PNC

In preparation for the holiday marketing season, clients tend to set aside a sizeable budget for end-of-year campaigns. Whether it has something to do with a prestige factor or just simply an expression of the holidays, these types of projects provide an opportunity to expand beyond the normal constraints of typical advertising or marketing campaigns consumed by audiences throughout the rest of the year.

One fall October afternoon in LA (which as someone who grew up on the East Coast of the USA, did not feel like fall), I received a unexpected phone call from a team that was looking to build an experience that incorporated a bunch of mini-games for a holiday website. They would not get into the details or what it entailed or for whom it was for but went on to say that they had found my portfolio of interactive work attractive and wanted to know if I was interested in discussing the project in person ASAP. They expressed that they needed talented developers to help bring what they had in mind to market. What made this first contact unique is that they were able to speak to my body of work; seeing their ambitions for the project inline with past works I had helped create. Intrigued by their pitch, I took the meeting.

The very next day I visited their office for what would be a very extensive meeting which included their Executive Producer, CTO, and their creative staff. They gave me the full run down of their ambitions for the project and the unique challenges (stop-motion schedule, programmatic demands, and uncompromising production schedule). As a developer at the time I was accustomed to meetings whereby companies would test you or try to make you prove that you could cary out the challenges of the job before hiring you. This was something different. This was the first company since relocating to LA that embraced both my design and development background. They recognized my full background as an asset to their cause.

I viewed this opportunity as a chance to fully express the full breathe of my talents as someone with a rich design and development background.

When their project pitch concluded they gave me this look as though, if you are still here, you must get it. They never questioned could I, they only wanted to know (from my perspective), was this vision something I felt motivated and comfortable jumping onboard for? Yes. The very next day I officially joined the team. Anyone who has worked on a project with me know this firsthand -- I gravitate towards people/teams that strive to put forth A-level work given within the time and budget we’re afforded. As both a Head of Innovation and Executive Interactive Director it is essential (and exciting) to me that I always have a vision; direction I wish to take a project and lead my team to success. We as creative problem-solvers look to meet challenges, not let them knock us off our path to our goals.

Upon joining the team, the following day I met with the live-action/production team. This was not my first exposure to such a team, but, it was the first time I was able to express my opinions on the shooting process (perhaps a pre-cursor to my modern-day directorship practices). The shoots included a full stop-motion animation schedule to bring to life the concept of as train making stops at various stations that included games that helped drive the narrative.

I spent the next 2 months working with talented individuals to build a fully interactive holiday train experience that felt tailored to the campaign objectives. As Executive Interactive Director, I can’t help and look back, think about what other directed it, not because we didn't put forth a quality project (we certainly did), but for the simple fact that I enjoyed the concept, and I would love to see where I could take it now given my experience level and fondness for the work.