Steven Wilber
Copywriter to the Stars. Doofus to the Max.
Mike Bennett Studios
2023 – Copywriter/Adjunct Creative Director
Portland cartoonist and “Public Joy Creator” Mike Bennett has been creating the aforementioned joy, publicly, since 2019. His whimsical wooden cutouts, neighborhood signs, and immersive spaces have made him a local staple and built him a loving fanbase of kids, families, kids-at-heart, and families-at-heart (whatever those are).
In early 2023, Mike was ready to turn his art into a brand, The Bennett Buddies. I was brought on to expand the world of his characters, who, at the time, were nothing more than paint on a plank. The first step was to give these 2d cuties names, personalities, jobs, hobbies, pronouns, and dietary restrictions. You name it, I named it. I even added some original characters to the mix like Customer Serval and Micro Bennett, who I assume are everybody’s favorites by a wide margin.
My work on The Bennett Buddies extended to handling social media (like that stuff up there), as well as the website/online storefront. The main objective for this copy was to bring a friendly and ridiculous voice to everything, as if it were the Buddies themselves engaging with the audience. Let me tell you, having an e-commerce site run by a bunch of fictional animals is a tax preparers nightmare!
Working to help build the Bennett Buddies brand was an absolute blast and a half. You can not imagine how fun it was to write an email signup form in the voice of a capitalist snake.
Wanna look at more stuff I’ve done? Well, here it is anyway!
