W+K London:
Project Cozy
One of the most creatively awarded, strategically envied advertising agencies on the planet had a problem. Annual reviews were showing a strange trend - women at the agency were being given the feedback that they lacked confidence. Project Cozy set out to uncover the gendered disparities in motivation, creativity and trust at W+K.
We found that it wasn’t that the women of W+K lacked confidence, it was that their confidence in the ability to feel seen and heard at W+K had eroded. A lack of psychological safety and ability to feel seen and heard among their peers, bosses and teams was directly at odds with the level creativity the agency was founded to embody. As a result, the W+K leadership team implemented changes that arguably should be made across the whole of the industry.
A little over a year after Project Cozy’s roll out, ‘confidence in your ability to do your job’ is up 4%.
Women feeling that the loudest voices get rewarded, not having regular 1-1s, imposter syndrome, perceptions of pay inequality, feeling deliberately undermined, and the need to be at the pub or risk missing out are all down by double digits. For men, feeling that they need to be at the pub or risk missing out is down, as is their imposter syndrome also by double digits.
Cozy has become both a recruiting and retention tool, and a testament to the commitment of W+K to making the best work of your career. Cozy 2.0 is in the works.
SHOW UP FOR SPOKANE
BECU is the 4th largest credit union in America, and if you were in Seattle WA you’d know it. But Spokane is a credit union market, and beyond the East vs West of Washington, Spokane WA is a dramatically different place than Seattle with radically different needs.
As BECU hit reset in Spokane, we needed to help the brand see their own Seattle biases, and crack a bigger brief - in a market where product is at relative parity, and you aren’t the David vs the big bank Goliath, how do you show up for Spokane, not just show up in Spokane? With Further&Further, we were able to shed light on what people here actually need to feel seen and understood, and helping them with what they really need: how to do big things with little money.
A pilgrimage to sport
Designed a cross country pilgrimage to sport for W+K NYC and FanDuel. From rivalries like Yankees v Red Sox, to the largest outdoor sports betting in the world, late night bars and back alley card rooms, and time learning from hall of fame NFL tailgaters. I sought to uncover how people become sports bettors. Specifically targeting markets where Sports betting was on the ballot or legal, the resulting findings led to a ‘Hitchhikers Guide to becoming a sports bettor’ - highlighting how people come into the fold, how it changes their sense of fandom and the way they consume sport. Also, I now know where to get hot tips on ping pong and to never bet on Jimmy Butler.
Unbelievable stories
Gift card scammers have been posting banner years. Their billion dollar industry preys on people’s fear of loss and often succeeds. They’ve grown more sophisticated in feigning authority, in their points of contact being more intimate, and their message more urgent. It’s not until after they have been scammed that people realize how ridiculous it all was.
To encourage people to trust their gut, we needed to train their gut by highlighting the unbelievability of real scam stories, reminding them that if someone - anyone - asks to solve a problem using gift cards, it’s a scam. If it sounds unbelievable, it probably is.
MESSING WITH TEXAS
Led a 6 week design thinking research sprint to unlock a positioning for a global clean energy brand entering the Texas market. We couldn’t take the team to Texas, so instead we brought insight, quant and qual research and cultural nuance to them.
Texans don’t need another cowboy hat or someone to tell them not to Dallas their Austin. ‘The greatest country in The United States of America’ just want what’s best for Texans–even if they disagree on the means they can generally align on the result. It’s not in the tropes that creative and brands can shine, instead it’s in showing up with the same level of integrity and respect for Texans that really matters.
the real south bay
To reimagine the South Bay Galleria, L Catterton Real Estate needed to build a brand from scratch that truly represented South Los Angeles - before the building was fully de-leased and before the architects had completed their work.
As their marketing consultant, I led brand strategy and vision, early B2B marketing efforts, brand identity and naming and agency procurement - bringing on Battery LA as our partners (who absolutely brought the soul of the South Bay to life). The South Bay of LA doesn’t need another cookie cutter destination that only reflects a portion of LA, it could use a place that embraces the patchwork of the real South Bay and all the possibilities it bridges.
articulating the NATURE OF FANDOM
To land a positioning to unite multiple sports sponsorships, we had to beat words like 'passion' and surpass surface truths like "there's no I in team".
With no money, and a lot of stakeholders to convince, I dipped into the greatest free tool for understanding fandom at its core: youtube. Fan reaction videos helped land a tension I know to be true as a sports fan and rich as a strategist: We aren't addicted to sport–we're addicted to the ride sport takes us on.