Brand strategy is beautifully personal.
It’s held my interest nearly as long as I’ve been alive, starting as a kid trying to fit into social groups. This didn’t come easily to me so I watched from the outside. I noticed logos as badges of in-group status. Athletes, skaters, preps—all of them united by branded uniforms to signal their affiliation. Through passing years, I’ve watched brands become expressions of personal identity. Whether you’re gearing up for a new hobby or supporting a charity, you’ll find a brand eager to represent your values. In this sense, our American urge to create brands is not unlike the ancient Greeks creating the pantheon. Brands give society a set of symbols to represent our values and aspirations. To create them is a powerful privilege—a small authorship in our shared cultural narrative.
CLIENT WORK
With 8+ years of agency experience in brand strategy and consumer research, I’ve had the great privilege of shaping a wide range of brands—from consumer brands with cult followings, to niche technical products for discerning shoppers, to services that shape that foundation of our society.
Brand building Process
Throughout my time at Planet Propaganda, I’ve played a leading role in developing and refining our brand building process. Beginning with a deep dive into data, we uncover the hidden gems of useful knowledge, and boil them down into a platform of insightful wisdom to steer a brand. Once we identify the inherent truth that gives each brand their purpose, we have a foundation to amplify to the world.
The process of moving from data to knowledge, to wisdom and truth, follows a format we’ve pressure tested over the years. We believe every brand is defined by 4 key pillars: your personality, product, point of view, and people. A strong brand is made by creating the greatest harmony between those 4 pillars. The brand truth emerges from the center where these pillars intersect.
My niche
Research: Leading custom qualitative and quantitative research studies, including methodology and research design, question development, recruitment, moderation, data analysis, and reporting.
Problem solving: Sometimes the barriers to brand growth go way beyond communications. Sometimes it’s operational. Sometimes it’s politics. Whatever it is, when it’s unwieldy, confusing, and needs a fresh set of outside eyes, a new project finds its way to my desk.
Insights: Navigating mountains of data to discover the uncommon connections within it. I unite analytics with intuition to uncover ripe opportunities for business development and creative communications.
Brand strategy: At the intersection of a brand's advantage, the audience's desires, and the market's opportunities, I position brands with a platform that is real, relevant, rare, and leaves ample room for growth.
Client relations: At the outset of a new client relationship, I moderate dozens of stakeholder interviews that establish strong foundations of openness and trust throughout the organization. These interviews set the tone for the rest of our relationship, where my work will guide the brand evolutions and revolutions we’ll pursue together.
