PROJECTS
This page is what it says it is. Actually, it's the shorthand version of some of my favorite projects - commercials, websites and experiences I've had a hand in creating - in one long, continuous scroll. Because the work never ends. But I've dropped in some handy anchor links below, because user experience is also a thing.
Below, you'll find descriptions, pretty pictures and videos for often-fun, at times challenging, but all highly rewarding things I've had the pleasure to make with many, many talented people at R/GA, J. Walter Thompson and Margeotes|Fertitta+Partners. And with some pretty fantastic clients at J.P. Morgan Chase, ESPN, Mercedes-Benz, Jet.com, E*TRADE, AB-InBev, Diageo, the NFL and a few other companies you've probably heard of.
J.P. MORGAN CHASE
I can't talk about most of the work I've done with JPMC. Much of it is still in dev, so I'll hang on to the trade secrets. But here are a few things I can share.
In 2020, the firm unified all their investing and wealth management products under one, new brand, and we introduced that brand with an experience spanning four environments, including the all-new, FCS Award-winning site, jpmorganwealthmanagement.com. We developed the strategy, journeys, UX, UI and expanded the brand's visual identity, going from proposal to live site in six months.
I also had the pleasure of doing experience innovation work with numerous lines of business that you can and will soon see in their app and on their site. These experiences help the brand realize its promise to consumers to help them make the most of their money by providing them tools and information that help them better understand and manage their finances.
IPG COMPANIES: KINESSO AND MATTERKIND
With great data comes great opportunity. For IPG, the purchase of Acxiom represented a true, new opportunity - to create a single source of truth about consumers and users. To expand and optimize its Adtech and Martech capabilities and extend that newfound power to addressable advertising.
We developed the brand strategies, identities, names and sites for Kinesso (a net-new tech division of IPG) and Matterkind (the re-imagined Cadreon) to pave a new path for the two new companies and for the IPG family.
JET.COM
At Jet.com, some really smart folks figured out truly innovative ways to save you money while you shopped, using complex algorithms and a customer-first attitude.
We took the same innovative approach to crafting their work, helping the brand and their consumers save in the creation of their advertising and marketing experiences. We created the Careculator, a Facebook app that determined how much to spend on your friends at the holidays, based on your social interactions. We "recorded" radio spots that eschewed expensive voiceover talent in favor of Google translate, which read our perfect scripts to perfection. We also hacked search, to make the most famous, unofficial "Super. Bowls. Commercial."
Innovative savings + innovative marketing = Cannes Grand Prix. And a $3.3B sale to Walmart.
MERCEDES-BENZ USA
We filled the feed for Mercedes-Benz across twitter, Facebook and the 'gram, propelling them to the top 50 most beloved brands amongst Millennials and netting us MediaPost's Automotive Digital Agency of the Year.
How? Well, we created some truly great things.
The Lil' Benz Dealership - an IRL experience with toy Benzes, lil' dealers, lil' drivers manuals and lil' drivers licenses. Along with some of the finest automotive parody ads of all time, voiced by none other than Jon Hamm, himself.
We also introduced the brand to the nascent IGTV platform with the story of Bertha Benz, the woman behind the success of Karl Benz and the iconic brand we know today. This film set us on a path to forge more places for girls and women to take their rightful place in the industry.
NBA on ESPN
In 2016 we re-trained the focus of ESPN to "The Four Minute Fan"; those folks who'd grown up following their favorite teams and players away from the TV screen. Engaging asynchronously with teams and players across platforms, these fans followed sports like none before them, inserting themselves into players' conversations, their fashion exploits, their personal beefs, their fantasy values. They had moved away from terrestrial broadcasts. We brought them back.
In 2020, we united with fans and players alike in a season unlike any imagined. In the midst of a pandemic and a social awakening, the NBA returned to action, and we brought together the action on the court and the issues outside the bubble.
