Case Study
A decade-long creative partnership between Andrew McMahon and creative director Jon Morris transforming fan engagement with live show design & direction, music videos, tv appearances, merchandising...
10+
Years as Creative Partner
5
Album Cycles Designed
9+
Live Shows Designed & Directed
1.3B+
Artist Total Streams
"Since you've been working with Andrew his shows sell out AND fans are way more engaged. The amazing wow moments you create have changed the way fans experience his shows. And the crowd surfing duck? LEGEND!"
Josh Humiston — Partner, APA & Andrew's Booking Agent
Signature Moments
An inflatable duck that Andrew rides into the audience. Started as a tour concept, became a fan-favorite ritual, evolved into a symbol of the show's joyful unpredictability and sells as a merchandise item.
Debuted at Coachella 2015 and became a signature for the tour to follow. Oversized balloons distributed to audience members who explode them in unison, showering thousands in confetti.
Wacky waving characters given distinct personalities with playful on stage choreography. Debuted on tour with Weezer, became recurring cast members, and eventually fell in love all over New York city and had a baby in a music video.
Full-size parachutes pulled over the entire audience during final emotional peak, then pulled back onstage to become a closing iconic super man cape image on top of the piano. A physically immersive moment that bonds strangers in shared vulnerability and wonder.
Co-created the Fire Escape and So Close music videos, extending the live show's visual language into filmed content. Album and tour concepts became video concepts and vice versa.
Visual collaboration and direction on brand, merch, album art, & fan experience during album cycles: brand identity, merchandise design, social strategy, album art and color consulting, wardrobe, visual style.
Creative direction for high-profile television performances including the Today Show, translating live show energy to broadcast.
Gorgeous onstage flowers start to sparkle, coming to life. Then they are passed out into the audience. Andrew Crowd surf's on a sun through the flowers as the lights blackout and the audience powered flowered spot lights illuminate Andrew's closing ballad over the audience.
"Jon and I thought it would be hysterical to make these inflatables come to life and have personalities. It started out as a tour concept and we brought it out on the road with Weezer. When the video idea came we were like, why don't we just make them fall in love with each other and have a baby."
Andrew McMahon — Life of Dad Interview
Timeline
2015
The exploding balloons. First collaboration. Confetti rains across the festival. The partnership is born.
2016
The duck and inflatables debut. A support slot that felt like a headline show across North American arenas.
2017
Fire Escape video. Top-5 Alternative single. Full album cycle creative direction, staging, wardrobe, brand.
2018
So Close music video. Album art and color consulting. Full visual world design for the third Wilderness album.
2019
"The best tour show I've seen in a long while." Headlining tour designed and directed. The collaboration hits its creative peak.
2023
Spring and Fall tours designed. Jack's Mannequin reunion consulting. New album, same creative partner.
Now
Ten years. Five albums. 1.3B streams. The rarest thing in music: a creative director relationship that lasts.
Television, Brand, Merch & Album Art — Creative direction spanning the entire collaboration: Today Show appearances, brand identity, merchandise design, album art and color consulting, wardrobe, and visual language across every touchpoint.
"Challenging the relationship between performer and spectator, Morris' work is equal parts technical, playful, inventive and rich with depth. I cherish our collaborations."
- Andrew McMahon
The Model
The Andrew McMahon collaboration demonstrates a model that's still rare in the touring music world: an embedded creative director who works across album cycles, not individual gigs. Not a vendor. A creative partner.
Instead of hiring different production companies for each tour, Andrew has had the same creative partner for a decade. Someone who understands the DNA of the show, who knows which ideas to push forward and which to retire, who develops running gags and signature moments that accumulate meaning over time. The crowd-surfing duck isn't funny because it's a duck. It's legendary because fans have watched it evolve across ten years of shows.
This continuity is what turns a concert into a world. It's also what allows the creative direction to extend naturally into merch, album art, music videos, and TV appearances, because one person holds the thread across all of it. That's the model Jon brings to every artist partnership.
Jon Morris is available for creative collaborations from album strategy, creative direction, production design, and tour direction for touring artists and their teams.
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