Kyle Qualls
Professional Copywriter
Hello! Oh wow, someone is actually looking at my portfolio. Please pardon the mess. I wasn’t expecting company. My name is Kyle Qualls and I’m a copywriter (and clearly not a UI designer) working at creative agencies, rebranding and renaming companies, developing taglines and style guides, writing campaigns for TV, radio, social, and out-of-home, and whatever else they ask me to do.
I believe the difference between good creative and just any old commercial is a desire to artistically enrich the world. Strategy always comes first–finding the right message with the right delivery–but I also endeavor to make every campaign enjoyable and memorable for the right reasons.
If you have something that needs to be written, I dare say you should let me write it. Click the button to download my resume. It contains juicy secrets such as where I went to college. Reach me with the contact info listed below. Or keep scrolling to see some of my favorite work.
Ritter Go-Getter
Ritter Communications
Ritter Communications, a regional telecommunications company, wanted a campaign to improve their foothold in their existing markets and get their customers to upgrade their services.
Rather than focus on the practical aspects of an internet service, this campaign shows the possibilities. Dr. Seuss style rhymes and whimsical animation over live-action footage accompany depictions of customers using Ritter internet to do more of what they love. With the ability to do more at greater speeds, anyone can be a “Ritter Go-Getter.”
With this campaign, Ritter saw a 63% increase in customer upgrades and a nearly 40% conversion rate for digital advertising. It also gave them a strong, ownable voice that stands out in the telecommunications industry.
Keep Your Vax Striaight
Mississippi State Department of Health
The Mississippi State Department of Health wanted to run a campaign to promote vaccinations for the upcoming school year. They wanted to dispel the misinformation surrounding vaccines without being heavy-handed and pushing people away.
“Keep Your Vax Straight” shows how ridiculous conspiracy theories about vaccines are by taking them to the extreme. Each spot shows a series of absurd statements with accompanying animations that are refuted by the nonplussed narrator that makes the lies disappear.
I like how this campaign adapts to static formats with the lies crossed out and the color of the text signifying what is true, but not as much as I liked coming up with a bunch of silly characters that the designer had to draw.
Period Piece
Mississippi State Department of Health
Wasn’t life just grand before the invention of antibiotics? No. By all accounts, life was pretty rough back then.
When the Mississippi State Department of Health wanted a campaign to raise awareness about how misusing antibiotics renders them less effective, my strategy was to remind people of just how bad a life without antibiotics can be.
The ads depict life in the 18th and 19th centuries, at first resembling TV historical dramas, but the drama is immediately undercut by the reality of living in a world without antibiotics.
Worth a Listen
The Mayor’s Youth Council in the city of Ridgeland, Mississippi was putting together a student-led mental health advocacy group and needed a name for it. I developed name options based on distinct, possible core messages.
The name “Worth a Lesson” speaks to a large subsection of those struggling with their mental health, those who are apprehensive about sharing their thoughts for fear of judgement, and lets them know that they are valued.
Paladin Emergency Services Consulting
Darsey Emergency Services Consulting wanted a name that was recognizable and would represent values of the company and the nature of its services. Founded by an experienced EMS professional who was now consulting first responders on best practices and providing them with equipment, they needed something that epitomized the heroic and noble nature of their work. The name “Paladin” speaks to a sense of duty, preparedness, and a desire to do the right thing. I’d certainly trust a paladin with my safety.
Teen Vaping Prevention
Mississippi State Department of Health
Remember earlier in this page when I said that I endeavor to make every campaign enjoyable? Not this one. This one’s a huge bummer.
The Mississippi State Department of Health wanted a campaign targeted at teens who haven’t vaped, in order to keep them from trying. The campaign depicts teens who do vape, but when they talk about it, they say what they really mean. The truth can be uncomfortable.
It starts with an upbeat “and you’re watching the Disney Channel” vibe as the teens describe in medically accurate terms what they’re ingesting. The color fades and the set starts to fall apart as they move onto the physical and psychological ailments they’ll potentially develop as a result of vaping. Like I said, a huge bummer. But I bet you don’t feel like vaping right now.
Eat Like a Genius
Mad Genius
At Mad Genius Creative Agency, we like to do a great big internal project every year for Christmas. One year, we made “Eat Like a Genius,” a cookbook full of favorite recipes provided by the staff. You know when you look up a recipe online and there’s a wall of text because the writer has to tell you their life story and why this recipe has lots of sentimental value to them, and you just scroll past it because all you wanted to know was what temperature you bake chicken parm at? Well I got to write one of those stories for every recipe in the book, and they’re all 100% factually correct.
Throw in some Mad Genius style graphics and full page custom food photography and we had a cookbook good enough to print out and send to clients as a Christmas present. Here are a couple of my favorite excerpts.
“While industrialization led to many creature comforts, they did little to alleviate the pain felt by those who worked 60 hours per week in the mines, only to come home every night to a polluted and overpopulated slum.
This pain felt by the working class was only exacerbated when the nobility of the day would flaunt their exorbitant cakes. They would sometimes be four–even five–layers, as tall as a small child, and topped with buttercream icing and the most exorbitant of exotic fruits. They had red velvet, German chocolate, and even pineapple upside-down. And the working class, unable to afford cake of any kind, grew angry, resulting in riots across London.”
–Recipe for “Pancakes,” continued on page 36
“I remember one day that started out like any other. I hwas sitting on the wraparound porch at my family’s estate, wearin’ mah most luxurious day gown and accompanyin’ bonnet (as hwas the custom), fanning myself with both hands, and sitting under a decorative umbrella even though the porch was already shaded.Then I look up and wouldn’t you believe it, none other than Beauregard Chesterfield VI was mozying up the dirt trail that led to my estate. You see, Beauregard was the most eligible bachelor at call as the heir to the largest crawfish farm in Natchez. His interest in me was largely political, hhhhwhat with my family owning the second-largest crawfish farm in Natchez.”
–Recipe for “Chocolate Mad Muffins,” continued on page 57
Gigsmitten
Ritter Communications
“Gigsmitten” is the campaign that dares to ask “What if people loved their internet so much that they were… in love with it?” Now, I did not come up with the idea for this campaign, nor write it, but I am the “actor” in this particular spot. Why include this in the portfolio? If nothing else, I feel like it shows that I’m kind of a silly goose and very much willing to take one for the team.
This campaign was a roaring success in terms of generating leads and improving conversion rates across all channels, but I’m also told that of the six 15-second spots we shot, this one performed the worst and they stopped running it after a year. Hearing this did not hurt my feelings at all.