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and creative,
quickly.
I understand the kind of rich, tension-filled strategy that creatives need to concept and deliver work that breaks through. Inside agencies that operate as global conglomerates, single-client startups, client-side and everything in between, I’m adept at quickly landing the strategy – and then collaborating to deliver on it creatively. I can come in at the start or when pressure is high. I’m a fixer who can assess and drive change on day one.
For example, Chobani’s turnaround couldn’t wait another six weeks. Private equity was taking its piece of hide even as the company was shoring up financials. The solution couldn’t be a band-aid, either. People knew they loved the brand. They just couldn’t remember why. Through simplification. a refreshed packaging POV and internal rallying, the brand moved beyond P.E. more quickly than expected and began a two-year stretch of product innovation that resuscitated and established Chobani as the largest U.S. yogurt brand by 2017.
Another example is Penn Gaming, which required a Covid-era pivot. The company could no longer rely on physical footprints and needed to appeal to an entirely new set of customers that were both digitally fluent and sports-minded. On top of that, strategic and creative solutions needed to be simple enough for internal teams to create against them.
Design is an investment.
Modern brands and venerable brands competing in a changing world proliferate through strong design systems that both embed the brand in culture and instill confidence through consistent codes and cues. I help give brands the courage to make bold moves: to fight back against disruptors or to punch beyond their weight
For Anita Roddick, Hamdi Ulakaya, Chris Blackwell, Kenny Benjamin, Yemi Rose, Nailah Ellis, Todd Carmichael and others, I ensured their personalities weren’t lost while creating salient brands. Being in the room. Not hiding behind presentation decks. Iterating while educating. I’ve made it happen.
“go there,”
infatuate.
For over twenty years, I’ve helped people trip. Emotional highs come from the magic of a place. All at the courtesy of some of the world’s leading brands. Attaching a sense of place has reignited once-loved brands with core audiences while growing into desired audiences. Years ago, I helped Bacardi connect the dots with its Cuban heritage. The bat — now a symbol of the rum’s mysticism — had been relegated to obscure purpose. Through clever placement — fire-lit bat towers in Spain, merchandise in Miami’s Little Havana or painted signage throughout Mexico — the bat literally rose in prominence as did the brand globally. Chobani had something its two main competitors (Danon and Yoplait) didn’t have: a Mediterranean founder. Martini needed to connect its world-renowned icon with the sprezzatura of Italian style and life. With brand foundations in place, I’m the one that’s traveled almost anywhere to art direct the shoot. I’ve circumnavigated the globe for Bombay Sapphire and Seagram. I’ve spent weeks in agave fields, centuries-old Scottish distilleries, Moroccan souks and Indonesian rice paddies.