Roberto Lastra, founder and executive creative director of Lovers Not Haters, has worked on five Super Bowl spots across his career. But the one that sticks—the one reviewers, Twitter and even the client couldn’t stop describing the same way—was a robot baby for TurboTax that debuted during Super Bowl LIII.
The spot, created at Wieden+Kennedy Portland, launched TurboTax Live with a premise both absurd and specific: a robotic child whose dream in life is to become a TurboTax CPA. The client’s reaction from the first internal review? “Creepy but funny.” That phrase followed the campaign through production, into Ad Age and Adweek reviews and across 200 million Twitter impressions.
On Murder Hornet’s Super Duper Show, Lastra joined host Tyler Pierce and co-host Greg Collins to break down what happened behind the scenes—and why the best freelance work starts with knowing it’s not your campaign.
The brief was deceptively simple
The assignment centered on a new product launch: TurboTax Live, which connects users with a real CPA in real time. “We’ve all done taxes, we’ve all been frustrated,” Lastra says. “It was as simple as a tax expert in real time there to help you.” The challenge was avoiding generic territory where other brands had already planted flags. The team at Wieden+Kennedy had something most agencies don’t—total client trust and a clean creative slate every year.
“Creepy but funny” from the first meeting to the final review
RoboChild emerged from the creative trenches. CDs Jason Campbell and Kevin Jones led the everyday work, with copywriters Gus Solis and Andy Laugenour and art director Joaquin Alvarez shaping the concept. Director Randy Krallman and production company Smuggler brought it to life. The robot itself was half practical build, half CGI—camera angles and post-production tricks filling in the gaps. The client never wavered from those two words: creepy but funny.
Three spots became ten and a whole sitcom emerged
The brief called for three spots. The team delivered ten—seven in English, three in Spanish. TurboTax is a seasonal brand with a long runway from Super Bowl Sunday to April 15, and the creative universe kept expanding. A cast of three recurring characters anchored what Lastra describes as a sitcom structure, with RoboChild arriving as the Super Bowl accelerant. “Robo child was a consequence of the sitcom we created,” Lastra explains. Every touchpoint connected, whether a viewer caught the first spot or the fourth.
The good house guest theory of freelancing
Collins, a Cannes Grand Prix-winning freelance creative director and copywriter based in New York, offered a philosophy that anchored the conversation. “You want to be the good house guest, not the house guest that farts all the time and hogs the remote,” he says. “Let the work do the talking.” Lastra agreed—and went further. “It’s their campaign and their victory. I’m here to push it forward, but it’s their work.” Both described a freelancer’s role as serving the team rather than claiming the spotlight.
Why the work has to reflect the blend
Lastra’s broader mission connects to what he calls cultural integration—the idea that work targeting multiple audiences should start together from day one rather than being adapted after the fact. “Hispanics aren’t asking for invitations anymore,” he says. “They’re driving music and cuisine and culture. The work has to reflect that.” His agency, Lovers Not Haters, was built on that conviction. It’s a project-based shop that partners with agencies like Wieden+Kennedy, Crispin Porter+Bogusky and 72andSunny to ensure creative integrity across audiences.
From the Super Bowl to Champions League on the same stage
Lastra also shared work from a 2024 Champions League campaign for Paramount+ created with 72andSunny. The brief built on a sharp observation: European matches air midweek in the middle of the American workday, turning fans into creative excuse-makers. Director Tom Cooper—whose credits include The King’s Speech and Les Misérables—elevated what could have been a jingle spot into a full-scale musical. “This could have been a 1-800 jingle commercial,” Lastra says. “He took it to another level.”
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