Elevating the Storyline
Monumental Sports Network
“Innovation at Play” documentary
KPMG’s Washington DC office wanted to celebrate the signing of a luxury skybox lease at the Capital One Arena. From the details, I found a bigger, evergreeen story: the obstacles any innovation has to go through in order to become operational reality
High Concept to Sales Tool
Four Seasons New Orleans
“Like No Other” launch and sales campaign
Four Seasons expanded to New Orleans by renovating a known but abandoned landmars downtown structure. The rebrand had to establish a distinct identity tied to the city.
Using a Tennessee Williams quote about the city as the conceptual lift off point, I combined on-site and rchival research with interviews to build out the “Like No Other” tagline. Increasingly detailed video and print assets flowed from there
Digital Impact
KPMG US/Tax
“Very good question” campaign
This was the best performing campaign for KPMG US in 2022, with 4M impressions and a 45% click-through rate. As the campaign copywriter, my creative concept sprang from US SecDef Donald Rumsfeld’s celebrated concept of “unknown unknowns,” with a value propostion that KPMG could offer insight to even already-well-advised clients. Multiple versions of the call-and-response copy structure was capped by a shared tagline: “Turn tax unknown into knowns.”
Creating a campaign North Star
Boston Consulting Group
Creative Manifesto
BCG wanted a mission statement to engage its global network of in-house design studios. In a partnership culture with multiple decision makers, this internal-facing manifesto helps creatives stay on-brand and on-message, as campaigns unfold through thousands of assets, in multiple geographic markets.
Securing stakeholder buy-in
Dale Carnegie Associates (DCA)
Sales Story Toolkit
As part of a top-to-bottom rebrand, DCA asked for materials that could support new commercial-accounts business. Sales associates are famously independent, so the challenge would be securing their buy-in for a OneDaleCarnegie go-to-market approach.
I conducted the discovery interviews and crafted a strong brand story that could flex to different corporate Learning/Professional Development scenarios. This resulting internal road-show tool illustrates how every word supports a single, cohesive corporate sales story. (Excerpt at right).
Funnel Engagement Journeys
KPMG Tax
Uber Client Case Study
KPMG Tax wanted a new type of client case-study to generate top-of-funnel interest in its Tax Reimagined offer. Working with Uber’s CTO, I borrowed B2C conventions of wordplay, cadence and pop-culture relevance, to bring broad appeal to intricate B2B technical content. The result was a co-branded digital asset with long shelf life: the Uber case study even got picked up by the KPMG Talent Acquisition team for business-school recruiting.
https://kpmg.com/us/en/how-we-work/client-stories/uber-rethinks-rules-of-the-road.html
Merchandising the Data
KPMG Advisory/Consumer & Retail
Consumer Pulse Reports
To showcase its data-driven approach, KPMG Advisory asked me to upgrade its quarterly Consumer Pulse report to obtain wider awareness. Working closely with SMEs and digital marketers, I brought attention-getting B2C wordplay to report titles, developed a humanized “letter” approach for the Executive Summary, and pioneered a standardized 8-10 page template for supporting thematic content. Each report’s release anchored a media relations push, and a stream of derivative digital and social media assets.
Riding the News Cycle
KPMG Advisory/Supply Chain
New World Order thought-leadership series
As COVID-19 turned global supply chains upside down, KPMG Advisory’s Supply Chain practice asked me to produce a rapid-fire series of long-form TL pieces. Targeted to a highly sophisticated B2B readership, the assets would showcase KPMG’s industry knowledge and technical expertise, in a time of urgency. I drew upon my news instincts and body of general knowledge, to propose Donald Rumsfeld’s concept of “unknown unknowns” as the thematic hook for all five pieces in the series. The use of provocative cut-quotes from the authors allowed SMEs to “move over their skis,” and step outside of KPMG’s institutional voice.
Building User-Friendly Creative Tools
Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare
Messaging Guide/Collateral System
When non-profit Harvard Pilgrim wanted to empower its own creatives during an ambitious re-brand, I help frame out an easy-to-use messaging guide — “The Big Story” (a là Raymond Chandler) — which used “Goodnight Moon” simplicity and directness to articulate history, mission, and values. An entire B2C collateral system flowed from the guide, all written in warm “you/we” voice.
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