BRAND CONSULTANT & FREELANCE STRATEGY DIRECTOR

JANUARY 2018 - PRESENT

Serve as an independent partner for brands, agencies, and studios — guided by the belief that if you want a different output, you’ll need a different input to solve internal & external problems and drive results. Some highlights include:

STRATEGIC BUSINESS CONSULTING

  • Recruited by the CEO to serve as interim Head of Strategy at Special Group, overseeing strategy in NY and LA, growing the agency with new business wins and incremental growth while overseeing campaign and brand strategy on multiple accounts.

  • Collaborated with Australian carbon-neutral shipping company, Sendle, to research the US & Canadian markets, define its SMB GTM strategy, and orchestrate its market entrances.

  • Helped brands like Wayfair to rethink their approach to planning while breaking down barriers between teams to drive cohesion and deliver more effective campaigns. 

CAMPAIGN & CREATIVE STRATEGY

  • In partnership with SRC, led strategy for Google and ScamSpotter.org in their efforts to thwart gift card scammers — helping consumers to trust their gut by training it, unlocking 100% positive coverage, incremental pickup equivalent to $26.8M, and a 172% increase in conversations.

  • Led effort for WarnerMedia & Cashmere to better connect with black audiences — helping reshape the brand from behind the camera to open real opportunities for diversity and inclusion.

  • Collaborated with Stink Studios to debut the LA28 Olympic Games logo — folding stories of the diverse aspects of Los Angeles culture into 35 unique, dynamic creator variations of the “A”.

BRAND & PRODUCT POSITIONING

  • Worked with Receptor Brands on the first wholly owned Native cannabis venture in NY — helping the Shinnecock embed cultural truths into its Little Beach Harvest product ecosystem.

  • Hired by the real estate arm of LVMH to lead a major rebrand of LA’s sleepy South Bay Galleria Mall — evaluating, procuring, and collaborating with agency partners to develop the brand story, naming strategy, and create sales material and campaigns for the new South Bay Social District.

  • Helped Riot Games reimagine its approach to e-sports for League of Legends in the US around entertainment to parallel its global success as the most popular e-sports league in the world.

RESEARCH PROJECTS

  • Hired by Wieden+Kennedy to lead a 3-month sports pilgrimage across America — from back alley card rooms, the largest sports betting venue in the world, and rivalry moments like Yankees v. Red Sox to create the “Hitchhiker's Guide to Becoming a Sports Bettor” for FanDuel.

  • Engaged by KiwiCo’s Head of Brand to help the company to shift its focus from kids to parents — showcasing how its products help kids retain & apply what they’ve learned, alleviating parents’ deep-seated fear of limiting their children.

  • Tapped by healthcare startup, ThymeCare, to study the impact of cancer on the lives of Americans — shifting how the brand supports its members and caregivers as people instead of patients. 

DESIGN & INNOVATION STRATEGY

  • Hired by Hulu to help bridge the brand’s Strategy, Partnerships, Media, Marketing, and Research leadership to create the streaming industry’s first membership / loyalty program.

  • Engaged by DDB to help green energy company Iberdrola connect with the true needs of its consumers — harnessing insights to innovate EV charging products and adapt messaging & tactics to increase adoption of wind energy with both liberal and conservative Texans.

NEW BUSINESS PITCHES

  • Regularly engaged by top agencies to drive new business pitches — winning 18 out of 19 to date with such brands as Budweiser, Dollar Shave Club, Dosist, Google, Planned Parenthood, Manscaped and Hanes.

BRANDS

AT&T • BECU • Budweiser • Buffalo Wild Wings • Connected Cannabis • Cybercrime Support Network • CVS Beauty • Dollar Shave Club • Dosist • FanDuel • Google • The Honest Company • Hanes • Hulu • Iberdrola • Kernel Foods • KFC • KiwiCo • LA 2028 Olympics • L Catterton Real Estate • Little Beach Harvest • LVMH • Manscaped • Masimo Freedom • Masimo Stork • PayPal B2B • Pinterest • Planned Parenthood • Riot Games • RumChata • Sendle • Shaklee • ThymeCare • Tinder • WarnerMedia • Wayfair • Wealthfront • Uber • Ulyssia

AGENCIES

72andSunny • Area of Expertise • BBDO • Buoy Studio • Cashmere Agency • Code3 • Conill • Corner Table Creative • DDB • DNA • Glow • Haymaker • Highdive • Hyphenated • Mother • ØPUS United • R/GA • Receptor Brands • Register • Sandy Russell Creative • Schaaf • Special Group US • Standard Black • Stink Studios • Story Design • Studio B Entertainment • Vivi by Jack Morton • Wieden+Kennedy

72ANDSUNNY, Los Angeles CA

June 2015 - JANUARY 2018

Strategy Director

Google (Hardware, Brand Studio), MillerCoors (Coors Light, Banquet), ESPN, Dropbox, FCA (Jeep, Alfa Romeo), New Business

Recruited by the Head of Strategy to land new business — growing to lead 16 direct reports and oversee strategy for Jeep, Alfa Romeo, MillerCoors, ESPN, Dropbox, Instagram, and Google.

