August, 2026.- Peter Alsante spent 16 years at BBDO New York, followed by Grey and The Community. The experience of growing up at BBDO was foundational—the emphasis was always on the work and creative excellence. But after nearly two decades, he also experienced the amount of infrastructure and process that naturally comes with large agencies. Joining a small independent agency in Boulder brought him back to the reason he really loves what he does: the ideas and the people. Big agencies taught him how to make great work. Fortnight reminded him why he loves making great work.
In this interview, Alsante discusses how Fortnight connects with real people, not demographic data sets. Personas are useful for some things, but they are terrible at explaining behavior. Humans are not static; they are contextual and layered. Fortnight spends less time asking “Who is our audience?” and more time asking “What are they thinking, feeling, or trying to accomplish when our brand shows up?”
Alsante also reflects on the creative process behind the Sandy Hook Promise campaigns, which earned two Emmys. The work was kept authentic by responding to conversations already happening among parents, teachers, and students. The goal was never to manufacture emotion around something already so emotionally charged; it was to tell the truth in a way that allowed people to feel it for themselves.
1. From BBDO/Grey to an Independent in Boulder: You spent 16 years at BBDO New York, then Grey, then The Community. What does an independent agency in Boulder offer that the New York network giants couldn’t, and what did you sacrifice by leaving the agency capital?
The experience of growing up at BBDO was, not surprisingly, foundational for me. The emphasis was always on the work and on creative excellence, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have spent so many years in that environment. But after nearly two decades there, followed by Grey and The Community, I also experienced the amount of infrastructure and process that naturally comes with large agencies and the holding companies they are part of.
Joining a small (but mighty!) independent agency in Boulder brought me back to the reason I really love what we do: the ideas and the people. Big agencies taught me how to make great work. Fortnight has reminded me why I love making great work. And that is incredibly encouraging and refreshing.
2. Sandy Hook Promise and Two Emmys: You won two Emmys for deeply moving work for Sandy Hook Promise. How do you approach creative for a cause as sensitive as gun violence prevention without crossing into exploitation or trauma voyeurism?
For obvious reasons, the collaboration with Sandy Hook Promise was unlike any project I’ve worked on before or since. And approaching creativity around an issue like gun violence requires a very different mindset.
The way we kept the work authentic was by responding to the conversations that were already happening among parents, teachers, and students. We never walked into a brief with a set-in-stone message we wanted to force into the world. Our full team approached every campaign by listening first to see where we could join in. What were parents worried about? What were kids experiencing? What conversations were people already having as they prepared for a new school year?
From the very beginning, it seemed clear that the moment you start trying to manufacture emotion around something already so emotionally charged, you’ve lost. Our job was never to make the work more heartbreaking. It was to tell the truth in a way that allowed people to feel it for themselves.
3. “The Pringles Spider”: You created a viral social campaign that you described as “slightly unhinged.” In a world of safe, data-optimized creative, how do you know when unhinged is the right move, and when does it just become weird for the sake of weird?
I think that the brands having the most success are the ones not trying to start conversations, but the ones joining the conversations people are already having.
The Pringles Spider was a perfect example. It was an incredibly fun project, but what made it work wasn’t that we invented something so absurd out of thin air. People on Reddit and other platforms had already noticed how much a specific type of spider (the Pale Orb Weaver, fyi) looked like the Pringles logo, and were already joking about it. We just recognized an opportunity to participate in a conversation that already existed.
That approach has become a sort of guiding principle for me. It’s easy to think about what you want to tell consumers. It’s much harder – but much more rewarding – to understand what they’re already talking about and find an authentic place for your brand within it. And that’s true whether it’s something as absurd and funny as The Pringles Spider, or something as gut-wrenchingly real as school shootings in America.
4. Hornitos and the MET Gala: Your Hornitos campaign challenging the MET Gala’s exclusivity generated 1B+ impressions in three days. Was that earned media, or did you pay to amplify a provocative idea? And does the distinction even matter anymore?
I think the distinction matters. The idea was designed to earn attention first. Paid media can help an idea travel farther, but if it isn’t interesting enough that people want to share it voluntarily, nothing is going to fix that.
For me, nothing beats watching an idea take on a life of its own. Awards are incredibly meaningful and can be important in their own way, but seeing people talk about your work, debate it, share it, and make it part of the cultural conversation in real time is hard to beat.
That said, I don’t think earned media and paid media are foes. They’re partners. The goal is always to get great work in front of as many people as possible.
5. Bath & Body Works and the Human Nose: You relaunched the human nose as “the world’s greatest innovation” for Bath & Body Works. How do you take a brief for a mass-market fragrance brand and arrive at something so conceptually absurd, yet on-strategy?
I loved this campaign idea the moment I heard it. It’s a great example of what happens when strategy and creative are truly in lockstep.
As we explored a new platform for Bath & Body Works, we realized something obvious that we had all seemed to overlook – the sense of smell is one of the most powerful senses we have, yet we rarely celebrate it. Few things have the ability to transport us as instantly as scent. In a single breath, we can find ourselves somewhere we haven’t been in years – or ever.
We’re living through an era of such rapid technological innovation. We talk about our phones, laptops, and AI as tools that transport us. And they do. But so does the human nose. It has been quietly doing that since the beginning. So there was something beautifully simple about celebrating a piece of technology that’s been with us all along.
6. Connecting with Real People, Not Data Sets: You said Fortnight creates work that connects with “real people, not demographic data sets.” Most agencies claim this. What does Fortnight actually do differently in the creative process to avoid designing for personas instead of humans?
Personas are useful for some things, but they’re terrible at explaining behavior. Humans aren’t static. They’re contextual and layered. So demographics can tell us someone’s age, income, or where they live, but they rarely explain what they’re feeling or why they’re making a particular decision. That’s why we spend less time asking, “Who is our audience?” and more time asking, “What are they thinking, feeling, or trying to accomplish when our brand shows up?”
One of the things I love about Fortnight is that, as a small independent agency, we get to be incredibly intentional about who we partner with. We work with brands whose values align with ours, which gives us permission to care more deeply about the people we’re creating work for – because we are them, in many cases. And when you understand the emotions, motivations, and tradeoffs behind real decisions, you stop creating for personas and start creating for people.
