ONCE UPON A TIME. NOW.

People’s desire for brands with authenticity and substance has never been more apparent than in today’s world. From the food we eat to the clothes we wear people crave brands with meaning and authenticity. The Red Brand, Tom’s Shoes, farm to table restaurants and Kinfolk Magazine are proof. The cookie-cutter brands of yesterday are dying a slow death and in their place are stepping brands with purpose and a more authentic way of life. 

Welcome back to The Beekman – established 1883 and re-established 2016. A building with a magnificent history and story located in a revitalized neighborhood at the center of all things new and exciting, The Beekman is now part of the Thompson Brand that celebrates art, food, fashion and architecture as part of its DNA. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, get ready for the rebirth of style. 

Thompson, a modern boutique-style hotel brand, joining forces with an icon of the New York City skyline is a brilliant marriage of heritage, culture, style and progress that lends itself to a very unique and exciting story. 

The work appeal's to people’s desire for authenticity... highlighting the Beekman’s history, architecture and neighborhood along with the experiences that can only come from a Thompson Hotel style of life. 

Any great brand experience requires great patience and great attention to detail. The Beekman will continue to build on the Thompson brand attributes, only this time with reverence to the stylish decades, the glamorous years and the sophisticated people that came before us. 

"Details"  - Print Campaign

As the recession began to hit, and sales dropped especially for the boutique hotel industry, over at the Ito Partnership we created a campaign under the theme RECESS IS ON for the Morgan Hotel Group. All we did was add an “S” to the recession– and it gave us exactly what the Morgans’ brand has always offered, but with a twist. A recess–a break from life’s routine and the constant little troubles that come along with it. T-shirts (the #1 sale item in-room), guerrilla posters, viral videos, a custom red wagon filled with champagne greeting guests as they check in, a web site on how to “recess” during the recession, and another site dedicated to music and artists (something that has always been at the core of the brand) performing “Recess Sessions” in the Hotels. 

Semi Automatic

The coolest vending machine ever. Located at the new Mondrian Hotel in South Beach. I picked up this project still in the early stages of development, so I can’t take “full” credit by any means. But I oversaw the design and development of the interface for the machine as well as the packaging for the products. On sale are items from $10.00 up to more than $1,000,000.00. Yes, you could in fact by a toothbrush, a car or an ocean front condo. Just swipe the plastic.

From Celebrity chef... Tom Colicchio- who brought us Craft, Colicchio & Sons and quite a few other amazing restaurants... comes his newest creation.

Opening Summer 2016.

As the coolest brand within the Commune portfolio of hotels, The Thompson is a hotel that represents the Urban nomad. Sophisticated, well traveled and always expecting the best. 

And when the best is provided, they come back for more. Weather they are in Miami for a getaway, in New York, Seattle or L.A. for business... The Thompson stay with its clients. It’s a mark that they adhere to and represents the best of what the boutique world can offer.  

This is brought to life though traditional pirnt and poster, social engagement, branded content events, and even brand extensions. 

Very FUN project because I got to design and build the entire place.

From welding the back metal structure and selection of mirrors and tiles to making the tables and all the way through to the branding and website. Budgets were very limited for a small little Neapolitan Pizza parlor - but it came out "buonissimo!" 

NEAPOLITAN SPECIALTIES FOR A COSMOPOLITAN NEIGHBORHOOD.

Adjacent to the Manhattan Bridge in Brooklyn, Love & Dough is Dumbo's newest charming spot to experience specialties from one of Italy's greatest cooking regions, Campania – and mouth-watering Neapolitan Pizzas. 

Lynx in Europe is Axe in America. Go figure... Anyhow, this was a great app we came up with that saw the light of day in Europe, but never in America due to some legal issues.  Scroll down a bit and watch the video for the full insight into the project and how the app functioned. 

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Further down some Digital work done for The MORGAN HOTEL GROUP: 

In keeping with their philosophy of defiance against the recession, Morgans’ Recess Sessions celebrated the idea that you never know what is going on behind closed doors at Morgans’ hotels and gave their guests permission to explore and to play again. With authentic performances from cutting-edge artists including Miho Hatori at Morgans, Au Revoir Simone at Hudson, Miss Derringer at Mondrian in Los Angeles and Curumin at Royalton – filmed by independent directors Vincent Moon and Mark Wilkinson, the Recess Sessions furthered Morgans’ unique history of collaborating with innovators in an effort to create rich experiences for their guests. 

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Some other examples of some Digital work for various clients. 

"Fabric"

Coca-Cola has always considered Diet Coke to be their "fashion" drink. Be it in the movie industry or high end fashion... we looked to create campaigns that fit in tone and manner with the Brand guidelines.

Campaign built for the Oscars. Included outdoor and banners on celebrity blogs and sites such as E!

I.

We redesigned these machines where one could “rescue” refugees from harms way as a promotional piece for The International Rescue Committee.

Though they were not “fully” operational it drove the message across in a strong way.

The International Rescue Committee has been aiding and rescuing refugees from conflict areas for more than 70 years.

From Harm to Home.

Help at www.theIRC.org

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II.

POSTER CAMPAIGN

Beat up and Tortured celebrities. 

"It should be just as shocking if you didn't recognize the face." 

As a creative director for a famous brand in Latin America, one would think that budgets would be fantastic. However, the reality of Mercedes-Benz in Brazil is quite different then America. A lot of the work was done "down and dirty" using provided images from around the world... except for these few pieces shown here. The car was actually created in Maya3d.  ... And the film posters were illustrated.

Motorola PeblV6 Launch, 2005.

TEASER followed by full up spreads. 

Compaq,

Merrill Lynch

& The Coca-Cola Company

1999, 2000, 2001, 2005... magazine spreads? paper? what's that?

 It was right there all the time... there's an IF in "Life." 

Sometimes a big If, sometimes not so big.  

TV/PRINT and Digital were developed using this concept. 

A print ad and poster.  Below a sticker was applied to escalators across shopping malls and supermarkets throughout America. A simple but powerful use of space. 

A series of books designed for Opera Gallery, New York.

A few years ago I started to get into furniture and architectural design as well. In late 2010 I opened up a little furniture and space design/build company, named after my chocolate lab, Olga.  These are just a few of the pieces I've created in my "off hours" over the years. 

Reuters
Directed by me, myself, and I. 

Anti-Smoking
Directed by Jake Scott, RSA

Met Life "If"
Directed by me, myself, and I. 

Once Upon a time. Now.  (montage)
Edited by me, myself, and I. 

Chase Bank, spot 2 &3
Directed by Frank Todaro, Radical Media

Ray-Ban

Monozukuri
Montage Directed by me, myself & I.

 7 of September School. 
Directed by me, myself, and I. 

Waiting
Directed by me, myself, and I. 

The Last Drop
Written & Directed by me, myself, and I - 7 years ago. 

Valentine's Day Project.
Written & Directed by me, myself, and I
We covered the cast-iron "bells" in foil to make them look like Hershey Kisses... with personalized messages. Over 170,000 hits in 5 days. From China to India and Idaho.  Budget: $225.00