I produced “Diet Coke Break” and “Diner” on spec -- and secretly -- over a weekend as part of a New Business pitch to the Client. Coca-Cola liked the scripts and suggested that we do some quick test spots. Instead, the Agency invested $200,000 and Director Steve Horn gave us a weekend at cost. (One of the women in the ad was Horn’s office manager). The account had been in review for months, and no one knew that Lowe had received a late invitation to participate. As a result, we had less than two weeks produce the commercials. We won the business, and I spent the next several months overseeing the production of 7 ads, which became Coca-Cola’s campaign in the 1994 Winter Olympics.

Diet Coke Break was judged “one of the top 10 commercials of the year” by the New York Times.

Diet Coke and a revived Sprite were invigorating and challenging. But Lowe was on a roll, and at the end of my first year at the Agency, Lowe acquired Scali McCabe and Sloves – and with Scali came Mercedes-Benz.