Everyone loves a story. The story of Capital One may not be full of wizards, murderous sewer clowns, or epic journeys of food and love – but it is a great story nonetheless.

We are challenged with creating a brand for Capital One that people care about - all people. So we decided to start by talking to ourselves. We crafted a brief story that outlined the journey of how Capital One came to be. It's underpinned by our culture and values, and designed to acknowledge the future vision of the brand.

The #DefineYourDream campaign was born with the goal of showcasing the amazing things our customers are doing and our commitment to supporting them on their journeys. We wanted to find a way to build brand love and advocacy while inspiring our customers to share their own personal #DefineYourDream moments. We wanted to connect with our customers and show that Capital One is a brand people trust.

While this campaign is ongoing, we've had great successes so far:

- 56.7MM impressions

- 10.5MM engagements

- 11 point lift in brand favorability 

- Since launch, we've received overwhelmingly positive engagements with additional customers sharing their stories with us on social

- The campaign was featured in Ad Age magazine for its unique use of Facebook video to help tell a deeper story. The article mentions: "Facebook and Instagram allow us to connect in a more personal way with consumers. It allows us to tell an in-depth story that can go a bit deeper than a 30-second TV commercial."

Capital One is a great place to work – Fortune magazine says so – but it's a well-kept secret that it’s a great place for creatives to work too.

I tell candidates and recruits that when I was a 20 year old art school student the last place I imagined myself working was at a bank. I use this to help break the tension in an interview setting, but also to help the candidate give him or herself permission to be open to new and different places to work. Realizing we needed a better way of articulating that feeling and revealing the truth about what life is like for a creative at Capital One, we wrote a script, grabbed a camera and set off.

What we created was a true-to-life representation of what the life, work, and feeling of being a Creative Director, Copywriter, Doodler, or Dreamer at Capital One is – real.

The Priceless Table event was part of the launch of the new Capital One Savor Card. The new credit card from Capital One and Mastercard is about earning rewards for food and dining purchases, including cashback bonuses on food and grocery purchases.

Celebrity Chefs Graham Elliott, Brian Voltaggio, and Michael Voltaggio mixed bold ingredients and local flair during a meal to remember for a select group of Capital One cardholders. Serving up a one-of-a-kind menu for guests at iconic landmarks – The New York Public Library, The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, and The Wharf in DC.

Capital One needed a shared purpose to help bring the brand promise to life – a Polaris for the entire enterprise to orient to, and a reason to run toward it.

We delivered that through a manifesto that challenged the entire organization to shed any assumptions about what they do every day. To move away from doing and toward trying. Change doesn't happen by just going through the motions and waiting. You need to try, fail, try again, probably fail again, and never stop learning the entire time.

Eno—”one” spelled backwards—is a natural language chatbot that people interact with through texting. 

We wanted to launch Eno at SXSW in 2017, but needed a kickoff piece to introduce the product that would get the audience up to speed quickly, entertain them, and raise the energy in the room ahead of the keynote presentation. The resulting piece tells a day in the life of a typical Eno user.

Recognizing the early adoption and power of touch screen technology with children, we saw a great opportunity to take the tradition of handmade greeting cards from the dining room table to the iPad. An existing behavior is enhanced with an array of digital tools and effects not available offline, and "mistakes" are easily erased. By utilizing the Cardstore.com fulfillment channel, the child's creation becomes a lasting keepsake--recipients receive an actual paper card version in their mailbox, professionally printed on high-quality card stock.

Apple staff pick - April 2014

Just Wink combines a traditional form of communicating sentiment with the power and ease of social networks and mobile devices.

We designed the Just WInk app in a way that seamlessly intergrates a familair action of signing and sending a greetuing card, with the always with you convenince of your phone, desktop, or tablet. Users can add a personalized message, favorite photos, and even a signature. Then send the card via text, email, Twitter, Facebook or even as paper cards through the postal service.

Our first mobile live event marketing campaign...

We were looking for a high-impact way to generate awareness around the launch of the justWink greeting card program. Tapping into the growing trend of food trucks, we decided to build the Wink Wagon. We traveled the country sharing the cards and helping people connect.

Targeting events that we knew resonated strongly with our intended target audience – we deployed 2 wink wagons. They crossed the country for 6 months between March and August of 2012, setting up shop at such events as Summerfest, Pitchfork Music Festival, and SXSW.

The objective of launching this app was to generate awareness of, and engagement with, Taylor Swift and her Greeting Cards – while providing the content to her fans wherever they are.

