Alaina Africano

Role: Creative Director

“Love” isn’t the first word that comes to mind when it comes to washing dishes. In fact, this chore is arguably one of love’s biggest troublemakers, with “how to load the dishwasher” ranking among the top five reasons couples fight.

The idea was simple: Turn a real five-star dishwasher review from a real consumer into a real love song. And spark even more love you never even realized you could have for a dishwasher.

🏆Cannes Lions 2025🦁
Bronze, Entertainment in Music, Original Composition

🏆Clio’s Music Winners 2024
Silver, Use of Music in Advertising, 61 Seconds to Five Minutes
Bronze, Use of Music in Advertising, Songwriting

🏆LIA 2025
Silver, Music & Sound: Original Music with Lyrics

🏆The One Show 2025
Bronze, Brand-Side/In-House: Branded Content
Merit, Brand-Side/In-House: Craft–Art Direction
Merit, Music & Sound Craft: Song

🏆The ADC Awards 2025
Bronze, Advertising, Branded Content
Merit, Craft in Writing - TV / Film / Video
Merit, Motion / Film Craft - Direction
Merit, Craft in Motion / Film - Use of Music / Song

🏆AMP Awards 2025
Best Original Song

🏆AICP Next 2025
Shortlist in Social

🏆AICP 2025
Shortlist in Original Music

🏆ANA In-House Awards 2025
Best in Show
Category Winner, Branded Content (All Teams)
Category Grand Prize Winner, Rebrand/New Product Launch (All Teams)
Category Grand Prize Winner, Significant Results

Role: Creative Director

Welcome home a new world of espresso.

Forget the stuffy suits. The smooth jazz. The serious. We're dismantling the old world of espresso and creating a new one. A world that is colorful, unfussy, real and fun.

As part of the GTM Global Toolkit, our team was tasked with launching 18 espresso SKUs globally with over 150+ print, social, digital, video and retail assets across the funnel.

Role: Creative Director

There are kitchens, and then there's KitchenAid.

We launched the new campaign for KitchenAid by inviting the world to Make More Than Meals. The work celebrates the iconic brand of small and (newly designed!) major appliances by sparking moments of connection, play and exploration.

Role: Creative Director

We gave our wallflower appliance its main character moment!

Watch the KitchenAid Pure Power Blender steal the spotlight in a social-first pretend cooking competition where (almost) everything must be made in the blender.

We even enlisted the help of our KitchenAid bestie, Jennifer Garner. And the culinary prowess of Nyesha Arrington, Elena Besser and Dan Pelosi.

Forget fancy knife work - this is about what happens when a kitchen's most underrated powerhouse finally gets to show off.

☑️ 36.7M combined views in 2 weeks

Role: Creative Director

We worked with our PR Agency, MSL, to bring this earned-first idea to life—developing a new product, sweepstakes, digital ecosystem, social ecosystem, and a whole lot of chatter.

Welcome to the stage, “Tangerine Twinkle”, a limited edition Stand Mixer with a glittery, metallic flake finish.

We launched with a simple glitter teaser to let fans know that something was coming – then revealed the mixer giveaway on our Instagram channel.

We then created 3 live cooking classes that taught KitchenAid lovers how to make our popstar’s three favorite things: chai sugar cookies, poptarts and confetti sourdough.

With results that speak (or rather, sing) for themselves…

☑️ 2B impressions in 5 days
☑️ hundreds of thousands of sweeps entries
☑️ triple digit increase in social engagement

Role: Creative Director

Lowe’s customers are doers. KitchenAid consumers are makers. So we partnered together in one test market to satiate their can-do spirit with an experience that leaves them thinking “I can’t wait to make.” 

The KitchenAid Lowes Experience transferred KitchenAid appliances from the stainless-filled aisle to a real kitchen space that inspires the joy of making and lets shoppers know that KitchenAid is so much more than a stand mixer.

This shoppable kitchen–featuring over 45 bespoke pieces of POP–sparked curiosity through bold, stylish visuals and brand-building copy. Then inspired possibilities with category-specific navigation that pointed shoppers to the products they were looking for.

Role: Creative Director

For the most ambitious relaunch in Whirlpool’s history, KitchenAid Major Appliances underwent a full redesign and recalibration of 280+ SKUs.

The new collection invited consumers to personalize their kitchen suite with three bold exterior options that can be customized with four different hardware kits.

Over the course of 18 months, I led dozens of creative teams in the GTM strategy and execution of every product launch across the entire shopping journey—resulting in over 4.5k assets.

From retail displays to the digital shelf experience to how-to videos to trade decks, our efforts resulted in record breaking sales:

+65k Units vs prior year
+$94M Gross Sales vs prior year
+$34M DCM vs prior year
+11.8k Big Box Flooring
+1.4k+ Sales Associates Trained

Role: Creative Director

Most people are trapped in a corded world, but KitchenAid knows what it takes to break free.

A single battery to free the kitchen.

As part of the GTM Global Toolkit, I lead the creation of a strategic communication framework that set the foundation for over 250+ assets across the funnel—from social to POP to digital assets.

The KitchenAid Go Cordless product line continues to launch to new products every 6 months under the same value proposition framework and style guide created by my team.

Role: Creative Director

Imagine if someone surprised you with your childhood kitchen.

For the holidays, we surprised our spokeswoman, Jennifer Garner, with some holiday magic that proves the kitchen is so much more than a kitchen—it’s a place that holds connections past and future.

There are kitchens and then there are “your childhood started here and your love for cooking” kitchens.

(Work is currently in progress—launching end of Nov. 2025)

Role: Associate Creative Director

Pine needles. That's the stereotypical gin flavor that Tanqueray was up against.

Our team was determined to defy gin's one-dimensional flavor myth by exposing the Tanqueray taste truth — multidimensional flavors bursting with botanical notes. Plus, Tanqueray's gin portfolio has a little something every palate will love.

Role: Associate Creative Director

As the official men’s personal care products of the NCAA March Madness® Games and a brand that champions inclusive and equitable beauty, Unilever knows when you look good, you perform even better. But how do you create a unique March Madness® experience that mirrors the energy, confidence and swagger of the games? By engaging a community who champion the same mantra—aspiring barbers.

Leveraging Unilever’s partnership with the NCAA, we delivered a bracket-style activation that got guys excited to groom again, and revitalized sales of its Men’s Grooming brands at H-E-B.

🏆BRONZE ANA REGGIE - Local, Regional or Market Specific Marketing

🏆BRONZE Effie - Experiential Shopper Marketing

Role: Associate Creative Director

Helping a tween get started with deodorant is … awkward, to say the least. How might parents find a product their tween can vibe with in a category where the only distinction is “for men” and “for women”? We broke the gender binary and helped parents pick a first deodorant that helps their tweens live confidently and authentically.

Scents of Confidence reimagined the shopping experience, helping parents explore deodorant by their tweens' personalities and passions instead of gender.

🏆 Gold REGGIE: Shopper Marketing, Retailer-Specific or Omnichannel Marketing

🏆 Bronze REGGIE: Age-Targeted Marketing

🏆 Bronze Effie: Multi-Brand Shopper Solution

🏆 Bronze Effie: Omni-Channel Shopper Solution