The six spots (two :30s and four :15s) went live on national television and online last week along with this Instagram post, which provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse into Willingham’s creative process. View the commercials HERE.
“The spots are meant to show that when you put delicious food inside your body, you feel healthy, happy and whole,” says Willingham, who was a nominee in the Visual and Special Effects category at the 2021 YouTube Streamy Awards.
“Our philosophy was: let’s make ads people want to see, not have to see. Whole Foods Market was an amazing partner throughout the process and I really respect their decision to greenlight a campaign that is different from anything else on TV,” he says.
Will Chau, Global Executive Creative Director for Whole Foods Market, discovered Willingham on LinkedIn.
He recalls, “I was just scrolling and saw his post about Kobe Bryant. I couldn’t stop looking at it, and must have replayed it 20 times. It was completely different from anything else I’d ever seen.”
Rudy’s artistic evolution is quite inspiring too as he started off his career in “traditional advertising but then after a while I decided to cultivate my social media following which grew so much that ironically I went back to doing advertising. Although this time I lucky enough to work on projects that truly excite me with brands that I really love”
“At the beginning of my career I thought advertising was going to be my natural habitat since I am very business oriented but also quite a creative person, obviously. However, after being a part of that world for so long I realized how difficult it could be for a creative like me to fully express their potential.
For each piece of content there are so many layers of approval and brands can be very restrictive and conservative on the kind of campaigns they put out. That’s why I decided to start my Instagram page which helped develop a real understanding of what I wanted to be as an artist. So now I’m at a point where I can easily combine my artistic identity with whatever message a brand wants to convey in order to create something truly unique!”
This week, Willingham continues his collaboration with the national grocer, unveiling new social media content that focuses on Whole Foods Market’s Resolution Renovator, an online hub that helps people rethink rigid New Year’s resolutions in support of the larger ad campaign, “Be Healthy. Be Happy. Be Whole.”
Willingham’s work spans many verticals—art, fashion, beauty, sports, food, and more—and adapts effortlessly across platforms, from social channels, street art and guerrilla marketing to broadcast, print and billboards. As a former advertising copywriter, he’s steeped in strategy and research from a decade in the industry.
As an experienced content creator who has amassed 4.2 million followers on TikTok and over 370,000 on Instagram, he has an empirical understanding of how algorithms work and what makes people engage.
This makes Rudy that rare combination of exciting creator and savvy collaborator—as evidenced by his 2021 campaigns for Volvo Car USA, ESPN, Hasbro, WWE, T-Mobile, Microsoft Gaming and more.
“My main inspiration has always been street art so I’ve always been super interested in transforming the reality around me into something else by combining elements of it with pieces of art. Everything starts from there.
For instance, I look at a fire hydrant and my brain goes ‘hey that thing looks like Homer Simpson’ so I slap a couple of eye balls and turn it into street art. It’s almost child-like if you ask me. Like when you’re little and see a cloud and you go ‘hey that looks like an elephant’”
His content is intentionally lo-fi, his primary tools being paper, scissors, and his imagination. Using Photoshop would be faster, but then he’d lose what makes his work so special: its unexpectedness, charm, and humanity.
Because rather than impress people, Rudy wants to connect with them—whether it’s through his art, his music or even his home (his TikTok clip showing how he turned his pad into a Marvel movie was liked by over 2.6 million people).
Rudy wrapped our conversation with a very powerful piece of advice:
“You need to take a look at what goes viral and analyze why it went viral. You can learn so much from something like that!
There’s always a reason a random piece of content goes viral. Something about that clip or meme resonates with a lot of people and as artists that’s what we are here for after all. We need to make meaningful art that reaches the mind and soul of people.”