The Taylor Swift Greeting Card app was a free mobile app that allowed users to select, personalize, and send digital versions of paper greeting cards from their mobile phone, via text message, email, Facebook, and Twitter.

The Ben Curtis Family Foundation is a charitable group created by PGA Tour professional golfer Ben Curtis. The goal of the charity is to help eradicate childhood hunger amongst local populations, through fundraising efforts and the distribution of food and services through local schools.

I was involved from its inception to help establish the brand, positioning, and strategy. I continue to be involved as a board member and advocate.

Part of the Hallmark portfolio of entertainment services, Feeln is a SVOD service serving up films that entertain, inspire and delight audiences of all ages.

My role was to lead a rebranding effort. Beginning with a name change, we developed an entirely new logo, design system, digital product suite, and editorial voice.

Every year TOMS shoes sponsors a one day event to raise awareness of the 1:1 pledge the company provides to impoverished children worldwide. "One Day Without Shoes" invites people to spend an entire day barefoot, to raise awareness for the millions who go without proper footwear on a daily basis. Recognizing the power of a simple greeting card, TOMS approached justWink to help spread the word and drive engagement leading up to the event. We developed a program that provided a unique and highly engaging set of greeting cards for the TOMS advocate to share their experience and help increase participation in the ODWS event.

An online greeting card shopping and sending experience that helps consumers easily locate cards tailored to their specific needs and tastes. Cardstore Smart Nav leverages the benefits of digital technology with the fun, simple, and meaningful act of traditional card browsing. 

I'm a sucker for a logo project! Few projects are as exciting as helping a client craft the look and feel of their product or service.

Sometimes work feels like work – but every moment I spent on Just Wink content felt like a tiny little cerebral vacation to the funny farm.

It was my pleasure to lead the Just Wink team in delivering new content to our consumers every month. This is a sampling of some of the content we created that hopfully spread some happiness, laughter, and love.

This was a small project, but one of my favorites. When I first joined FTD's Gifts.com brand the company was going through a metamorphosis – a new strategy, rebranding, and overhauling supply chains. As a result of the latter, we lost our custom printed shipping boxes. Heading into the holiday season we knew we were missing an opportunity to marketing ourselves to recipients.

The lo-fidelity solve of stickers was the obvious solution, but the messaging on the stickers was awesome. During the holiday 2014 season, we received more love on social channels and customer calls about the stickers than we did for the products themselves. Showcasing further that people care about the brands they do business with. 
 

One Pack is a Los Angeles based start-up focusing on the 1:1 model of charitable support. For each dog bed purchased, One Pack provides a low-maintenance bed to a shelter in need.

One Pack sources all labor domestically and only utilizes renewable or recycled materials in their product.

A Style Your Sole party is a fun and simple way to make a difference through the TOMS One for One movement. Together with your friends, family, classmates or your community, you grab some art supplies and customize your own canvas TOMS, while your matched pairs of shoes are given to a child in need. 

We realized that this was another opportunity to strengthen our partnership with TOMS by leveraging the creative talent at AG. We passed out blank shoes, offered up a few caffeinated drinks and table full of art supplies. The next day we had 35 pair of unique TOMS shoes completed.

After reviewing the Cardstore brand & website through the lens of fun, simple and fresh, we developed and tested a new brand look and feel. With warmer tones and playful colors, we set the mood of the brand as a place where sending cards can be fun, not boring.

Consumers are always on the move – so we decided to embrace that and put our content wherever they happened to be. If they have to wait for a bus, a pizza, or a root canal – why not put our content in front of them? Take the greeting card out of the aisle and into their everyday lives – enabling a symbiotic and natural relationship between our consumers and our brand.

We tested this in small runs throughout Los Angeles and Cleveland in 2012. It was scraped because someone in pleated Dockers and braided belt didn't understand it :-\

When my brother-in-law decided to get married, I figured there would be something that he and his fiancé would need from me – last minute programs for the ceremony, perhaps? What I didn't expect was to be asked to craft their invitations. I was honored to have the responsibility of announcing their love and intentions to everyone they held near and dear. 

I adored this project.

One of my greatest pleasures in life (and often greatest pain in the a** for my wife) is to make everything and anything "custom" – invitations, stationery, wall art, furniture...you name it. I live and die by this motto: I won't pay for anything I can make myself! To that end, my wife graciously allowed me to design our wedding invitations.

Not all of my creations arise from necessity. Sometimes, I just need to get things out of my head and on to paper for the pure love of doing it. Here is a collection of some personal things that make me smile... don't judge me.