City of Eugene
Hot Takes: Poolside
A Hot Ones–style series introducing Eugene's new city manager — one progressively hotter wing at a time.
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The overview
A get-to-know-you video that introduces Eugene's new city manager over a lineup of progressively spicier wings — built to warm up an all-staff meeting, then recut into a four-part social series for the public.
The campaign film
Strategy
Hot Takes: Poolside introduces Eugene's new city manager, Jenny Haruyama, in the format of Hot Ones. Library, Recreation and Cultural Services executive director Josh Bates walks her through a lineup of progressively hotter wings, trading real questions for real — and increasingly watery-eyed — answers.
It started as an internal piece: a disarming, human way for City staff to meet their new leader at an all-staff meeting. It landed well enough that we recut it into a four-part social series, so the public could meet her the same way — a little sweaty, and a lot more human than a press release.
Audience
- Primary: City of Eugene staff meeting their new city manager for the first time.
- Secondary: Eugene residents getting to know the person now running their city.
Goals
- Introduce a new leader as a real, approachable person — not a headshot and a bio.
- Give staff a genuine reason to feel connected to new leadership.
- Carry that same warmth to the public in short, shareable pieces.
The call to action was simple: meet the city manager — watch the series.
Touchpoints
Two people and a table of increasingly punishing wings, captured in one unscripted poolside sit-down. Real questions, real heat, and real reactions — shot in a single afternoon at a City pool.
Output
Yield
The premiere did what a bio never could — it made a new leader feel familiar in a single room. The social cuts extended that introduction well past the meeting, turning a leadership announcement into something people actually wanted to watch and share.
What I'd do next
- Make it a recurring format for introducing new leaders, programs, and teams.
- Put a little paid budget behind the strongest cuts to push reach well past organic.
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A multi-format campaign for women-led outdoor classes — mountain biking, sailing, rock climbing — that lowered the intimidation of traditionally male-dominated spaces and pushed programs from half-full to three-quarters full.
Rollout
Internal first. The full episode premiered as the centerpiece of an all-staff meeting, framed as a fun, low-stakes way to meet the new city manager and break the ice around a leadership change.
Public second. From that single sit-down, I cut four short episodes — each built around one question and one hotter wing — sized for how people actually watch on their phones. The cuts were crossposted across four City accounts — Eugene Rec, the main City of Eugene account, the Library, and Cultural Services — entirely organic, with no paid promotion, giving the audience a reason to come back for the next one and the City a run of friendly, human content from a single afternoon of shooting.