Duke & Duck

We are Duke & Duck, an Emmy award-winning content studio focused on brand, editorial, and documentary animation and motion graphics. We work with some of the biggest non-profit and corporate brands in the world to drive social change, promote products, raise money, and connect people through effective storytelling.

Founder & Managing Director

Double Scoop Studio

At Double Scoop Studio, we are serving up delicious animated content for kids that make a social impact.

Head of Studio

Voxiva

Marketing, research, and more at a small, socially-focused software startup.

Marketing Manager

The Bike Project of Urbana Champaign

The Bike Project co-op offers a space, tools, and community to repair bikes, share knowledge, hold classes, and advocate for bikes in Urbana-Champaign.

Co-Founder

ACTS Clinic

I went to ACTS to help them however I could.  What I ended up doing was helping them to upgrade their network infrastructure to link the main clinic with the pharmacy as well as to other local health resources.  I also won them grants from Microsoft and Dell for new software and computers.

Volunteer

Since 2009, I've been using animation to tell stories that matter. Stories are powerful. They tell us who we are, what we believe in, and how we should relate to the world around us. My life is dedicated to using that power to make the world a better place for everyone in it.

Duke & Duck is the Emmy award-winning content studio I started with my best friend Dave back in 2009. We produce brand videos, social content, explainers, advocacy campaigns, and animation for documentaries. Most of our work is direct to clients where we serve as strategic advisors and content creators, but we also work with select agencies as partners. We have years of experience creating award-winning animated content for household brands, including: Capital One, the ACLU, Nestlé, Patagonia, and National Geographic.

In 2022, I founded Double Scoop Studio with a single goal: To make sure that the next generation has access to stories that put as much emphasis on positive social values and impact as they do on entertainment and turning a profit. We make proprietary content for non-profits who want to reach kids, and develop and produce our own original IP. Our partners include the American Red Cross and PBS Kids.

Alex Herder

Sell It Great

Helping creatives present as brilliantly as they concept, so your best ideas get bought. Distilled from over 15 years creating and selling award-winning ideas, my approach has helped everyone from interns to entrepreneurs. 

Current and previous clients include folks working for Droga5, Ogilvy, FCB, Amazon, and Meta.

Presentation & Pitch Coach

Creative Director/Copywriter with experience defining national and global brands including Coca-Cola, Boost Mobile, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Jägermeister, Sony Mobile, and CVS/Aetna. "Fluent" in emerging tech, IoT, and healthcare. Follicly challenged.

Freelance CD/CW

Temple University

Copywriting for Print and Web. 
AKA "How to write things that are intended to be read, as opposed to heard or performed."

Adjunct Professor

MOD Worldwide

Hired to establish a copy department. Did so while making inflammatory comments in defense of the Oxford comma. Regret nothing. Also sold some ideas to Comcast and Aetna. 

In addition:
- Spearheaded development of agency language, positioning, and tone of voice.
- Championed establishment of strategy department.
- Evolved internal pitch process.
- Concepted and sold the agency’s first broadcast tv campaign.
- Concepted and sold the agency’s first grassroots social media campaign.
- Concepted and sold the agency’s first Alexa skill.
- Concepted and sold (and hosted) the agency’s first podcast series.
- Communicated company vision to the masses.
- Lead classes to help coworkers develop the skills necessary to comfortably deliver, defend, and demonstrate their ideas in front of Fortune 50 clients. 
- Traveled to UK to pitch and support satellite office.
- Developed new standard for employee reviews.

Creative Director

One Trick Pony

A continuing equine obsession. Boost Mobile, Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic, AMEX, and others.

Associate Creative Director

Red Tettemer O'Connell + Partners

Herded word-cattle and concepts for Planet Fitness, Speck, T. Rowe Price, and more.

Havas Worldwide

Wordsmithed for Keurig, Ritz Crackers, PayPal, Liberty Mutual Insurance, and others. Lead the Liberty Mutual social team with grace and humility, as well as the constant threat of a withering hail of Nerf darts. Some of them still speak to me.

Miami Ad School

Taught everything from “Headline Writing” to “Portfolio” classes. Successfully kept from sleeping with students. Wife pleased.

