Creative Direction, Copywriting, Campaign Development
Creative Direction: Taglines and Campaigns for Patagonia, RVCA and Converse
In a past life, I was a creative director for campaign development and copywriting for some fun brands: brand presentation on the Yahoo! team, then print and digital campaign concepts for Patagonia, RVCA and Converse, from strategy and taglines to photography and type.
Creative Direction
- 01 Problem
Each brand needed one line and one visual system that could carry a campaign across magazines, billboards, events and social, for a specific audience.
- 02 Approach
Strategy first, then the tagline, then photography selection, typography and layout, extended to every medium the audience actually meets.
- 03 Outcome
Campaign lines such as "It's my calling.", "Perfection begins in the water.", "I am One with water." and "You were always my All-Star.", each carried from print into outdoor, events and digital.
The Patagonia, RVCA and Converse pieces are spec work: self-initiated campaign concepts, not campaigns commissioned or run by those brands. Photography is credited to the photographers named in each brief.
Patagonia2012Print spec work
It's my calling.
RVCA2012Print spec work
Perfection begins in the water.
The 2014 spread extended the line to RVCA surf clothing for a magazine one-page spread.
RVCA2012Print spec work
I am One with water.
RVCA2012Campaign extension
From print to every screen.
Converse2015Print spec work
You were always my All-Star.
Yahoo!Until 2001Brand team
Presenting the brand, every day.
While at Yahoo! until 2001, I worked with a team of creatives challenged with the public presentation of the Yahoo! brand. These images are a small fraction of the work we faced daily, online and offline, across many platforms and countries.
PosterInfographic
Gandolfini: filmography and awards.
An infographic poster of James Gandolfini's films and awards, with every role and honor charted along the sides.
Download the PDF
Why it still matters
Creative direction taught me the discipline I bring to product design today: find the one idea that matters to a specific audience, say it in as few words as possible, and carry it consistently across every place people meet it. A tagline and a design system have more in common than they seem.
How I worked
Every campaign started with the audience and the strategy, then the line. Once the line was right, the photography, typography and layout followed, and the campaign was extended to the media that audience actually uses: outdoor magazines for Patagonia, billboards, events and mobile for RVCA, and music events and social for Converse, including a Twitter-driven sweepstakes built around #youwerealwaysmyallstar.
Skills: Creative Direction, Copywriting, Campaign Strategy, Tagline Creation, Photography Selection, Typography, Art Direction.