Ford Motor Company China, built to feel. VEVOR, a Chinese Underdog in America. UNIQLO, not a moment of summer to waste. Mother Goods, socially-conscious, very ridiculous. EcoFlow, clean power for all Japan. Sperry, Prep culture democratized. CoverGirl, my makeup is for me and only me. CommSec, understanding the market, gamified. Trident Gum, making the world about 2–3% better. Blue Apron, what cooking can do for you. Thorne, a deeply human exploration. The Assault-Proof Elementary, where kids will never get shot. Google, WFH, but let’s keep some boundaries. UNIQLO, tech support for clothes. Twitter, social-media-powered time travel. BossGPT, a character for building character. 40 New Faces, making friends on the Internet. Sacred Space, a meditation on shared documents. @bad_haikus, badder poetry. Curriculum Vitae, of a conceptual Creative Director & Brand Voice Director in China.

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FORD MOTOR COMPANY

— 120th Anniversary Brand Film, China —
Lead Creative, Writing

The Ford Motor Company doesn’t just make quality cars.

It makes the rush of flying low over the ground.
The wonder of escape.
The thrill of automotive movement.

This is a company that makes the feelings
that we have loved our whole lives.

And the iconic vehicles for chasing them all.

Thank you Aier Xu, Zhong How, Jonathan Chan
and the rest of the W+K Shanghai Team for a wild ride.

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VEVOR

— US Relaunch Campaign —
Creative Direction, Writing

Chinese toolmaker VEVOR offers an incredibly wide range of reliable products for home improvement,
but at unbeatably lower prices than The Home Depot, Lowe’s, Harbor Freight, and everyone else.

Take that in for a second. The implication is huge.

Because if a cheaper VEVOR shovel can dig the same exact hole as a more expensive competitor one,
then VEVOR offers holes at half price.

Same exact results. Much, much lower prices.

With a competitive advantage like that,
and a relaunch campaign like the one you see below,
this home improvement underdog is about to beat American home improvement
in its own well-manicured backyard.

I’d be surprised if you didn’t see any of these banners in the US,
because we absolutely plastered the Internet with
examples of how VEVOR means the same exact results for less.

Second first impressions are important when you’re re-launching a brand, so our Mother Design team renovated VEVOR’s entire Visual Identity System.
All to tell the good people of the U-S-of-A that Vevor is top-shelf quality at bargain-bin prices.

Sorry. Can’t show you quite just yet, but VEVOR is coming very soon to an American neighborhood near you:

 

My heartfelt thanks to the entire Mother Family, all across the world.

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UNIQLO

— LifeWear Summer 2025 China Campaign —
Creative Direction, Writing

There are only 2,232 hours in summer,
and they’re counting down fast.

Not an extra minute to lose on wondering what to wear.
Just enough seconds to grab something practical, versatile, comfortable,
and that looks great no matter how you put it together.

LifeWear is clothing you can think less about,
designed for you to spend less time on dressing.

So you can spend more time reading on the grass,
playing with dogs, lounging by the water
and living life to the fullest in the most precious hours of the year.

Thank you, Mother Shanghai.

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MOTHER GOODS

— Cultural Commentary Products —
Creative Direction, Lead Creative

Created for Mother Goods, the product development arm of the Mother Family that seeks to improve the world, if only in silly, marginal ways.

One way the ultra-rich commonly justify their use of private jets is to point out
how they offset their environmental impact in other (not so impactful) ways.

As such, these are vinyl justification decals designed to inform those beneath you in altitude and social standing
why you, a clearly eco-conscious member of the 1%, are special enough to fly private.

No, there’s nothing wrong with your eyes or your connection.

Here’s a sneak peek of China-specific Mother Goods in progress, for addressing social issues
including pitfalls in Chinese education, gender inequality in divorce, toxic masculinity,
inconsiderate influencers, domestic violence, trade wars with unnamed global superpowers, and more.

ECOFLOW

 — Brand Work, Japan —
Creative Direction, Strategy Development, Writing

EcoFlow is a Chinese maker of portable power solutions,
offering solar panels, battery packs and accessories
to make clean electricity available everywhere.

We took a highly varied approach to build the brand in Japan,
showing how EcoFlow has a place both in thousand-year-old traditions,
as well as in alternative lifestyles of the future.

 

The Nebuta Festival in Aomori is a celebration of history, faith and light.

Traditionally illuminated by carbon-emitting gasoline generators,
we shined on a better path forward with local partnerships to create traditional floats powered by clean solar energy.

 

Reina Hamane, Nowri-san and Ewan Matsuki are the best team.

As urban life becomes ever more crowded, expensive and unsustainable,
more and more people are turning to alternative lifestyles away from city limits.

