Branding

I've been lucky enough to work on almost every step in the branding process, from the birth of an idea to the launch of a creative campaign. Here's a peek at some of the types of creative work I've planned and executed.

Credit Karma, brand positioning

While at Goodby Silverstein, I was the dedicated Account Manager* for Credit Karma. At the time, they had a solid market share/brand perception for credit checks. However, they were expanding from a single product to a platform that offered a suite of products.

I was tasked with driving separate client presentations covering each of the "4 C's":

Competitive- who else is playing in the field?
Consumer- what does our customer care about?
Company- gathering insights, what does CK wish to achieve?
Character- exploring the current brand archetype of Credit Karma as well as competitors, and making a recommendation to pivot the existing brand archetype.

I managed the budget, timeline, and project tracker, directing a group of brand strategists. I synthesized their findings into client-facing decks which were presented to CK's VP of Product Marketing. These insights informed the "First Steps" campaign as well as new brand guidelines for Credit Karma across products.

* though my title at GS&P was Assistant Account Manager, there was no Account Manager on this project. I reported directly into the Account Director and took on AM responsibilities.

Savings Academy, end-to-end branding (click here to expand)

In 2018, my brother launched Savings Academy. In 2019, he left Facebook to pursue Savings Academy as his full-time gig. He ran the business full-time for a successful and lucrative two years. He's since returned to the corporate workplace (and had the cutest baby boy), but Savings Academy was a smashing success and remains a profitable business.

This case study is intensive, so I've linked it out so that we can have a deeper dive. I served as CMO for Savings Academy and produced all market research, naming, logos, and social media in its launch year. I continue to advise informally today.

NFL- creative conception + media planning

I was the dedicated Account Manager* for the NFL account while at Goodby Silverstein. They came to us because they:

1) wanted more people to play Fantasy Football (and on their site. Cause, you know, ads revenue)

2) had seen a dip in viewership for Thursday Night Football

3) wanted more viewership for GameDay Morning

A lot of birds to kill with one stone, no?

I worked on a tiny team comprised of myself (representing accounts), a brand strategist, one copywriter, and one art director. We were pretty budget-constrained, so we ran a short and tight brand discovery cycle, then jumped straight into creative concepting.

I worked side-by-side with our strategist to synthesize quantitative and qualitative insights into three concise briefs for the creative team (one for Thursday night, one for Fantasy, and one for GameDay Morning). I created a media schedule, designed client decks to review creative concepts, drove revisions, and kept us to schedule as we headed into production.

The fruits of our labor were four 30 second TV spots. I think they're pretty great!

* though my title at GS&P was Assistant Account Manager, there was no Account Manager on this project. I reported directly into the Account Director and took on AM responsibilities.

Google Recruiter- cross-product brand champion

Maaaaybe this one is a bit more indirect, but my four years in recruiting at Google has been an exercise in embodying a brand (and sub-brands).

I'm a leadership UX recruiter, so I hire high-level brilliant folks who are often already content in their current jobs. In order to represent Google well, my written and verbal communication needs to mirror the optimistic and playful tone of the company.