Rick Silber
Storyteller
Quick Bio
Rick Silber builds brand stories to help companies grow sales.He's the creator of The Exiled Shaman Coffee co and has led creative sessions for ad agencies and companies such as Nestle, Heineken, and The Toronto Blue Jays. He also runs the publication Smash The Bots.
More About
I once drank mushroom tea with a Colombian shaman and disconnected from my online following of over 100k in order to disconnect from my ego. But I made sure to keep just enough ego to remind my friends that I once had over 100k followers.I've written jokes that have been shared millions of times around the internet, bewildered audiences at standup comedy clubs, and once sold a banana peel on ebay.
WHAT THEY SAY"Rick Silber scares me with his robot simplicity and android precision. Worship him or despair."
Alec Sulkin - Family guy"If Alec Sulkin likes this stuff then I do too."
Tom Gammill - The Simpsons"Original, inventive & fun. That’s Rick Silber. Enjoy him while he’s still affordable!"
David N. Weiss - Vice President, Writers Guild of America, Writer Shrek 2"Rick Silber is persistent, which means he has a vision of where he’s going and a good understanding of which roads might lead him there. That makes him smarter than about 95% of everybody."
Jerry Shereshewsky - Senior Executive, Yahoo!, Coca-Cola, Y&R, Wunderman"Beneath the crumbling ruins of a once proud civilization, Rick Silber slumbers in his obsidian sarcophagus, awaiting the deafening trumpet of doom that will signal his unholy return."
Andres du Bouchet- Writer, Conan O’Brien Show
Work
Many companies struggle to grow their sales despite offering the best products and services. Building a brand story will create a deep connection that resonates with your potential customers, to not only increase sales but have excited customers talking about your brand.The best brands don’t just sell products, they tell stories.Book a conversation now!
The Exiled Shaman Coffee Co. – Case Study
Taglines:
Caffeinate recklessly | Highbrow coffee, lowbrow energyOverview:
Specialty coffee is crowded, and brands feel generic. The Exiled Shaman stands out as mischievous, 90s Saturday-morning-cartoon–inspired coffee brand that turns every cup into a creative-igniting experience. By combining brand story, merch, and creative campaigns, I built a brand that fans don’t just buy from - they collect, engage with, and champion.
1. Brand Story & Identity
Challenge: Specialty coffee lacks personality.Strategy & Execution:
• Crafted a distinct voice: irreverent, mystical, and mischievous.
• Built a brand universe: a degenerate shaman escaping the Great Illusion, giving the brand narrative depth.
• Developed taglines and micro-copy for packaging, merch, and customer touchpoints.
Customers interact with a persona, not just a product.
2. Merch & Brand Extension Concepting
Challenge: Coffee merch is forgettable.Strategy & Execution:
• Designed collectible, story-driven merch: mugs, apparel and stickers featuring brand characters.
• Tied merch to the shaman’s narrative adventures, making products feel like part of a universe, not just merchandise.
• Created experience-driven engagement: fans buy merch to complete sets and feel part of the brand world.Result: Merch extends the brand story into customers’ homes, creating loyalty and repeat purchase potential.
3. Campaign & Customer Experience Ideation
Challenge:
Coffee is a commodity; campaigns fail to generate excitement.Strategy & Execution:
• Developed creative, offline campaign concepts.
• Launch posters and print campaigns.
• Immersive pop-up events such as the “Church of Caffeine”, turning coffee buying into an experience.
• Limited-edition coffee and merch drops tied to the brand narrative, giving customers something to hunt for and talk about.
• Focused on direct customer touchpoints: packaging, events, merch, and email/newsletter communications.Result: Campaigns create urgency, exclusivity, and brand cult status to drive engagement.
Spacedog shroomery – Case Study
Overview:
Pet wellness is full of bland, clinical brands. Spacedog Shroomery changes the narrative with a psychedelic-inspired, smoke-shop–style mushroom topper food brand for dogs. It takes the serious science of functional mushrooms and wraps it in a playful, trippy identity that dog owners can’t ignore. This isn’t just health food for dogs, it’s a brand owners love to display, share, and buy into.
1. Brand Story & Identity
Challenge: Pet supplements feel sterile, repetitive, and boring.Strategy & Execution:
• Created a psychedelic-but-safe brand identity: smoke-shop aesthetics reimagined for dogs.
• Gave the brand a tongue-in-cheek voice: witty, trippy, and conspiratorial, while always rooted in real health benefits.
• Built a universe around the “Spacedog”: a loyal cosmic canine, guiding pups through the wellness multiverse.
• Wrote narrative-driven copy for packaging and customer touchpoints.Result: Pet parents don’t just see a supplement, they see a cosmic adventure in a bag.
2. Merch & Brand Extension Concepting
Challenge: Pet wellness brands rarely inspire culture, community, or collectability.Strategy & Execution:
• Designed stoner-shop–style merch: bandanas, enamel pins, psychedelic bowls, and stickers.
• Made merch feel like cosmic contraband — fun, funky, and exclusive.
• Tied drops to product lore: each piece looks like it came from the Spacedog’s interstellar journeys.
• Positioned merch as part of the lifestyle, not just an add-on.Result: Fans don’t just buy health for their dogs, they buy into a trippy, cult-like universe they want to rep.
3. Campaign & Customer Experience Ideation
Challenge: Pet supplements usually market on boring health claims that fail to stand out.Strategy & Execution:
• Concepted psychedelic-inspired campaigns.