E*TRADE
Once upon a time, E*TRADE pioneered self-directed investing. And Kevin Spacey was a credible spokesperson. Those days are largely over but we did capture a moment, and embodied the incomparable feeling of control that E*TRADE provided to investors of all types.
Kevin Spacey went off script. Took over our production. And challenged viewers to a staring contest.
While Kevin wasn't around, we made some of the punniest investing spots of all time. Try not to laugh. I dare you.
BUD LIGHT
Bud Light is a brand best known for slapstick humor aimed at the broadest audience. In 2011, the brand needed to be decidedly, well, not that.
Craft beer had upended the industry, tastes had been refined, palates expanded. Millennials, it seemed, were up for pretty much anything new.
So we grabbed our strategy by the horns and leaned into the long-standing, session-able spirit of the brand and the idea that, with Bud Light, anything could happen.
Thus was born some fine work, the best being the brand's partnership with the NFL and the "Superstitions" campaign, which debuted at season's start and climaxed with 120 seconds of Super Bowl-stition (sorry) starring the very superstitious Stevie Wonder and the bewitching Zoe Saldana.
HSBC
In the mid-2000's, HSBC made its great push into the US market. But the world's local bank needed a new interpretation in the world's largest - and largely provincial - consumer banking market.
We discovered the true essence of the brand and what made its global presence meaningful in the world's greatest melting pot. Long before it was a popular political stance, HSBC embraced the beauty of what happens when you consider many points of view.
If you flew anywhere in the world from '07-'14, you saw our work on the jetways, presenting surprising, provocative and intriguing points of view on topics ranging from fashion and food to companionship and aging.
If you had a television, you saw some of these world-class executions as well.
KLEENEX
An American icon, Kleenex had become a commodity. Every competitive tissue was referred to as "a Kleenex." The brand's competitive advantage had eroded and sales and share were on a 10-year decline.
So we changed the conversation. Actually, we created participation, by positioning Kleenex as an expression of caring. The program "Softness Worth Sharing" saw a million Americans share the new and improved Kleenex with their loved ones across the country through a participatory online experience and the good old USPS.
"Softness Worth Sharing" turned the brand's fortunes around overnight, and netted a well-deserved Effie award.
ROYAL CARIBBEAN
It started with an insight. People who cruise love cruising. Like really love it. They sail repeatedly. They sing its praises to anyone who will listen. They make friendships last a lifetime. They create their own community that spans continents.
They are, effectively, their own nation at sea.
Thus was born "The Nation of Why Not" - an ever-roving place where citizens of this new nation visit, experience and eat something new every day.
See a version of the anthem spot here.
We also rode the viral wave (when you could still say such a thing with a straight face) with a clarion call to get hard-working Americans to take their vacation days.
Finally, we introduced their largest-ever ship and partnership with Dreamworks. See video at the bottom for a piece that never did make it to air but did make the CMO shoot a pina colada out of her nose.
SMIRNOFF
What does the world's largest vodka brand do when the market is flooded with super-premium vodkas speaking to craft?
You remind everyone that the reason you're the world's best-selling brand is because you make well-crafted vodka. And, to prove it, you serve it neat. Pretty neat, right?
NFL SUNDAY TICKET
When NFL SUNDAY TICKET was launched, streaming was just a fever dream. So, the prospect of "every game, every Sunday" was a logical proposition for the new service.
But, one night, while going through quant findings (which you might call "data"), I found something that seemed odd. NFLST subscribers watched basically the same number of games as non-subscribers.
People didn't subscribe just to see any team, or every game. They subscribed to see specific games not available in their markets. They got NFLST to follow their favorite teams from wherever they lived.
This insight unlocked infinitely better creative storytelling. And the narrative we established for the brand was eventually adopted by DIRECTV, who became the sole provider of NFLST.
GODIVA CHOCOLATIER
Ten years of pack shots left Godiva trailing a pack of newcomer, gourmet chocolate and confectionary brands.
We re-invigorated the brand by infusing desire along with the ganache, tinged with an artisinal brush of their signature gold.
