to if you want to find gold.
LBB> The piece of work that still makes me jealous…
Matt> Arnold created a Super Bowl ad for Volkswagen: “The Big Day.” The montage is brilliant, the art direction moody and urgent, and the music haunting - a lo-fi beat by J Ralph. I’m jealous of the creative team’s ability to give me chills like nothing I’ve come up with could.
It reminds me of my wife - we still send it to each other randomly. It’s an ad that became a love language for us. And when I rewatch through the cold dead eyes of an advertising hump, I’m always impressed by how the product shots of the Jetta they were able to squeeze in never made it feel like a car commercial.
LBB> The creative project that changed my career…
Matt> It happened later in my career than most. I worked on an integrated campaign to change the face of the Baltimore City Police Department - and recruit officers to join a force reeling from recent scandals, low morale, and a consent decree.
It was invigorating because it was a high-stakes project with about a million ways to get it wrong and only a few ways to nail it. It allowed us to talk to the community and police alike to uncover the traits that both groups agreed made a good officer. It was a chance to dig deeper into the relationship between the two more than I could get in a CNN report.
The result was a campaign that recognised the shortcomings of the department. But also challenged everyone to look ahead at what policing could be. In the first year, the department added more officers to the force than it lost - something it hadn’t done in over a decade.
LBB> The work that I’m proudest of…
Matt> Anything where the team working on it - and the client we are creating it for - falls in love with the project, the process, and the results.
LBB> I was involved in this and it makes me cringe…
Matt> Early in my career, I worked on a script for an ad featuring Chuck Norris - for the NRA. The client stripped the script of any concept - and any chance it had to make an impact. The end product was comically embarrassing. Fucking terrible. And it was for the fucking NRA. If you’re going to dance with the devil, it better be filthy good.
LBB> The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…
Matt> We developed a social media campaign for a bread company on the East Coast, introducing consumers to a jet-setting motivational griller. While the concept was cute, I was most excited by our team’s ability to deliver something with scale and substance - from :60 spots to a parody self-help book for would-be-grillers to Instagram cameos featuring our character’s responses to real questions from audiences.
It was bizarre and funny. It generated more engagement and conversation than anything they had done before.
And we did it on a shoestring budget in just weeks. It was exhilarating and exhausting to bring it to life.
