BRANDING | INTEGRATED CAMPAIGN | VR > CD/ Copywriter.

I moved to Portland from the woods of New Hampshire and found myself of the target audience I would be concepting and writing for—newbies to the one-of-a-kind Portland. (Don’t get me wrong, having lived in Austin and New York, Portland feels like their lovechild of the west coast, but of course in its own Sasquatch hoodie.) In this case, we’re inspiring worldly meeting planner travelers to experience, first-hand(made) the creativity, multi-cultural zeitgeist that people from all over have come to love. And meeting planners are unsung magicians of the biz travel world. They’re the first ones to the office and the last one to leave. They’re pragmatists who have had their share of swag hit their desk, and handed to them at Vegas trade shows. So, we created a holiday just for them—Maker’s Day—and their very own cubicle makeover kit to honor it. (No stapler is complete without a handmade alligator sweater.) From transforming their website experience to designing the one-of-a-kind trade show space—doughnut headphones anyone?—to integrated campaigns including an anthem, animated ads, print, and emails that invite you to choose your own Portland experience, the new Let’s Portland! platform extends our best warm, only-in-Portland welcome. Since partnering with Grady Britton they’ve seen 127% increase in site traffic, and $37m contribute to community economic impact. I’ve worked on this account for almost 4 years now. And I still feel like a newbie, thanks to always-evolving Portland.

Last summer, we went into production for two VR experiences. This was an incredible undertaking. I’ve worked on plenty of TV spots, but I’d never concepted, scripted, cast and shot anything for VR before. It’s an entirely different skillset. Working alongside the fearless and talented team at Giant Astronaut, we created two 360 VR pieces that showcase the Top 10 After-hours hangouts in Portland as well as Castaway, an event space where Soul’d Out Music Festival was kicked off.

Be sure to have your settings adjusted in YouTube to 1080s and feel free to look around! Literally. Use your mouse or trackpad left, right, up, down to immerse yourself in Portland’s hotspots.