I create content for the young at heart.

I designed interactive new music collaborations and pro-sports and fantasy interactive gaming experiences. I branded Banff and Lake Louise high-altitude ski and snowboarding hotels. I have used Nissan, General Motors and Infiniti customer relationship data to sell new vehicles to young adults. I know how to craft advertising, experiences and visual social content designed to tackle business challenges for iconic brands who value every dollar they spend as an investment in the future.

I reside in Toronto, Canada but I grew up in North America's most northern big city and it was there that I was first exposed to design through my work with the fire fighters’ training school, NASA (digital transformation at airforce bases); DreamWorks theme parks, giant screen entertainment - on flat and dome screens up to 5 stories tall; 3D/4D; and high-performance motion simulation.

I have been known to be among the last to leave Banff’s “Dancing Sasquatch” nightclub on a several occasions. Nestled amongst the world’s largest powdered-slopes, ‘The Sasquatch’ has long been a destination for international DJs, skiers, shoppers, marathon runners and mountain climbers. I have also been known to travel to another city just to do a workout and to do 600km long distance cycling trips between Toronto and Montréal.

I am an experienced senior creative leader who has worked with global brands. 

I know how to differentiate brands from one another and how to craft strategic consumer content from scratch using a combination of owned, earned, paid and created media. I have a strong understanding of the media landscape and more than twenty years of knowing how to use a balanced approach of creativity and smarts to build business.

I have overseen the design and production of nearly real-time brand content to support worldwide Olympic Games— reinforcing brand sponsors, goals, wins and athlete milestones— as they happen. I am experienced when it comes bringing the power of sport and brand into peoples’ homes through television screens, computers and mobile devices using breakthrough creativity.

I’ve worked with national and worldwide Olympic brands and sports leagues like the NHL and Canadian Football League to connect sports and brands. I have designed original brand creative that is choreographed on stadium screens— building excitement and connecting football fans through a digital experience spanning nine cities.

I have a strong background in integrated 360 degree communications development and design. I’m experienced in innovation and have a deep understanding of large format 2D, 3D and dome cinemas experiences.

\ starsinhearts 2016 - present

Entertainment is what captivates and holds audience attention. Why does a boardroom need to be a bored room? Traditional slide presentations can have drawbacks. What if there was a better way to get every stakeholder on the same page faster? Why does advertising fail to connect with consumer? 

Whether the message is consumer facing or boardroom facing— communication can be crafted in a powerful way using human emotion and multi-sensory creativity. 

After spending 15+ years in the advertising business I can say that the biggest advantage to this new method of working is speed. If you can get buy-off on an idea faster, everyone starts making sales faster.

An entertainment focus is a way to look at advertising and this helps you stand out and be a disruptor. This makes advertising more powerful.

How do you make an impression and support global business development?

I work with Miovision Technologies to create digital sales tools. These materials were used to brand and successfully sell intelligent traffic infrastructure to global cities that integrate artificial intelligence with traffic safety.

\ FCB TORONTO 2013 - 2016

How do you reintroduce a 100-year old cracker brand?

I was a Creative Director and Vice President at FCB Global and my team leveraged 3D printing and integrated storytelling to create and launch a new product innovation for Ritz. This work was recognized by Cannes festival on Cyber and Integrated Lions short lists for creative excellence.

Shaking your phone made it snow inside our office. 

My team launched ‘The Human Snow Globe’ initiative yielding over 120,000 visits from 60 countries, with no paid media budget. The office holiday card, rewired— using hardware, software and a snow machine. 

The following year my team at FCB in Liberty Village brought winter to 120 offices around the world.

A social soap-opera.

We created a content series for Chips Ahoy! that was recognized by Facebook Canada as among its top two campaigns for 2015. 

Real-time, bite-sized snacking.

My team leveraged real-time traffic and transit data along with contextual messaging and customer insights to launch a new snack format for Mondelez International. This work was recognized by Marketing Magazine for innovation in digital out of home signage.

Unforgettable. Since 1907.

Fairmont Hotels and Resorts Worldwide

Oversaw creative development, execution and stakeholder collaboration from the CEO to regional operators for a global multichannel brand campaign for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. The campaign included the global creation of more than 50,000 creative assets.

Digital and interactive design for large, multi-year projects.