  • Helped grow Coors Light and Banquet — ultimately leading a 9-member team of data, social, and brand strategists on Coors Light to maintain the #2 sales position in a highly competitive, shrinking market while coaching Coors Banquet to focus tactics to unlock two years of consecutive growth.

  • Led a $300k research initiative for MillerCoors to define what it means to be a man in America — partnering with the VP, Global Insights to design an innovative boots-on-the-ground methodology.

  • Strategically drove the global launch of Google’s Home Mini and Max — positioning the Assistant as an indispensable, helpful tool and powering the most successful hardware launch in brand history.

  • Pitched and won AOR relationship with Google Brand Studio — driving altruistic initiatives to tackle the world’s biggest problems and improve millions of lives, designing tools for disaster preparedness, donation transparency, STEAM education, and providing collective catharsis with Year in Search.

  • Helped Instagram celebrate its 500M user milestone — tapping into the vastness of experiences of the platform’s users to deliver a strategy that received personal recognition from Instagram’s CMO.

  • Guided ESPN’s SC@Night to navigate the uncertainties of cord-cutting — creating a modular brand system for efficiently developing animated content without compromising strategy or quality. 

MULLEN LOWE, Boston MA & Los Angeles CA

May 2012 - June 2015

Associate Strategy Director

American Honda Motor Co (Acura), US Cellular, New Business

Recruited into the agency by the current Global CEO — receiving two promotions in 3 years, running strategy for the agency’s two largest accounts, successfully pitching Acura, and opening the LA office.

  • Led strategy & planning for the agency’s largest and newly acquired account, US Cellular — guiding the 16:1 outspent brand to assume a challenger mindset and harness the power of its strength, “treating customers like neighbors, not numbers,” to substantially lift awareness and sales.

  • Supported the LA Head of Strategy as the Day-to-day strategy lead charged with onboarding & running the agency’s AOR business with Acura — managing a team of 4 to execute launches at the national, regional, and dealer levels.

  • Played a key role in establishing a point of view for Acura — focusing on engineering and the power of substance over flash, which transformed the 2014 MDX from an SUV with little excitement and tempered expectations into a launch with record sales and increased prestige and opinion.

  • Drove all strategy for Acura’s model launch of the TLX — partnering with engineers to tell their story of building the car they wanted and pre-launching in March Madness where  the real game is played - the brackets - to deliver a +14 point lift in ‘fun to drive’ without a finished car. 

ARNOLD WORLDWIDE, Boston MA

Aug 2010 - April 2012

Brand Strategist

McDonald’s, Progressive Insurance, truth, New Business

After career-forming internships at TBWA/Chiat/Day LA and Saatchi&Saatchi NY, recruited to support McDonald’s and Progressive — working closely with the VP Planning Director, receiving a masterclass in transcending observations, getting to meaningful insights, and writing stellar briefs.

  • Garnered extensive experience in building brand worlds on Progressive Insurance — building a strong skillset in how to keep a famous campaign like the Superstore and “Flo” fresh.

  • Served as lead strategist for McDonald’s across four offices — driving planning regionally & nationally in the US to launch McCafe & Bakery and make Egg McMuffin synonymous with “the best” for its 40th Anniversary, creating one of the first ads to trend organically on Twitter.

  • Drove US / Canada research for Carnival — conducting man-on-the-street interviews, uncovering Canadian cottage culture, and visiting places like the Great Wolf Lodge to unlock the real truths behind land-based vacationing and help deliver groundbreaking, award-winning work.

  • Contributed core strategies for new business pitches with AutoZone, United Airlines, American Eagle, Carbonite, and McDonald’s — helping position the agency for honors as the 2010 Comeback Agency of the Year by Ad Age and its naming to Ad Age's 2011 Agency A-List. 

FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY, Cum Laude

BA Advertising, Minors Creative Writing, Art History

FSU Intl Studies • AAF National Student Advertising Competition Natl Finalist 

SECTION 4, PROFESSOR G MBA STRATEGY SPRINT, March 2020

Remote learning course led by Professor Scott Galloway of the NYU Stern School of Business. Think of it as an MBA bootcamp built to make higher education more affordable, accessible and honest.