“Life Needs Truth” was a campaign that showed that, for every part of our chaotic and upended lives, there is a piece of Times journalism that helps bring clarity and guidance to it. We wrote a five-verse visual poem, built with words from Times reporting, which captured the current time and the feeling of living in America. The rhythm of the poem came to life without any VO or narration—the campaign reflected the relationship people have with The Times as they read it in their everyday lives.

The unique writing ambition was to put the poem into the viewer’s head without relying on VO. Not only did the headlines have to rhyme, make sense together and match the imagery, but they also had to fit the rhythm of the music that we developed alongside it. As the backbone of the piece, most importantly, the writing had to capture America right now, with all of its intricacies, using just words from The Times.