From conceptual wireframes to phased design and launch, I led the creative redesign of Dole.com and OntarioTravel.net

Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation

I consulted at the Ontario Government's Lottery and Gaming Corporation's internet gaming division. I assisted with evaluation and recommendations for optimizing performance within their in-house creative studio, acting as their interim Creative Director and overseeing creative development of the iGaming launch in Ontario. Our launch campaign included 3 television spots (leveraging CGI, live-action and a top-ten recording artist), print, radio, out of home, experiential, digital advertising, the development of brand standards as well as iGaming site design and branding.

I am experienced when it comes to using creativity to overcome marketing and interactive gaming challenges:

• How does a mobile gaming site entice players to think of online games for short 'bursts' throughout the day when they want to be entertained? How can Ontario encourage people to gamble online with their friends and not play alone.

• How does Ontario improve deposits to digital gaming wallets while being responsible for player safety when there is a casino inside your phone?

• How does a large network of government-owned bricks-and-mortar casinos use cash incentives to creatively persuade visitors at casinos to also try online gaming at home without cannibalizing in-person casino visits or lowering long-term revenues?

• How can the excitement of virtual horse racing be captured within a data-driven campaign that builds off the passion of bettors who already frequent provincial horse racing tracks.

• I am experienced embedding marketing messages inside interactive digital games that are designed to sell consumer products inside games by using professional football leagues and animated fantasy worlds to sell young adults their first new vehicle. By getting consumers to spend more time gaming, marketers can enhance brand recall.

\ TBWA\CHIAT\DAY Toronto 2006 - 2013

In 1962, Jay Chiat teamed up with Guy Day to form TBWA\Chiat\Day in Los Angeles. Chiat/Day went on to create some very memorable advertising campaigns and was named U.S. Agency of the Decade in 1989. Jay Bertram led TBWA\CHIAT\DAY in Toronto as the President during the more than 7 years that I worked there. TBWA was known for Disruption and Media Arts.

Stars on spikes.
A quarter to 9 inches.

I’ve designed experiences with stars wearing spiked cleats on fields and for stars in 9 inch heels at red carpet film premiers. Co-led integrated creative development including a digital second-screen experience— and stadium activations— allowing fans to interact with 9 Canadian Football League teams and have their play potentially run in a CFL game. Screens in stadiums were choreographed with sponsorship creative in several cities along with an interactive experience. Why does a national football sponsorship have to mean just putting a logo on the field?

We also created a digital experience allowing fans to gain insider access to the stars at Toronto International Film Festival. Sponsored by Visa, we allowed film festival fans to get an insider look into TIFF including streaming television interviews from the red carpet, courtesy of Visa Canada. In addition to being creative director for digital activation, I designed a range of materials for The Visa Screening Room theatre and Visa’s physical presence at Toronto International Film Festival.

Canada’s controversial launch.
Nivea for Men skincare.

Creative concept approved in Canada.
Unapproved in Germany.

Months of meetings, travel between cities, approval of scripts, film storyboards and budgets led to one concept for viral video that was approved by clients in Canada and unapproved by Nivea’s headquarters Germany. In the early 2000s online advertising was relatively new and at Beiersdorf, a global cosmetics company valued at approximately $26.3 billion, local divisions had autonomy when it came to making online advertising for their country.

Just weeks before cinematography was to begin in Vancouver and deposits were paid to production companies from TBWA’s Toronto office via Beiersdorf Canada in Montréal, we had to call it off because the Germans didn’t like what the Canadians were up to— it was just too risky for Nivea’s parent company Biersdorf A.G. of Germany.

Despite the global cosmetic company’s Canadian executives having the cash and bravery to a viral video happen. Despite forecasting big success for Nivea for Men sales at retail stores, we had to try and get as much of our cash production deposits back and call off producing the viral video.

The viral video, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars targeted young men was focused on the product being ONLY FOR MEN and targeted the ‘average’ young guy who wasn’t predisposed to mens skincare. The viral concept was simple. Nivea is accidentally used by young man’s girlfriend sleeping over at his apartment. Late at night while he is sleeping the girlfriend looks into his medicine cabinet to find a moisturizer while her boyfriend is in bed sleeping. The girlfriend uses the Nivea on herself and a few drops also spill onto a rough, short, stubby cactus sitting on a shelf. The cactus changes quickly and so does the girlfirend. The girlfriend is wearing one of her boyfriend’s dress shirts as she wonders back into the bedroom and climbs playfully onto his chest to surprise him.

