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The best advertising 

welcome to guesthouse.

Hello, GSD&M friends!

Thanks for thinking of us for these fun and also very true holiday spots. We love work that’s emotional, with funny family insights to make it extra enjoyable. Really nice that you didn’t just go through the holiday-spot-with-no-twist angle so many brands do.

At Guesthouse, you get a production company with Wes directing the main spots, while Mitch works on OLVs, social, and BTS at the same time. We’ve been working together as a creative team since forever, and for many years at GSD&M even. And Mitch’s teenage son is a clerk at Food Lion, SO WE’VE GOT THE INSIDE SCOOP.

Here are some spots we’ve directed, plus a few we’ve done as a creative team that show a more emotional tone, and then some fun OLVs and social.

Hope to chat soon!

Wes & Mitch

770-633-8862
mitch@welcometoguesthouse.com

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R E M I N D E R

EVERYONE HATES advertising.
BUT THEY LOVE INTERESTING THINGS.

LET’S MAKE INTERESTING THINGS TOGETHER.

WES WHITENER DIRECTOR REEL

CITIZENS TRUST BANK - YOUR STORY IS OUR STORY

Citizens Trust Bank is one of the first Black-owned banks in the U.S. We helped them create the first brand campaign in the bank’s 100-year history, by telling the story of their founding. In 1921, Mr. Heman Perry was turned away from buying sock at a white-owned story in Atlanta. This moment of discrimination gave him the idea to start a bank for the Black community, providing equal access to wealth to buy homes and start businesses. More at The Drum and MediaPost.

FIVE GUYS - YOUR BURGERS IS FRESH

Wes shot Five Guys first ever TV campaign for Chemistry. They’re known for burgers. Not ads.

NORTH CAROLINA LOTTERY - DEBRA

SAS - FREAKING OUT (ROUGH CUT)

This is a rough cut of a spot for our client SAS. Please don’t share this with anyone or we’ll be so sad! This is uncolored, but we make sure all our dailies look like this to help clients envision the end product. We also shot 8 social ads, and BTS interviews with all the clients to use for the internal launch.

RALEIGH DENIM WORKSHOP - AMERICAN DENIM

Did you know that ALL the iconic American denim brands like Levi’s, Lee, even AMERICAN EAGLE make 100% of their jeans overseas? Our friends at Raleigh Denim Workshop found a way to make handcrafted jeans 100% in America for only $100. And while not all their denim is made here, it’s a great start. So for the Fourth of July, we helped them wonder out loud - who DOESN’T think American denim should be made in America?

CG INSURANCE - KERON

Wes shoots Chemistry’s CG Insurance campaigns, for the Bahamas-based insurance brand.

“Wes is the most prepared and proactive director I’ve ever worked with. Every detail is considered, every beat intentional.He doesn’t just direct—he leads. He’s always five steps ahead, while somehow keeping the whole team calm, collaborative, and confident. It’s like turning your brain off—because you know he’s already thought through every angle and made it even better than you imagined.”
— Lily Stockton, Creative Director, Chemistry

Part of the charm of the Food Lion work will be the real emotion you feel from these moments. While we’re often hired to do comedy, Wes and Mitch love the emotional side of advertising, too. So in addition to the Citizens Trust Bank work that we concepted and directed, here are some spots we did at Fitzco//McCann with other production companies.

EMOTIONAL WORK

COCA-COLA CHRISTMAS - “EARN IT”

SYNOVUS BANK - “BRAVE”

COCA-COLA - “FALLING”

OLVS & SOCIAL ARE JUST AS IMPORTANT!

We’re the production company that doesn’t treat the 400 other assets you need as an afterthought. Here are some examples of fun things we’ve made outside the “big TV spots”

Gaia herbs

Gaia Herbs goes out of their way to make their herbs the right way. Even though there are no laws that say they have to. We used their real employees from the main :60 TV spots to do fun social bits around the farm.

““Employee testimonials usually put people to sleep, but they work like a charm in this new campaign for Gaia Herbs.””
— Ad Age

RALEIGH DENIM WORKSHOP

EVERY MAN JACK

VOLVO TRUCKS

During a Volvo Trucks shoot, Mitch hopped in random real drivers’ trucks to do an impromptu social talk show called Truck Stop Talk. Volvo used the footage for Driver’s Appreciation Week.

Wes, Mitch & Jeff have led top agencies across the country. Their work has a way of getting talked about in the press and social, earning many millions in free media, winning global creative awards you probably don’t care about, and global effectiveness awards you might. They’re most proud of the results they’ve helped their clients achieve, and the excitement it can create in an organization. They do their most famous work by turning social briefs into quick, fun, timely content. They love teaching students, mentoring creatives, and training teams on how to get to big ideas. They’re able to write in third person like it’s no big deal.

Wes Whitener, Mitch Bennett, and Jeff Quick, Founders & partners

Thanks for looking. 

We literally built Guesthouse to help creative teams produce their work in a collaborative way that feels less like a handoff to a Hollywood director who doesn’t care about what you’re trying to do, and more like a part of your team who wants to help you make the best possible spots for your client and your reel.

- Guesthouse