It me

About

I thought I was going to get fired.

It was 2015 and this video I had worked hard on was about to go live across channels. Back then, this was uncharted territory for a gaming brand, and I was terrified. It was a huge departure from the more ‘traditional’ content that normally went out.

Every doomsday scenario flew through my brain. Would people hate it? Would they think was cringe? Would I get fired if it received backlash? Would Shia personally sue me?

The video went live, and to my relief, the comments were actually positive. REALLY positive. As I kept frantically refreshing the pages, the views and engagements kept growing. It was TAKING OFF. Trending. As the days went by, press began to talk about it. IGN, Polygon, VICE, and many more wrote articles about this batshit insane meme video that an official brand account posted.

The success of the video not only led to a creative strategy overhaul for the entire Sonic Twitter and social accounts, it also internalized in me the power of great social first creative – of making content not ads (and good news - I didn’t get fired).

The video wasn’t a one and done either. It helped change the perception of Sonic, changed the way other brands thought about marketing on social, and drew in the type of attention that paid media on its own could never achieve.

Since that moment, I’ve spent years testing and learning what works on social media and taking calculated risks while working on some of the biggest brands in gaming.  I’ve been honing and scaling my approach to creative marketing with the ‘make content, not ads’ philosophy in campaigns, big ideas, social posts, events, and more. I’ve even helped overhaul Xbox’s social channels and done a few more things I thought I was going to get fired for.

If you’ve read this far, you can probably guess I’m passionate about social media, creative and strategy, and helping brands modernize their marketing. While not everything can be a trending hit, a great piece of content will always make a great ad – whether it’s a meme or something serious. And when great content is done consistently, it can change the perception of your brand and build raving fans.