The effects of Nivea for Men take hold quickly in the darkness of night as the girlfriend jumps into bed. The cactus on a shelf springs to life, doubling in size and becoming very large, smooth and thick.

The premise of the viral video was that it was produced by a marketing office in Japan and was hacked from a Japanese server and was deemed “too hot” for television. We had dubbed Japanese audio and produced Japanese keyframes with english sub-titles to make it appear as though Beiersdorf Japan was hacked and the video was leaked online— this made it unknown that the video was created by Beiersdorf in Montréal with TBWA in Toronto. This concept of a cyber attack would create more media attention in Canada as the video had a youthful, sexy undertone with Japanese dubbing. We had planned integrated media elements to support the viral video that included cheeky warning stickers that read “ONLY FOR MEN.”

Someone very senior at Germany’s Beirsdorf A.G. global headquarters found out about the viral video concept after months of work and just before production was slated to begin in Vancouver. The Germans understood the concept of the video and didn’t need it explained further. The Germans feared the Canadian marketing division would would be too successful and the video shares would not be contained to young Canadian men when placed online. In other areas of the world the concept of men’s skin care was more mature and Beiersdorf A.G. feared fallout that wouldn’t have happened in Canada where this product category was new and we were using a different strategy for launch. Toronto and Montréal was asked to get as much production deposit money refunded as possible despite shooting with a big name commercial film director, the following week in Vancouver. Beirsdorf Germany would not allow the concept to move forward in the eleventh hour.

Creativity, perseverance and new thinking helped save the day for Nivea for Men along with their Beisersdorf Canada executives in Montréal. Together, we worked with a commercial director to create an alternative to the viral video and find a new way to spend the marketing dollars inside Toronto that were earmarked for Vancouver. We created one of the first fully interactive digital video advertisements featuring live actors within scenes that allowed audiences to control the outcome of the video by throwing an object of their choice at the person in the scene. Average, young men were placed in uncomfortable situations where they could choose to have smooth, sexy skin as a way to cope.

We allowed young men to feel better about themselves and view skincare as something that they could control. The Nivea for Men interactive experience was profiled at creative award shows around the world, as one of the year’s best examples of digital creativity. This investment in creative expression changed how people looked at a banner that expanded in size into what could be considered an interactive TV commercial that was now approved by both Canada and Germany. 

Prototype. Test. Learn and repeat.

I assisted Google with the design of their North American Adwords platform, working as an extension of their internal design team through the TBWA Disruption Consultancy.

Good Morning Japan.

I led creative development of a Canadian multichannel campaign for YellowTail wine. At TBWA Toronto, we invited Canadians to have fun and play their wine. Audio clips of people playing wine glasses were collected and we had an internationally-renowned mashup artist mix the clips into a new track. While the campaign was intended for Canadian audiences, the hit went viral.  Our YellowTail wine orchestra included a Webby award, my appearance on 'Good Morning Japan' and front page coverage in the Toronto Star business section.

Dream big. Winter Olympic Sized.

Oversaw integrated creative development (television, digital and experiential) for Petro-Canada and Suncor Energy's sponsorship of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics on behalf of TBWA, one of the world's top 10 advertising agencies.

A suntan lotion from Nissan and a sports car designed by Cirque du Soleil.

At TBWA Toronto, I launched Infiniti's first convertible sports car sold in Canada by distributing a custom branded suntan lotion at Toronto’s International Auto Show. The engaging suntan lotions that were given away by Infinti staff at their trade show booth at the nation’s largest auto show.

I worked with creatives from Cirque du Soleil to design a custom Infiniti sports car for a Nissan Motors national sponsorship of Cirque du Soleil.

Nissan Versa Nights.

At TBWA I oversaw creation of a game using live-action footage, computer generated environments and a live camera feed to create an experience that educates audiences about the features of the fun to drive Nissan Versa. We reached new records for the time people spent engaged with the brand as part of a multi-million dollar campaign.

Acquisition and retention. Surprise and delight.

Art direction brand architecture design for the launch of Nissan and Infiniti's Canadian first customer relationship program in Canada.

There's a world in your wallet.

Over the course of several years I was Creative Director for TBWA and Visa in Canada. I worked on everything from Visa's sponsorship of the Toronto International Film festival to the design, advertising and branding for Visa's integrated brand creative.

London 2012. Go World.
Go Team Visa.

I worked with Visa to develop a Canadian digital campaign for the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Each week, my team and I prepared and predicted a multitude of athletic scores, milestones and stories so that creative options could run in nearly real-time with Olympic moments as they happened.

