Freeland Spirits didn’t need me to create an incredible brand. Its charismatic leadership, distinct visual identity, rabid PNW fanbase, and counterculture attitude was more than enough.

Instead, they tapped me to assist in taking all of those undeniably powerful characteristics and develop a powerful mission, vision, and creative strategy that would make the brand more accessible to more people in more places.

We started with interviews and a discussion of Freeland’s values to get to the root of the brand. Through this process, we determined that Freeland was not in the business of inspiration, but of celebration.

The result was a manifesto that brought that spirit (pun intended) of celebration to life, a mission statement that the team was proud of, and a simple yet powerful vision that everyone can get behind.

For years, The Modern Warrior had served as the inspiration for all marketing and brand-led initiatives for Nike Football. But the game and the world around it had evolved dramatically since we first met our muse, and our understanding of him had to follow suit.

This project provided a window into the psyche of a new muse for US Nike Football; one that took a broader lens and sought to paint a picture that was more representative of their core consumer.

The new muse was named ‘The 97’, which paid homage to the 97% of high school football players who will not play at the D1 level. Through a combination of focus groups, surveys, and custom research, we dug deep into the attitudinal and behavioral insights and created an actionable plan for our clients to use.

We experienced some serious Friday Night Lights nostalgia along the way, even though nobody on the team had ever worn a helmet on gameday.

In-person fitness is a core division at FitLab, and nothing has grown more over the past few years in our industry than boutique fitness studios. However, most concepts have historically been focused on high-intensity interval training, where members move simply to sweat as much as possible.

Times are changing. Our research showed that modern consumers aren’t just looking to max out heart rate and burn calories. They want to build strong and confident physiques. Strength and aesthetic training were booming, but the market was missing a boutique fitness concept that focused on traditional weightlifting.

Enter Racked, a community-based weightlifting studio where members lift weights to drop jaws. The first location opened in Newport Beach in early 2023, with plans to scale all across the country in the near future. Our classes were so popular that we had to nearly double available class times within the first month of launch.

Building a brand from scratch is one of the perks of a startup environment, and I have loved watching the positive reception from Racked’s members. Check out more of my work at rackedstudio.com and on social.

And if you ever find yourself in Orange County, head on over and Step Into The Rack.

Conor McGregor’s fans are so loyal to him that they will go to war (hopefully just in the comments section) about who has supported him the longest.

With McGregor FAST: ROUND ZERØ, we gave them the opportunity to put their money where their mouth is. By leveraging a few important insights about customer lifetime on digital fitness apps (it’s shorter than you think), I came up with the idea for a lifetime membership the FAST app that would come with unlimited training, exclusive RØ-branded gear, and ultimate bragging rights.

I cooked up a manifesto and developed the campaign, and we opened the official RØ signup period in 2021.

The result? The single most profitable week in the brand’s history (by a lot), and a self-selected group of McGregor FAST superusers with increased engagement, increased AOV, and an unwavering commitment to training like their idol.

I love football. Nike loves football. Nike’s customers love football. But sometimes, football loves football a little too much.

So, to launch the new Alpha Menace cleat, we decided to have a little fun and develop irreverent digital shorts with an unlikely character: the typically serious Russell Wilson.

We like to include a disclaimer that no mannequins were harmed during filming, but the tape proves otherwise.

Team: Keith Byrne (CD), Nick Sugai (ACD), Michael Dooley (AD)

I grew up surfing on the East Coast of Florida. The waves were bad, but fun was had.

And when R/GA assigned me to the relaunch of the Hurley brand for my very first agency project, I was stoked to share my love and knowledge of the sport.

The work came at the time when Nike formally announced the addition of Hurley to its brand portfolio, and they wanted to celebrate the sense of wonder, curiosity, and envelope-pushing that made the brand so iconic in the world of surfing.

We created a simple tagline, What if?, and enlisted the help of some well-known athletes, charities, and personalities to spread it far and wide, with all traffic driving back to the refreshed Hurley website.

It was a simple and romantic ask, but what else could you want from a surfing brief?

Conor McGregor built a career inspiring people from around the world. Ahead of a massive fight, we wanted to flip the script. Conor’s Corner was a special activation for McGregor FAST app members that brought them closer to their hero than ever before.

Our team developed a state-of-the-art training facility in Orange County, CA, complete with a full-size Octagon and gym. As members completed workouts of their own within the app, they could instantly share their results and a personal selfie, which were piped in real-time into the heart of Conor’s gym.

The result? Nearly 8x monthly app engagement, thousands of shared photos, and direct shoutouts from one of the world’s most famous athletes across owned and earned media channels.

We tied everything together with incredible rallying cry on social media that, quite literally, showed how Conor was fueled by the inspiration of the FAST community.

This is an “award-winning” poem from 5th grade that commemorates the passing of famed NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt.

I’ve included this gem because it is the earliest proof of my passion for writing and a special flashback to my childhood in Daytona Beach, Florida

RIP, Dale.