25+ years as strategist, creative, digital product owner, account lead. I've walked the full marketing funnel and learned to balance branding with performance in a data-rich world — apps, campaigns, content, creator activations, brought to life, not just briefed.
HTML in the '90s. Blogs in the aughts. Social and apps in the teens. Creators and communities in the twenties. AI now — design thinking, mentoring, training and up-skilling, aimed at sharper creativity and stronger branding.
I blend into teams, to show them what they're capable of, and discover what neither of us knew yet. I blend into communities, to learn from them and empower them — much more than "manage" them.
"We arrived in an illuminated New York. We came from the night and found ourselves in light, perhaps artificial, but light is always light." — Jean Renoir
French. New York based. Globally trained, digitally minded — a brand change agent. Last but not least: a blended family man in a little yellow house upstate; a Techstars mentor; an experimental brand maker at La Concorde NYC; a Volunteer First Responder; a podcast host where George Washington debates Walt Disney and William Shakespeare; a writer of haikus and an occasional newsletter; and, presently, the one leading AI transformation for WPP's largest client and one of America's most iconic brands: Ford.
What a brand used to be. Traditionally a brand describes what the products it offers are — distinguishing them from competitors on actual superiority, perceived quality, or benefits; sometimes creating a cultural token or badge value. Nothing much interfered with how a brand told its own story.
What changed. Consumers have gained a say over the past 20 years. Communities propelled new influencers and niche brands. Retail giants were disrupted by digital giants — the American GAFAM and the Chinese BAT. The once-oligopolistic media landscape became a myriad of channels a brand's message now has to travel through.
What gets revisited. The fundamentals of brand building, in light of social graph theory and social networks; the role User Experience plays; engagement strategy on par with core strategy; the directives data gives marketers; and the new shapes brand marketing takes — DNVBs, DTCs, Brands As Publishers.
AdAge, Buzzfeed, the Wall Street Journal, Contagious, Fast Company, Inc.com, Stratégies and CB News.
We see them that we don't acknowledge.
They venture into places some forbid.
They look different no matter the crowd they're in.
They play no part they're told to.
We hear them that we don't listen to.
They sing praises for their many gods.
They make music when the world goes quiet.
They are the noise in the night.
We feel them that we don't like.
They stop at nothing to make us see.
They arouse our fears to make us hear.
They add to our world without end.
We are glad that they are.
Others among us.
Others in the blend.