Chuck Meehan is Chief Creative Officer of Pavone Group and a veteran creative leader with decades of experience shaping iconic, culture-driving campaigns. A four-time Super Bowl creative, Chuck has worked with global brands and top-tier talent to create work that breaks through noise and pressure.
Chuck has led creative teams at major agencies and worked on campaigns for brands including General Motors, Hellmann’s, McDonald’s, Del Taco and Universal Orlando Resort. His Super Bowl work includes back-to-back GM spots featuring Will Ferrell and Mike Myers as Dr. Evil, as well as large-scale brand activations that extended far beyond the broadcast.
Big ideas come from interpreting the brief in an unexpected way and connecting dots others don’t see.
If an idea can’t be explained clearly in one sentence, it’s not fully formed.
Super Bowl advertising is a six-month marathon that requires protecting the idea through intense internal and external pressure.
The most successful Super Bowl spots extend beyond the ad itself into brand activations and social storytelling.
Celebrity-driven campaigns only work when the talent serves the product and idea, not the other way around.
AI should be used to amplify creative thinking, not replace the struggle and reps required to develop great ideas.
In-person collaboration plays a critical role in mentoring young creatives and building strong creative culture.
Great creative leadership is about creating an environment where people feel safe to take big swings and learn from misses.
QUOTES
“The Super Bowl is the coolest thing and it’s the most terrifying thing. And what’s hard about it is, a lot of them start in August. So if you make it to February, that’s six months of your life.” (Chuck)
“If you can survive that gauntlet and somehow get to the Super Bowl with a great spot, it’s a Herculean feat for sure. It’s an amazing thing and it’s a bit of a horrible thing at the same time.” (Chuck)
“That (GM Dr. Evil) brand activation actually became a bigger story than even the spot in a sense. So yeah, that was a thing where we just didn’t stop at the spot.” (Chuck)
“By the Monday after the Super Bowl, the whole world’s moved on. Brands looked at that and thought that if I’m spending that much money, why don’t I release the spot a week ahead of time and get more out of it.” (Chuck)
“When it comes to a Super Bowl commercial, you’ve got to put three-act story in 60 seconds. That’s the discipline. When I’ve worked with people outside advertising, they don’t quite get it. It’s a very specific art.” (Chuck)
“It’s good because over the years, as a creative director, ECD, GCD, CCO, I’m constantly critiquing work. I’m constantly critiquing ideas. And most of them don’t get past me, which is kind of the drill. The ones that do interpreted the brief in a way I didn’t expect.” (Chuck)
“I always tell creatives, show me a different way of looking at something. And even when I’ve judged shows, it’s always the stuff that I’m like, how did they get there? Ninety-nine percent of things I can see where they’re going.” (Chuck)
“If you can tell me it in one sentence, you have an idea. And if you can’t explain it, you don’t know it.” (Chuck)