Dream Big
Petro-Canada’s National Olympic Sponsorship Platform.

I worked with Petro-Canada to develop Dream Big an integrated campaign platform featuring broadcast television, digital, social and event activations to promote several Olympic Games.

Petro-Canada's Petro-Points loyalty program.

I led the new branding and creative direction for Petro-Canada's Petro-Point's loyalty program for TBWA Toronto. The new design "Happy Returns" aimed to create a more emotional connection using storytelling and the platform was rolled-out to approximately 1500 retail locations across Canada as well as Petro-Canada's Neighbours restaurants and cafes. Our new program included all touch points from point of sale to digital, broadcast and out of home. My team collaborated with stakeholders from across Suncor Energy to bring the concept to life from concept to execution. 

They say everyone gets a few minutes of fame... I got 5 seconds when I won our TBWA office lottery in 2007 to make this cameo in this TV spot for a new phone. 

\ I SKATED WITH THE EDMONTON OILERS ON A PART-TIME BASIS. MADONNA WOULDN’T DANCE WITH ME.

To be honest I was never really into playing hockey, but I was able to skate a several seasons with the Edmonton Oilers at Northlands Coliseum when they were really winning Stanley Cups all the time. This was when #99 Wayne Gretzky was still on Edmonton ice, before he went to California. The Oilers always let me get a few pucks in the net. I was there on a part-time basis and to be honest the Oilers picked up a lot of slack— I wasn’t that good. After a game on the ice, sometimes the Oilers would meet me later in the evening dinner and drinks, if they were free.

I moved to Toronto and trained at a gym owned by Madonna. I spent a year training to dance for her at her private party gym opening.

After a year of me attending Madonna’s dance training classes, many of Canada’s National Ballet dancers showed up at the audition and took all the spots without attending one single gym class. We rarely these people in class but these professional dancers showed up wearing tiny tank tops on audition day. Life isn’t always fair but I was still able to attend her private opening and she paid for my drinks.

After a few years in Toronto, I worked with the Visa and the NHL on an integrated platform for hockey sponsorship called “Hockey Love Hurts.” As creative director at TBWA in Toronto, I oversaw all aspects of this campaign for Visa but I focused on digital activations including rewarding Visa cardholders with exclusive hockey related perks and giveaways during the hockey season.

\ McCANN Toronto 2004 - 2006

I worked at McCann Toronto in the direct and interactive division (McCann MRM) as an art director on digital, direct and CRM projects. I worked with General Motors (GMC, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Cadillac, Hummer, GM OnStar subscription satellite communications services), Rogers Communications, Sony Stores, Johnson & Johnson, United Parcel Service, McNeil Consumer Healthcare (Tylenol, Imodium, Splenda) and Iovate Health Sciences International on MustleTech fitness supplements.


Creative executions combined with advanced digital targeting can bring the ‘right messages,’ to the 'right people,’ at the ‘right time.’ Selling a fully-loaded GMC Hummer at a time when most focused on small, hybrid vehicles was a challenge. I designed a series of eye-catching, dynamically-generated magazine ads created using GM customer relationship data. Armed with knowledge and bold creative, challenging sales are possible even when marketing dollars are spread across brands.


I worked with Sony Canada over several years to design store events and marketing invitations designed to get consumers to private Sony Store events that sometimes occurred after-hours, with food and beverages often when malls were closed. Projects with Sony included new customer acquisition and loyalty and reward communications for national Sony Stores that leveraged Sony’s internal customer profiles, loyalty and sales data for consumer electronics purchasing. I have advanced knowledge of personalization, specialty inks/coatings for paper, digital print-on-demand and packaging construction at mass scale, including cardboard production in China.

Sony’s Electronics
and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

I worked with Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony consumer electronics to find new ways for feature movies and consumer electronics to be integrated at Sony. When a new Sony film is released in theatres how can Sony’s consumer electronics customers build profitability between Sony divisions who don’t normally work together. Many malls with loyal Sony Store customers also have cinemas along with a years of Sony relationship data. Could inviting Sony’s best customers to see a sneak preview of a state-of-the-art home entertainment system be rewarded with complimentary family tickets to a blockbuster film at a mall with Sony Store and cinema?


Pro-body building athletes can be
expensive to reach with mass communications.

