Services
∙BRAND DEVELOPMENT
∙COPYWRITING
∙CREATIVE MARKETING STRATEGIES
We already addressed how marketing tends to suck. Below are examples of when marketing doesn't suck. What sets these work-examples apart from your standard, stale, and soulless marketing is this work is built off of a profound respect for the various brands' audiences.
It is important that we don't lose our humanity while operating in the professional space. People are people — before they are your customers. If we show people respect and offer excellent services, people will be more than customers — they will be brand-advocates.
If all you want to do is push units and make sales at the cost of quality and value, your marketing will fail.
We're smart. Let's respect each other.
Brooklyn Boulders
Copywriting, Brand Development, & Creative Strategies
Brooklyn Boulders is New York City's first 100% dedicated climbing gym. As their Regional Marketing Manager for NY facilities, I helped guide growth by nurturing the brand through intentional copywriting.
Everything is about sending a message; that's perhaps most clear when it comes to copy. I used "messaging" as the crux for my brand development strategy with Brooklyn Boulders. That may seem like a no-brainer. But, sadly, most marketing tends to lack a clear message and purpose. We communicate to send a message. That is the heart of my brand development and strategy guide for BKB.
The campaign's seed-message was, "Brooklyn Boulders helps people to be heroic."
The key message was, "BKB: Be Your Hero." This message gave way to core copy like, "Heroes aren't perfect, they're determined."
This was a content-based strategy. The content was designed to tell BKB members' stories. It was a conversation with our community, and a chance to showcase them.
Our NYC expansion was powered by our respect for the audience, and reminding people they are the heroes, BKB's just here to help.
These are excerpts from the internal document I created to guide our messaging for BKB's NYC expansion.
Larry Clark
Brand Development
Larry Clark is an iconic artist of our time. He is a filmmaker and photographer who imbues his work with intense personal insights; he is a true auteur. He is most known for his iconic 1995 film "Kids" and his landmark 1971 book of photography, "Tulsa".
The 21st century has not slowed Clark down. His 2005 film "Wassup Rockers" and partnership with innovative Japanese cult-fashion-house Wacko Maria led to Clark's latest book: 2014's "Wacko Maria". "Wacko Maria" featured the cast of "Wassup Rockers" adorned in Wacko Maria clothing. Along with the book, came a line of limited and exclusive t-shirts featuring scenes from his film "Wassup Rockers" and book "Wacko Maria".
These 2014 products led to the launch of Larry Clark's webstore.
As Larry Clark's marketing manager I produced the lookbook and managed media relations for the product rollout. The lookbook was shot by the Nan Goldin-inspired young photographer Maxwell Turner.
МИШКА
Spring 2015 Lookbook
Holiday 2015 Lookbook
Marketing
МИШКА is a Brooklyn-based Streetwear brand founded in 2003. The brand's iconic wordmark is defined by its Cyrillic letters, which echoes the brand's Russian roots.
МИШКА (written in English as "Mishka" and pronounced "Me-shka") is a brand that is truly predicated on individuality. The slogan I created "Wear Your Weird" speaks to that ethos of letting your inner life out.
While handling marketing for МИШКА I integrated marketing + communication + advertising to create holistic and comprehensive quarterly plans.
Creative Direction
I was responsible for the Creative Direction of МИШКА's marketing output. This meant following industry-trend-forecasting as well as diving deeply into the nerdiest and most niche fashion-forums available on the internet. The industry has its plans, but people have their own; you must be aware of both.
I directed the tone and presentation of each season's marketing materials. This assured that our seasonal lookbooks, newsletters, blogs, daily social media, and partner-marketing were aligned.
Production
While at МИШКА I was able to develop my passion as a producer; one who works intimately and on-set with creatives.
I worked with our photo + video + design team to produce daily social media content. But my greatest joy was the creative direction and production of our seasonal lookbooks.
Mainstream mega-fashion brands of the late '80s and early '90s like United Colors of Benetton and GAP were my biggest influences. I sought to create a "comfortably" mainstream presentation for the ever-incendiary and provocative brand.
Bond Hardware
Copywriting & Brand Development
Bond Hardware is a gender-neutral and modern jewelry brand that is predicated on industrial design merged with high fashion aesthetics. Their various processes are meticulous; different protocols are used for different materials.
Through social media management, newsletter creation + management, and web-copywriting I was able to help Bond Hardware define their aesthetic visually and verbally.
Ed Hardesty
Copywriting for Digital Ads
Ed Hardesty is a realtor based in New York City and Westchester. He needed digital ad-copy that had flair, local-familiarity, and a refined edge. He wanted to communicate his brand's identity and also generate leads.
These ads were the solutions.
Ruby Farms
Copywriting
Ruby Farms is a USDA certified organic cannabis farm based in Bend, Oregon. And they are one of the first to hold that distinction.
They needed evergreen web-copy that told the story of how cannabis went from being a humble plant, to a demonized drug, to being a product that can be USDA certified organic.
This is the short-story of cannabis and its place in America.
Fisher Wallace
Brand Development & Partner Marketing
Fisher Wallace is a mental health focused medical tech company. Fisher Wallace's product is an at-home FDA cleared device used for treating depression, anxiety, and insomnia.
It's only now, as we are merely beginning to approach the middle of the 21st century, that mental health has become destigmatized.
By partnering with МИШКА (Mishka) and working with photographer Charlie Himmelstein we were able to create a tongue-in-cheek lookbook that even won praise from the ever incendiary Adbusters.
Juliette Hohnen
Newsletter
Copywriting & Brand Development
Juliette Hohnen is a Los Angeles based realtor who needed copy that could effectively translate her brand-image into words.
Brand-voice is something that tends to get overlooked; it's easy to disregard it as an essential part of your brand as it isn't visual.
The task here was to not merely manage Juliette's blogs, social media, and newsletter... that stuff had to wait.
Before we could more forward it became clear that we needed to define what the "voice" was for Juliette's brand. This involved immersing in Juliette's unique vision for creating culture, and channeling her actual voice.
In the end we created a writing style that exhibited a personal and dressed-down tone without sacrificing credibility and authority.
Brooklinen
Copywriting & Ads
Brooklinen is a popular Brooklyn-based linens company. They began humbly as an ecom business working out of the Dumbo WeWork. They are now an established business enjoying the legacy-hallmark of success: brick and mortar locations — physical stores!
When I began working with Brooklinen in 2014, Facebook Ads was the driving-force of their business.
I worked with founder, Rich Fullop, to direct the ad-creative and also generate ad-copy. Additionally, I was responsible for the day-to-day ads-management.