• Poster drops with lines like: “Does your dog even shroom?”
• Sticker campaigns in coffee shops and smoke shops for crossover cultural clout.
• Pop-up “Shroom Stands” at dog parks and festivals, handing out samples.
• Limited-edition blends tied to cosmic adventures (“Lunar Boost,” “Nebula Calm”).
• Direct customer touchpoints: packaging, unboxing experiences, newsletters, and merch drops.Result: A boring “functional mushroom topper” becomes a cult-favorite lifestyle brand for dog lovers who want health wrapped in humor, style, and counterculture edge.
ABR Electric – Case Study
Tagline
Your Power People.Overview:
Electrical companies all tend to look and sound the same. Logos with lightning bolts, safety-first slogans, and zero personality.
ABR Electric breaks the current.By building a playful, culturally aware brand rooted in creativity and customer engagement, ABR became more than electricians — they became Your Power People. From branded hot sauce to zombie survival campaigns, the company’s identity sparks conversation long after the job is done.
1. Brand Story & Identity
Challenge: Electricians aren’t usually seen as brands, just services.Strategy & Execution:
• Developed the core brand line “Your Power People”. Memorable, personable, and instantly positioning ABR as approachable experts.
• Extended the tagline into a brand persona: friendly, confident, and a little cheeky.
• Created Live Wire Hot Sauce, a promotional product that turns electrical terminology into a sensory brand experience, a physical, giftable piece of wordplay.
• Crafted copy and visuals that balance professionalism with fun, giving customers something they want to engage with.Result: ABR isn’t just another electrician. It’s a brand customers remember, recommend, and rep proudly.
2. Merch & Brand Extension Concepting
Challenge: Most electrical companies stop at business cards and trucks.Strategy & Execution:
• Created Deadwired, a zombie-themed sub-brand connecting electrical expertise with pop culture humor.
• Used the Deadwired concept to build themed campaigns and merch drops, tapping into the cult appeal of the zombie apocalypse.
• Designed limited-edition stickers, magnets, and yard signs tied to specific service types, turning everyday marketing into collectible fun.
• Extended brand touchpoints into customers’ homes through creative leave-behinds that reinforce loyalty and conversation.Result: Customers don’t just see ABR’s logo, they display it. The brand becomes a talking point, not an afterthought.
3. Campaign & Customer Experience Ideation
Challenge: Electrical work is functional but rarely fun.Strategy & Execution:
• Built playful, narrative-driven campaigns that frame ABR’s expertise through entertainment.
• Zombie Survival Electrical Prep (Deadwired campaign): what wiring and backup systems you’d need to outlast the apocalypse.
• Live Wire Hot Sauce Giveaways as surprise thank-yous or contest prizes.
• Service-specific yard signs that double as micro-billboards for neighbors.
• Focused on tangible, memorable touchpoints, from custom merch to limited promo items instead of generic ads.Result: Campaigns energize the customer experience, making ABR Electric a brand people talk about. Creative, confident, and unmistakably human.
Supreme Packaging – Case Study
Tagline
Passionate About Packaging.Overview:
Packaging is one of the most forgettable industries in existence. Brown boxes, clear tape, and zero personality.
Supreme Packaging wanted to change that.By transforming the internal culture first, then letting that energy spill outward, I helped turn Supreme from just another packaging supplier into a living, breathing creative brand. A company that people actually want to work with, and for.
1. Culture & Brand Identity Revamp
Challenge: A transactional industry with no spark. Employees saw their work as routine, not creative.Strategy & Execution:
• Redefined company culture by introducing monthly creative brainstorm sessions, giving warehouse and office staff a voice in shaping brand ideas.
• Built a creative-first workplace identity, one that values imagination and humor as much as efficiency.
• Developed internal incentives that injected energy into everyday operations.
• Free espressos and breakfast for trucking partners to become our first delivery stop.
• Morning basketball in the warehouse to boost morale.
• Randomized giveaways and spontaneous rewards to keep the team engaged.Result: Employees started treating the company less like a job, and more like a brand they could co-create.
2. Campaign & Customer Engagement Ideation
Challenge: Packaging companies are commoditized. Customers rarely remember one from the next.Strategy & Execution:
• Created viral “Tape Tasting” series, flipping boring product demos into hilarious parodies of wine tastings. Each tape was described with “notes,” and “flavor profiles.”
• Developed email campaigns and AR letters that made even accounts receivable feel friendly and on-brand.
• Cartoonified the staff into fun illustrated characters, featured in newsletters and campaigns so customers could “know” the team personally.
• Built a social account for a lonely warehouse box, offering a deadpan, self-aware commentary on the packaging industry, giving an inanimate object a relatable, fun voice.Result: Supreme Packaging became the fun packaging brand, blending humor, humanity, and creative storytelling into a category that normally has none.
3. Relationship Building & Market Advantage
Challenge: Competing for first access to supply deliveries in a high-demand market.Strategy & Execution:
• Launched a driver loyalty initiative, positioning Supreme as the most enjoyable first stop of the day.
• Offered small but memorable experiences, from breakfast and coffee to games and giveaways, turning truck drivers into brand advocates.
•Strengthened supply chain consistency while building goodwill and relationships industry-wide.Result: Supreme became a preferred delivery destination and a name that circulates with genuine affection in a space not known for it.
Print Ads
Campaign concept ideation & copywriting
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