I designed a fold-out experience that targeted Canada and USA athletes directly at their home. The advanced type of body builders who use the supplement I was tasked with selling aren’t the ones on every block. I designed a pro-bodybuilder sports supplement sampling program that tracked individual athletes, distributed samples to homes and tested different values of retail store coupons for effectiveness amongst different bodybuilding segments.

Personalized messaging, training, star-influencer posters and barcodes that worked at any retailer selling the product were included in one folder. Child-safe packaging features and an engaging design that showed a muscle increasing in size were built from scratch to meet different federal health regulations for distribution in Canada and the United States. PS this front cover shows what these bodybuilders would consider to be “small” biceps before the zipper was ripped open revealing pro-sized arms.

\ INTEL

Work and play with as you roam.
Look for a Wifi symbol when you take a laptop.

I worked on a national marketing program with Intel’s Canadian Marketing Manager for Entertainment. I worked with McCann Relationship Marketing to design communications that would differentiate and brand new Intel computer processors for home entertainment and productivity. ViiV and Pentium Duo Chips for home entertainment systems like televisions and laptops would make Intel the brand of choice for consumers buying during the back to school season where new chips allowed laptops to connect to wireless networks.  

\ Fuel TORONTO 2003 - 2004

Fuel Advertising was a dedicated creative agency embedded inside Hudson’s Bay headquarters in downtown Toronto. Hudson’s Bay a 350 year old department store with coast-to-coast retail locations, I designed story-driven seasonal retail campaigns working with agency and department store staff. Our task was to elevate the brand towards tend-setting fashion and not focus on discounts and sales within brand communications.

I have worked with fashion photographers, designers, writers, commercial directors to craft in-store and out-of-home content, produced in multiple languages and customized by geographic region. By crafting an ‘editorial’ experience around performance products, it is possible to leverage in store and out of home media to be better at inspiring action that is based on fashion storytelling.

Every week, national store sales performance was measured by department store executives who valued every single dollar they spent as an investment. Together, we learned a lot about what works and always tried to take bold, creative risks for better returns on retail— by not just focusing shoppers on what is “on-sale.”

How do you intercept millions of front cover designs from womens’ fashions to help housewares?

When millions of front covers are meant to set the fashion trend it’s possible to break all the rules in overtime. I helped the one retail buyer who sells tableware get the national front cover of a catalogue mailed to every household and distributed at every store in Canada. Creative storytelling along with some initiative and risk taking can help the tug-of-war over marketing resources. When you sit inside a gigantic Hudson’s Bay boardroom that’s nearly 200 years old, and you look the lonely tableware buyer straight in the eye and you tell them “you got their backside.” Deliver by intercepting the entire front cover from the womens fashions department, in overtime.

My alternate front cover concept put tableware in the drivers seat and included a stylish bride and groom wearing the latest wedding fashions. A wind machine, fashion models holding hands inside a modern, flying teacup were surrounded by clouds, designer flying saucers and dinnerware. Every combination of tableware pattern, colour and setting sold at Hudson’s Bay made bridal registry history— when front covers were to be reserved for trendsetting fashion. This studio photograph was added at the end of a long day at the studio and I spent weeks compositing brandname tableware into one whimsical image that registered like bridal registry movie poster.

\ CALDER BATEMAN 2001 - 2003

Calder Bateman was my first break into the agency world. I was an art director on a range of clients.

Protect your brain from your bike.

I worked with The Province of Alberta’s Department of Transportation to update the design their provincial bicycle safety program for kids and youth. Colourful marketing materials educated kids on the importance of wearing a bicycle helmet ahead of new provincial laws requiring children and youth to wear a bicycle helmet every time they ride. Illustrated fold-outs of a cartoon brain inside a bicycle helmet engaged kids in an experience. Our agency was responsible for assisting with public relations and speech writing for government officials and press conferences.



16 is no longer Sixteen in Alberta.

I helped design an integrated campaign to communicate major changes to the way new motor vehicle drivers were licensed in Alberta. Alberta Transportation disrupted the way that generations of people living in cities and farms viewed driver licensing. New rules for graduated licensing, drinking and driving, and a different path to complete driver licensing repositioned driving as a privilege to be earned, and not a right in Alberta

Communications needed to be understood and break-through within both urban and rural environments and change the way people viewed getting a licence something that just “happened” between the ages of sixteen and seventeen. An integrated campaign including television, radio, print, public relations, out of home and direct mail were launched before, during and after new laws.



Rebranding Teachers and Firefighters in Alberta.

