HANDS-ON SHOE DESIGN 

NIKE iD

Working directly with Senior NIKE Brand Managers, I helped to develop an in-store, retail experience to bring the famed NIKEiD brand to life so that participants could design their own custom shoes in a physical, hands-on experience. Before working with my agency (SET Creative), NIKEiD had previously only existed as an online experience. 

My goal with this prject was to enable every customer to feel like a designer. To do this, I unpacked the blocks that prohibited people from feeling creative and explored opportunities that could motivate even reluctant, would-be designers. As a final output we created an empowering design experience with tactile access to custom swatches, an immersive retail environment, one-on-one design mentorship, professional design tools, one-of-a-kind packaging, concierge-level delivery experiences, AND in-store celebrity artist residencies. This project succesfully celebrated the individuality of the consumer and their passion for the NIKE brand. 

Retail Design Experience, 2015  

Brand Strategist, SET Creative

HOW TO LAUNCH A NIGHTCLUB IN VEGAS  

PALMS Casino in Las Vegas

How do you launch the largest nightclub the US has ever seen and ensure that it will stand out in the most competitive nightclub landscape in the world? Cutting through the noise in any category requires a strong point of differentiation and a willingness to take a bold stance. Being the new kid on the block has its advantages, but what about when you’re dealing with a massive rebrand AND the most competitive and dazzling market in the US? 

PALMS Casino underwent a large rebrand in 2018. They decided to align with a new generation of consumers through a daring and sophisticated proposition - to embody the intersection of art and culture.

Later heralded as the “best modern exhibit on the west coast”, PALMS was able to curate cultural artifacts from the likes of Damien Hirst, Basquiat, Olivia Steel, and Warhol just to name a few.

Working with international design agency AKQA, I conducted local and global competitive audits, conducted interviews, and added my own real-world experience to develop a perspective, narrative, and brand strategy that positioned PALMS’ Nightclub (already previously named KAOS) as the premiere destination for Millennial Culture Savants to lose themselves and be bathed and reborn in the experience of the West Coast's top  MusicalArtists and DJ’s including Marshmello, Cardi B, Travis Scott, Skrillex, and more. 

Brand Positioning Framework + Competitive Analysis, 2019 

Freelance Brand Strategist, AKQA

REBIRTHING A BRAND FOR A NEW MILLENIUM
OAKLEY

Oakley originally engaged me to help them redesign their retail brand experience. When the marketing director and I started digging into the brand messaging platform we realized Oakley was experiencing some brand schizophrenia. One half of the company thought of themselves exclusively as a sports brand with deep roots in counter culture and the other half saw themselves as “mad scientists” tinkering at the edge of innovation. But they both wanted to be a lifestyle brand. One side thought the other was nerdy. The other side thought the other was holding onto glory days. After a few discovery calls, the marketing manager and I decided it would be best if we first set out to find some alignment within the brand if our attempts to design a smart retail strategy were going to bear any fruit. 

Through the process of conducting company interviews and sorting through Oakley’s brand archives and artifacts, I was able to reconcile the differences between these two halves and evolve their brand playbook to reflect the attitudes and values of Oakley’s culture of innovation rooted in sport. Together with some very talented designers, my agency reflected Oakley’s heritage back to them while highlighting their future in a way that would make Daniel Ashram proud. We unpacked Oakley’s history for them and connected to emerging Millennial trends via colors, textures, messaging, and programming. 

Our agency went on to design flagship “innovation” stores for Milan, Disney Springs, and NYC that boasted High-Tech retail experiments, modular shelving that transformed into fitness studios, and a 'light and easy' “boutique” retail experience. 

Global Brand Positioning + Retail Strategy, 2015

Brand Experience Strategist, SET Design

CATCHING LIGHTING IN A BOTTLE

AllBirds

This sustainable shoe brand was exploding, but the company was having a hard time talking about themselves. It was almost as though they had such a rich story that they almost didn’t know where to start. The company was dedicated to redesigning materials in a way that worked with nature and embraced biomimicry as practice. Allbirds shoes were especially easy to spot in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area. Their casual, low-profile look, sustainability credibility, and nearly invisible logo was a relaxed and refreshing alternative to the otherwise boisterous show market. The owner, a former professional footballer, had had it with the constant endorsement and logos. 

