As Executive Creative Director at Zillow Group, I had the opportunity to build and lead a fully integrated in-house Creative, Production and Content team for the first time in the brand’s history. Also over-seeing the creative development with our AOR (and the AOR search process) I was able to integrate our marketing campaigns between our in-house teams and our outside partners.

The results led to the brand’s most highly awarded and recognized work to date; winning 2 D&AD Pencils, 5 AICP awards, Best In Show in Post Production at AICP, The One Show, a Clio, Cannes short-list, WEBBY and shout-outs from AdWeek, AdAge, Shots, Best Ads On TV, Muse by Clio, and an article in Campaign about the work for Zillow being one of the top ten most-read creative stories of the year.

This is just a small sampling of the hundreds of assets that made up the best-tested integrated campaign to date.

Original score for the first commercial, JOURNEY courtesy of Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead.

It was a great privilege to have spent five years in LA over-seeing all creative and the integration of brand, retail, and digital of this iconic brand. I led all creative development that ultimately turned Volkswagen from a small car company into a primarily SUV automaker for the first time ever with consistently well-crafted brand story-telling across every medium.

This work won lots of the usual industry awards - Webby’s, FWA, One Show etc and also appeared in a variety of publications including Creativity, Adweek, billboard, and Forbes.

Here are just a few examples, including the epic launch of Volkswagen's biggest SUV, the Atlas, social and digital work for the VW Golf and even a shout out from Gene Simmons.

"Acrobats" was part of the global launch of a new moisturizer from Unilever called Shear Infusion that penetrates all three layers of skin. Keeping in line with the brand’s promise, “Keeping Skin Amazing,” this commercial was shot at the biggest sound studio in the world in Sydney, Australia.

The campaign (including broadcast, digital and print) was produced in multiple languages, aired around the world and was featured in the Internationally acclaimed, Lurzers Int'l Archive Magazine as well as numerous other publications around the globe.

The commercial "Rain" reminds people how generous and kind Volkswagen drivers have always been - and how Volkswagen is now returning the favor with the People First Warranty. The campaign included digital, social and 6-second "bumpers" that played on YouTube pre-roll (screen-grabs below)

The effort was a critical component in helping to rebuild brand trust post Diesel-gate by leaning into the brand’s legacy and was written about extensively in the press. Music by The Beatles and Joe Cocker.

My passion for music has led me to the involvement of a number of projects in the music industry.

Working closely with the folks at Atlantic Records, I oversaw the conceptual development and design of 3-time Grammy-Nominated artist Charlie Puth’s debut CD. “Nine Track Mind” (which I titled) went Platinum shortly after its release.

I also worked with Atlantic Records, Spotify, and Warner Music to launch Emerge, a nationwide, social media-driven search for teen pop/R&B talent. The effort has been written about extensively - including articles in Variety and Billboard.

Separately, the first music video I wrote and produced for a track I have singer/songwriter credit for (We Didn't Know) was Vimeo's pick of the day and was written about all over the world as far away as Turkey and Japan.

This completely integrated campaign for Travelers Insurance was awarded just about everywhere. It received an Emmy Nomination, a Cannes Lion, and was awarded in The Kellys, The WEBBYs and The One Show. It also appeared in Communication Arts, AdAge, ADWEEK, Creativity and was written about at length in FWA.

Shout out to Noam Murro and Lance Accord (amongst others) for some great film directing.

This ground-breaking campaign included the story of a lesbian couple bringing home their adopted daughter from Asia that ran during MLB and the Olympics. The spot, “Immigration” was honored as the "Commercial of The Decade" by GLADD and is the first commercial in advertising history to feature a lesbian couple, according to Adweek.

Other topics explored in the campaign included divorce, a son finding housing for his elderly mother and a young woman who makes more money than her new boyfriend. The campaign literally started a national conversation on a variety of topics and was written about in every major newspaper including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today and others.

Fot this campaign I have both writer and art director credit as well as Creative Director.

Holiday Inn ranks at the top of the list as far as sheer joy to work on. This integrated effort, including television, print, ooh, digital and experiential was nominated for an Emmy, won a Cannes Lion, and appeared in The One Show, CA, Creativity, The Kellys, and Athena's.

The original print campaign went on to inspire TOWEL AMNESTY DAY, an experiential campaign that encouraged guests to tell their story online of the Holiday Inn towel they ‘borrowed” in exchange for “full amnesty,” as well as a book.

We also re-created the iconic towel, distributing it at 6 beaches across the US during the Labor Day weekend. The effort earned over 100 million impressions in the press globally in just a 3-day period.

Creative credits include Art Director and Group Creative Director.

One of the best things about living in Minnesota for five years was having the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism as a client. Besides having a great client that demanded great work, we also helped them attract 5 million tourists in a single year for the first time ever.

Creative awards for the integrated campaign include a Cannes Lion, a One Show Pencil, Communication Arts, and the Webby’s to name a few.