To demonstrate what’s possible, we opened the EcoFlow House,
a modern living experience set deep in the mountains, completely powered by EcoFlow products.

A limited-time, free-to-stay bookable property
designed for test driving an off-the-grid life (that still has a coffee machine and Wi-Fi).

ASIDE:

In the name of the CEO,

the Board,

and the Shareholder Interests,

Amen. 

SPERRY

— Legacy Brand Revival —
Lead Creative, Writing

Iconic boat shoe maker Sperry needed a way to stay relevant in an era of changing tastes
where “being preppy” was becoming even more old-fashioned (and White American) than before.

To modernize this American classic, we brought Prep Culture out of the Hamptons,
and democratized preppiness to become something that can be a part of everyone’s identity.

Apparently this spot was very “inspiring” to some writer at TBWA or Crispin,
so I’d also like to take credit for all profits generated from the 2018 Infiniti Winter Sales Event.

Anyways, Belen Marquez, Rachel Frederick, Dana Stalker, Casey Rand and Juliana Cobb 
are some of the most inspiring women I've ever had the privilege of working with.

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COVERGIRL

 — Legacy Brand Refresh —
Creative Development, Writing

In a society dominated by men,
makeup is a means for women to look better for men.

American beauty icon CoverGirl disagrees.
Makeup is for self-exploration and self-expression.

Makeup is power,
tools and toys for anyone
to become anyone
and any version of themselves
that they will ever want to be.

I Am What I Make Up.

(I never thought I'd write the tagline for a mass beauty brand,
but life is funny like that.)

COMMSEC

— Next Generation Engagement Campaign —
Creative Direction, Lead Creative, Writing

Making money in the stock market isn’t a special talent reserved for rare genius.

It’s a learned skill like any other.
One honed by time and experience,
where practice makes profit.

From a pitch to Australian banking giant CommSec,
who wanted to engage younger audiences
on the subject of finance and capital:
an immersive game that turns real-world market fluctuations
into a chance to learn how to invest.

The pleasure was mine to work with Andrea Bianchi, who is not only smart as hell, but immensely kind.

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TRIDENT GUM

— Brand Campaign —
Creative Development, Lead Creative, Writing

From increased stigmas around oral fixation, to phones becoming people’s distraction of choice,
chewing gum has been fighting a tough battle against decline in the past few decades.

Trident Gum refused to fade quietly into irrelevance,
so we created a winning campaign based on one simple idea:

“Trident won't make a bad smile better or turn your mouth into a winter wonderland,
but it will make anything and everything you're doing feel just slightly, slightly better.”

SSBairportv3.gif

An inherently silly campaign requires intensely absurd activations.

Introducing GUMVENTIONS, the dumbest greatest sampling campaign ever, where we
add Trident Gum to everyday objects to slightly slightly improve any everyday experience.

This was slated to be a serious line of product offerings from Trident,
for taking their product out of the register hot zone and into every other aisle in retail spaces.

(My special thanks to the Droga5 Design Team. You people were awesome.)

To promote Trident Gum’s slightly, slightly better upgrade to “Now BURSTING with MORE FLAVOR,”

We invented Bad Idea Trident, a spoof product lineup featuring less gum, less flavor, or way too much packaging.

All for actual distribution, and all stamped “REJECTED” so the real thing could shine.

We even dreamed up The Trident Big News Tour Bus.

An all-wheel-drive, OOH-meets-mobile-sampling-platform vehicle,

Designed to tour America showing how now-bigger, more-flavorful Trident could make even the nation’s biggest landmarks slightly, slightly better.

Even though we won the global business with this idea,
the campaign only made it into the real world in a brave and wonderful land called "Colombia." 

BLUE APRON

— Brand Campaign Films —
Creative, Writing

Blue Apron is a US subsciption service offering ready-to-cook meal kits.
What they truly offer, however, is so much more.

Because cooking is about more than just “making dinner.”
It’s a chance to demonstrate independence, to reaffirm bonds,
to express love for others, to turn a meal into a purpose.

Below are two stories from a series of seven brand campaign films:
one for every night of the week to create a week-long campaign film
designed to show the world everything that cooking can do.

THORNE

— The Frontier Within Brand Campaign —
Creative Development, Writing

Thorne is a US supplement and health company unlike any other,
approaching wellness through innovation, personalization, and the belief that
the human body represents the last great frontier, waiting to be explored.

Ours is a mission of discovery.
Of realizing human potential.
Of moving ever closer to everything that we might someday be.

“Inward. Onward.” remains one of my favorite manifestos and taglines that I’ve ever written.

An immersive brand experience that invites everyone to look deeper within,
using biometric sensors to transform people’s vitals into Inner Selfies, visions of themselves like they’ve never seen.

Gorgeous visuals courtesy of the incredibly talented designers of Droga5.