The brand knew they were hot and wanted to bottle some of that lighting to take into other markets but they were unsure of how to say it all in a clear way.. The company engaged with a small but mighty agency in Portland, OR called Opinionated and they hired me to help make sense of the story architecture and help create a framework of brand foundations that the client and agency could work from for future advertising campaigns. Shortly thereafter they took on an even greater fame when Leonardo DiCaprio decided to invest in them, noting their future forward materials as a potential means to solve some of the world's biggest problems. Soooo…. mission accomplished?

Brand Positioning, 2017 

Freelance Brand Strategist, Opinionated

NIKE GOES TO CHINA

NIKE Beijing

There were NIKE stores all over the world…. except China. NIKE engaged my agency to help them create a retail experience that would inspire the imagination of a new market and cement NIKE as a leader in the growing Chinese basketball segment. For the first time ever, NIKE was preparing to mix the Jordan, Basketball, and NIKE Sports Wear brands into one cohesive epicenter, but how?

The credo at NIKE Retail Design at the time was “create an experience that people will pay for and then give it away for free”.  To do this well, we knew it was important to get into the hearts and minds of the Chinese consumer and explore their motivations for interacting with NIKE. Our end product was an elite concierge-style customization experience that celebrated the consumers unique taste and style to set them apart from the crowd. 

Brand Experience Design + Consumer Insight Strategy

Brand Experience Strategist, SET Creative

CORE VALUES BUILD COMMUNITY 

Cubicle Surf

Running a small business is a big job. When you’re a surfboard shaper, a retail manager, social media manager, the brand manager, and everyone’s best friend - it can be hard to keep a clear calendar and attack all your goals. In this case, Cubicle Surf had found their niche in Bend, Oregon as a premiere river wave surf company, but they didn’t want to lose their street cred as a true surf brand. Working directly with the owner operator, we established a working brand framework to articulate fundamental brand truths to make the brand easier to speak about and easier to design for. Along the way we overhauled and redesigned the online and in-store retail experience and created boundaries between the retail and shaping sections of the shop.  In addition we created a service plan, and grew the social media footprint and had some fun in the process.  

Brand Positioning, Retail Design, Business Coaching, Photography, 2020
Brand Coach, ISYM

ORGANIC GROWTH WITH ZERO WASTE

Sustainable Rituals

When you own a business, your brand is an extension of you. In a way, everyone you do business with walks away with a small piece of you. How we invite them in is everything and knowing what you’re offering is almost as important as knowing why you’re doing it in the first place. This is the hearth of aligned, inspired action.  

I got to work with Sustainable Rituals, an eco-home goods and plant store in McMinnville, Oregon to help them identify their brand values, marketing mix, and retail strategy to create real value for their customers and grow their bottom line, beating year-end sales goals by nearly 20%. We worked to optimize business fundamentals, streamline and optimize in-store retail, and created short and long-term brand growth strategies that will not only serve the environment but the hearts of people by inviting them to slow down and make better choices from their wallets all the way down to their thoughts. 

Brand Positioning, Business Planning, and Photography, 2021
Brand Coach, ISYM

IGNITING A CULTURE OF INNOVATION

CYSCO SYSTEMS

Once known as internet pioneers, Cisco Systems had grown so large and so diverse that they needed to reconnect with their roots in innovation. The tech giant had come to a point where the behemoth was acquiring more startup technology than it was creating from within. And so they set out to fan the flames of innovation by focusing their resources on creating a culture of innovation that pulled from its 60k employees spread all across the globe.

Working directly with senior managers and various departments around the organization, I outlined a year-long strategy of cultural moments of engagement initiatives designed to galvanize and invigorate employees to take up the torch of innovation culminating in a company-wide democratic ‘shark tank’ style innovation contest. 

Along the way, I helped design communications and content that sought to reframe the way we look at and relate to the innovation process. We set out to equip everyone in the agency to better understand the start-up world, best practices, and paths to develop Minimum Viable Products to prove their concepts. Our work culminated in an internal social media site where ALL employees were encouraged to post their ideas no matter how small and were voted up by colleagues based on the perceived merit and utility. Upvotes were then given resources to further develop their ideas and form teams of ideal fits to expedite their creation.

Marketing Campaign Strategy, Content Writing, 2017

Sr. Brand Strategist, Manifesto Agency