Also initiated and ran ongoing internship programs at various agencies, resulting in multiple new hires and bringing plans of world domination one step closer to fruition.

Instructor

LBi/MRY

Arranging letters in a variety of combinations for clients like Sony, K-Y, Coca-Cola, Jägermeister, PayPal, Skype, and Band-Aid. Gave up foosball for ping pong.

Senior Copywriter/Associate Creative Director

Johannes Leonardo

Decided to try the life of a devil-may-care, lone-wolf, writer-for-hire. Decided I prefer having fulltime health insurance.

Freelance Copywriter

Struggling to connect with clients over video pitches?
Sick of selling the “second-best” concept in every meeting?
Waiting for the day your creatives will magically “get it” and be able to present by themselves without embarrassing the agency?

This is- as the French say- Bulls**t.

The idea is everything. But it doesn’t count unless we can get the client to love it. Buy it. Make it.

It took me half my career to learn how to sell. As soon as I did, I found myself swamped in meetings, unable to get work done, and trusting “less important” pitches to teams with zero experience.

We couldn’t afford more CDs. And my cloning experiments were dismal failures. In desperation, I created a program to pass on all my years of knowledge, experience, and expertise to the rest of the agency.

That worked (and broke way fewer Geneva conventions than the cloning thing). So if your agency is:
 
❌  Struggling to bring their A-game when pitching via video
 
❌  Burying your best presenters under more client meetings than they can handle 
 
❌  Flipping desks when ideas you couldn’t sell get produced by your competition 
 
Well, that’s why The Sell It Great System exists. 
 
It’s the difference between “figuring it out as you go along” and having:
 
✅  Increased confidence and presence– both in the room and on zoom.

✅  A repeatable pitch process that saves time and delivers wins, even for presentation newbies. 
 
✅  The skills you need to sell your best ideas, not just the “safe” ones.
 
But talk is cheap. You want proof. Testimonials. A personal, fully-staffed yacht. 
 
I’ll give you two out of three:  
 
“I now have more comfort speaking, more assertiveness in my tone, less fumbling, and more clarity.” - Isaac Pagan, ECD at Ogilvy
 
“I’ve been telling everyone about it.” - Joseph Delhommer, CD at Amazon
 
“...it was one of the best things that could have happened to me. He provides you a curated toolkit that's built off your strengths and weaknesses. Today, I truly feel much more confident when presenting and no longer have that looming feeling of doom." -Macarena F, Account Manager
 
“There were multiple moments where I realized I had more to learn about a particular skill. Ben was there to help. His attention to detail, from tone to body behavior, was impressive. With these new skills I feel more confident and able to present to clients and my peers." -Louie G, Art Director
 
Start selling your best ideas today. Book a call with me here: https://calendly.com/sellitgreat/chat

Ben Levy

You have seen the Timothee Chalamet zoom meeting, yes? If not, watch it now.

When you are done laughing (or crying) from the familiarity, watch it again. 

But this time, I want you to think of an alternative to every terribly cliched moment. Every choice that led to an awkward silence. Every "OH GAWD THEY'RE DOING THAT THING" that happens.

Look each one straight in the webcam, and then figure out how to do better. 

Because of course it's cringe af. But it's also 99.9% of the meetings you're sitting in. 

I'll share my breakdown and buildup in this Friday's email/substack.

Creative Director and Presentation Coach | I teach agencies and creatives how to have better meetings, so they can sell better work.

Is this illegal? It's a gray area. 

Am I serious about it?

I'm wearing a tuxedo and petting a stuffed animal. I don't get any more serious than this.

Pitch Protection Plan is live.

Why do I avoid rip films in presentations? 

Because I’ve sat in edit where we’ve locked picture and post as the client still said wistfully, “It’s just not as good as that first thing you showed us.”

For more on why making a fake video is a terrible pitch tool, and what to do instead, eckout-chay my ubstack-ay in the ink-lay elow-bay.

Because it's come up a lot recently: Yes, I do private coaching.

So if you can't manage to catch a workshop because your agency, employer, alien overlord, or AI director won't schedule one, you've still got options.

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Alex Herder

Ben Levy

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taplio

The Battle

Alex Herder

Ben Levy

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Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Ben Levy's LinkedIn Performance

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