In April 1999, for client Magnetic Poetry and sponsor Volkswagen of America, Todd conceived and activated a month-long, 11,000-mile, 37-city tour celebrating National Poetry Month. Three poetry-covered Beetles visited schools, libraries, and children’s museums on three simultaneous routes covering both U.S. coasts and the Mississippi corridor.
Todd insisted the campaign give away $1M in books along the way, in association with a White House literacy project.
Driven by literary game-playing comedian EMT's (Emergency Metaphor Technicians) in lab coats and stethoscopes, who screened children for "poetry in their hearts," the tour reached tens of thousands of children, resulted in $2.5M in publicity, and was named a "Top 100 Marketer" in Ad Age that year.
Having never done anything like it before, I'm sure I had no business pitching this project, much less running it. But somehow, Arnold (VW's agency of record) showed interest after an initial cold-call, and before I knew it we were sending comedians to pick up cars! I'm grateful to my PR agency employers Josh and Ricka Kohnstamm and client president Dave Kapell for taking a crazy chance on this concept! This project made me realize I have what it takes to produce large-scale public events, which set me up for dual future careers in film and public art.
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