This global integrated campaign was shot around the world on four continents to launch Cadillac’s exciting new car, the ATS. 

Working with an amazing client and an incredibly talented and dedicated team we created over a dozen commercials, 30 short-form documentary films, a microsite, experiential outdoor, digital, and an interactive print experience. 

The campaign was featured in CA, Forbes, Cool Hunting, The FWA, WEBBYS, One Show, Entertainment, and won two EFFIES - including Gold for best Automotive Advertising. It also made Cadillac the fastest growing brand in America, with sales increasing 40% the year it launched. Additionally, Cadillac’s search on Edmund’s increasing 351% the first day of launch during the London Olympics.

This is just a small sample of the campaign that spanned across every medium.

NOTES FROM THE WHISKEY is a complete LP by the band, RIDDLE, that dropped in 2023 on Spotify, iTunes and other streaming services. Credits include album concept, singer/song-writer as well as album design and photography.

The Music Video, that I wrote and produced for the single, “We Didn’t Know,” was Vimeo’s Pick of The Day and was written about all over the world as far away as Turkey and Japan.

This concept is currently being explored as an 9-Part Limited Dramatic Series for television.

Play it LOUD!

Every year I take time for at least one new personal creative project and “Meddle” in Creative Areas that are outside my general area of expertise to learn new skills and stay creatively inspired.

The partial bucket list of things I’ve done so far include: An original screenplay that won the Grand Prize at a Los Angeles screenwriting competition, a Music Video with a track I have singer/song-writer and Producer credit for that became Vimeo’s “Pick of The Day,” a complete Rock Opera I wrote that I dropped on Spotify and other streaming services (see Music above), “Gap Couture” a Fashion Shoot reimagining the Gap Brand (NFWS), a one-man painting show in New York City of forty original oil paintings, writing and directing a short film titled “Worry Less, Rock Star,” and painting a large scale oil painting over an eight month period of a Chanel bottle (attached to a squirt gun) - and offering numbered and signed prints on museum quality paper on Ebay. Next up: The best so far, writing a complete original Limited Dramatic Series of Nine Episodes that is currently in development.

Links above to view some of these projects in more depth. 

This simple print campaign was aimed at artists and photographers to demonstrate how Polaroid Instant Film is not just a throw away piece of instant imaging, but a bonafide artistic medium worthy of hanging in a gallery. The phenomenon was already well under way when Polaroid decided to feature a few such artists (and their work) who were already breaking all the rules and exploring new and creative ways to use Polaroid Instant Film.

This campaign won a number of awards and appeared in Communication Arts and The One Show.

Credits include Art Director, Writer and Associate Creative Director

I’ve worked on a number of Global Brands and have had the opportunity to produce work all over the world including Australia, Mexico, Prague, Colombia, Argentina, France, England, The United Arab Emirates and Monaco. Here’s a small sampling including a commercial featuring the legendary Manchester United (that picked up a Clio) and another produced in Dubai that ran during Ramadan in the Middle East .

This integrated campaign for Volkswagen's new Tiguan (introduced as "The New King of The Concrete Jungle") included television, social, digital, print, ooh, and an entirely new way of using Instagram for engagement. The campaign was written about extensively in the press and utilized the latest social, digital and gaming opportunities in collaboration with multiple media partners. The breakthrough Instagram experience called “Rule The Road” won a WEBBY for best use of online media.

I was fortunate to work with dozens of passionate and dedicated creative folks to bring this unique campaign to life. This is just a sampling of some of the content created.

This public service campaign for The Harvard School of Public Health was created to raise awareness for the incredible impact that even a couple hours a week of mentoring can have on a troubled kid. 

The full-page national campaign, photographed by Nadav Kander, created such media attention, that I was invited to The White House by Hillary Clinton where the work was on display in The East Room for the press. In addition to The White House, the campaign also appeared in D&AD.

Credits include Art Director, Writer and Creative Director .

With this campaign we set out to try and capture the spiritual side of fly-fishing for the oldest fly-fishing company in America, Stoddards, conveniently located a short walking distance from our office.  It won a couple of awards along the way including CA and a One Show Pencil, but it truly was a passion project as we donated our time and resources.

Credits include Art Director and Creative Director.

Shaking up the creative development process, this campaign brought together a unique partnership with ManvsMachine (a multi-dimensional visual studio) and Interscope Records. Visually, the campaign was created completely in CG (nothing in camera) tailored to music tracks written and performed by various new artists from Interscope.

Some of the artists we worked with directly include Kali Uchis, Louis the Child, YUNGBLOODS, and Gryffin. Full-length versions of some of the music tracks developed for the campaign were also released by the artists on streaming sites including Spotify and iTunes.

This campaign was written about in all the usual ad trades plus billboard Magazine and marked a high-water mark for Jetta sales in the US that hasn't been matched since.