THE ASSAULT-PROOF ELEMENTARY

— Brady Campaign Stunt —
Lead Creative

A proactive pitch to the Brady Campaign,
an American nonprofit dedicated to preventing gun violence.

Inspired by the willingness of politicians to do anything EXCEPT sensible regulation,
this was an attempt to get gun advocates behind a completely ridiculous plan for
an elementary school that uses architecture to deter gun violence
to illustrate the absurdity of their attachment to firearms.

Unfortunately, this project died early.
Just like all the school shooting victims.

 

ASIDE:

Your

birthright

is

joy.

GOOGLE

 — Google Home Product Activation —
Creative Direction, Lead Creative, Writing, Executive Production

Working from home can be blissful, but it’s too easy for the lines to blur,
compromising home as a sanctuary of rest.

Towards setting clearer boundaries, this was a proactive project for Google Japan:
a dedicated “Work Mode” on Google Home for your WFH day.

With features like optimizing light and music for focus,
alerts and automatic speaker connection for scheduled meetings,
encouraging breaks, making coffee through connected smart devices,
and—most importantly—reminding you when to stop work and log off.

Though they ultimately decided to not move forward with development,
the clients loved the idea, and the spec below:

 

My forever thanks to Debbie Pan.

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UNIQLO

— The Science of LifeWear Brand Activation —
Creative Development, Writing

Part of Droga5’s successful “The Science of LifeWear” pitch to UNIQLO,
UNIQARE is an activation to reflect how UNIQLO continuously iterates and improves upon their products every year.

This is an Apple-Care-like program that allows customers to trade in their last season’s LifeWear
for the newest, most updated version of the same item.

For generating loyalty, encouraging repeat visits to retail locations,
and reinforcing the perception that UNIQLO truly designs for life.

 

 

So you know, I've got a soft spot for product innovation and corporate social responsibility.

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TWITTER

— Brand Activation —
Creative Development, Writing

Part of Droga5’s pitch to Twitter (when it was still “Twitter”),
Accelerate the Date was a brand activation that makes time travel actually #possible.

Simply tweet at a brand with a mention of a product drop or movie opening or TV premier,
and they’ll bring its release date one day closer.

A simple promotional mechanic for redirecting cultural momentum,
and leveraging hype to keep users on the platform.

 

BossGPT

— Professional Growth Through A.I. —
Creative Direction, GPT Modeling

To train resilience, adaptability, and clarity under pressure,
I built a custom GPT modeled on the notoriously demanding Chinese CEO archetype.
It’s blunt. It’s brilliant. It speaks in Mandarin (with English translations).

Try BossGPT—if you’re okay with a little trauma.



Strangely enough, BossGPT also offers a pretty sharp perspective on what foreign brands should (and definitely shouldn’t) do in China.


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40 NEW FACES

— Personal Illustration Project —
Creative

Starting life over in a new country was lonely,
so I made myself new friends in Google Slides.

Click through for bios.

SACRED SPACE

— Personal Meditations —
Creative

This ongoing project represents the intersection of my interest in sacred geometry mysticism,
my expertise in cloud-based documents, and my refusal to subscribe to Adobe Creative Suite.

Made in Google Slides.

[NOTE: These last two were made in Illustrator and Photoshop, in the pre-Slides days.]

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@bad_haikus

— Poetry, Musings and Art —
Creative Direction, Writing, Art Direction, Executive Production

I create conceptual haiku poems that are really not great. Follow me.

— — — — —     — — — — — — —     — — — — —  

@bad_haikus also wrote #HumpDayHaikus for the Droga5 Instagram. Here's a personal favorite.

 

ASIDE:

The most important project you will ever work on is your own life.

 

EXPERIENCE

CD @ Mother Shanghai (2024 – Present)

Freelance ACD @ Wieden+Kennedy Shanghai (2023 – 2024)

Volunteer Mechanic @ Bikerowave (2022)

ACD @ AKQA Tokyo (2021 – 2022)

Sr. Writer/Creative @ R/GA Tokyo (2019 – 2021)

Freelance Copywriter @ Away (2019)

Instructor @ School of Visual Arts (2018 – 2019)

Writer/Creative @ Droga5 (2015 – 2019)

Intern @ Goodby Silverstein & Partners NY (2015)

—

EDUCATION

Art Center College of Design (BFA 2014)

Pasadena City College (Dropout 2011)

UCLA (BA 2005)

—

SKILLS

Creative Direction, Concepting, Writing, Art Direction (questionable),
English (native fluency), Mandarin Chinese (professional fluency), Japanese (advanced), German (intermediate),
maining low-tier characters on Smash Ultimate (Duck Hunt).

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CONTACT

Gmail or LinkedIn

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