"This is the best moment of my life"

Daniel Vaccaro (AKA The Danimal) is the brother of one of my best friends. I've had the privilege of knowing him and his entire family since college. He's also the biggest wrestling fan I know, so when we scored some tickets to WWE's Monday Night Raw, I asked our team if we could surprise him with the tickets. Thought it'd be a fun post, because he's hilarious. And HOMAGE (esp. Andy Keller) totally embraced it.

But then, things started to happen and he became a star. What resulted was the most rewarding, most exciting, most enjoyable project of my career. 

Intro Video: Hype For The Danimal

Part 1: Meeting The Danimal

Sharing with the world what we already knew: Daniel is one of the coolest human beings on the planet. 

Bayley Tweets Back.

At the end of what was to be our only video, Daniel proclaims "I'm a huge fan of Bayley. She's a hugger and I just wanna hug." Well, she actually saw it on Twitter and responded. After that, we knew this was a bigger deal and had to put together a training montage video to prep for the big hug.

Part 2: Training for the Hug of a Lifetime

After Bayley (his favorite female WWE Wrestler) responds on Twitter and promises a hug on Monday Night Raw, Daniel focuses on his training.

Part 3: Bayley Surprises The Danimal

The Danimal becomes a local celebrity complete with backstage pass and access. Bayley finally hugs him. And an unforgettable moment on stage.

A perfect ending to a beautiful story.

The Email. The End.

Hundreds of people asked us to make "The Danimal" t-shirt that we just created for Daniel. Including Bayley, seen wearing above. So we did, and gave the proceeds to the Worthington Special Olympics (Daniel's choice). Just couldn't have scripted a better ending if we tried. 

Fans Adore The DANIMAL.

(a sampling of the thousands of comments left over the course of the full story arc)