I worked with the Alberta Fire Training School, Fire Etc. You can see me pictured below breaking into an oil refinery for the perfect shot for the Fire School’s risk management program. Our agency was responsible for rebranding the school to reflect the concept that it was more than just fire training— ETC meant more and “Emergency Training Centre”. Creative included logo design, original photography, enrolment and admissions marketing for EMTs (ambulance), firefighters and private sector risk management professionals in the oil and gas industry. We designed a quarterly student magazine. Rebranding efforts included new firefighter jackets, pins, shirts and uniforms with the logo design.


I was responsible for the rebranding of the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Education, responsible for educating teachers. The disruptive campaign replaced the traditional apple with an orange inside the site of one of Alberta’s oldest schools. Education Rethought branded the faculty for a new era. The University’s professional magazine for teachers was rebranded as “The Orange” and included an orange peel-off wrapper that had to be opened to get into the magazine.

Next generation Farming.

I worked as part of a team to rebrand Olds College in Southern Alberta. Our task was to reposition the province’s most technologically advanced program for educating new farmers. New advances in agriculture and farm automation as well as a hip and younger generation needed a new campaign to represent farming in the modern age. We travelled to southern Alberta to look at the new generation of farmers who were covered in tattoos and listening to the latest music. A campaign that focused on attitude a modern view of agriculture was launched in print and out of home billboards.

For Husquvarna power tools of Sweden, I designed advertising for chainsaws that drove eager shoppers to visit resellers in Western Canada.

Get an entire province off the couch.

HealthyU was a province-wide heath and wellness initiate to promote healthy eating and exercise. I worked as part of a team on the launch of HealthyU across the province. Creative included radio, a lifestyle magazine, out of home billboards, television and print advertising. I also worked with the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission (AADAC) on a campaign focused on the dangers of smoking and excessive drinking. This integrated campaign launched ahead of new provincial smoking laws.

\ University of Alberta school of business 1997-2001

Completed a Bachelor of Commerce, Marketing degree from the U of A that included course work in advertising, marketing, consumer behaviour, management science, calculus, film studies, finance, innovation management, organizational behaviour, sales, and law. I transferred into the University of Alberta School of Business as a second year student after attending MacEwan University.

After my University internship, I was asked to develop the curriculum and teach an evening course in digital marketing to retail professionals and business owners continuing their education at the University of Alberta School of Retailing— ahead of me graduating.

Helping NASA repair shuttles
on a scrappy budget. 

During my time at the University of Alberta School of Business, I completed a co-operative education internship focused on marketing and design with an enterprise application integration firm specialized in software and services for mission-critical digital transformation. The software startup grew very quickly during the time I was there. During my time we moved from a research park at the edge of the city to a downtown skyscraper occupying several floors that were previously the PriceWaterHouseCoopers Edmonton headquarters. I designed 3D architectural signage with my brand design inside our granite front lobby.

I was responsible for in-house creative strategy and design services services. I worked nearly full-time for two years during in what began as a university internship. I oversaw design and production of everything from marketing creative to software packaging, manuals, PR, global tradeshows and interactive systems including “proof-of-concept” prototypes for big clients. I had added responsibilities within healthcare, space and telecommunications for marketing insights and support.


I designed materials used by B/E Aerospace, Liberty Mutual, CIT Financial Group, Holiday Inn Worldwide and NASA. When a space shuttle needs repairs clicking the right icons allowed the airforce to get parts to the hangars without the need to have expensive shuttle parts stocked in both Florida and California. I designed clickable software icons, startup-screens, jewel cases, silk-screened CD-ROM graphics and thick and glossy perfect-mound manuals, technical documentation, warranty registrations, update postcards, event communications and graphic three ring binders used everyday by PhDs trying looking to keep NASA flying on a scrappy budget. When Celcorp began in an industrial research park we were running out of space for staff. There was no room in the marketing area and I worked next to the head of software development and the head of technical documentation. Working next to these staff members would help with relationships the following year when we moved to a downtown skyscraper.

Although I was in marketing, the AI developers looked at me as part of their team and I had access to them on a personal level when it came to design, troubleshooting and coding. If you have trouble with anything computer related and you work with some of the leading people in Canadian intelligence software development, they could do amazing things to assist with a deadline.


A real-time executive dashboard for apparel inventory.

I designed a dashboard for one of America’s largest financial institutions to gain visibility into apparel inventories of retail companies they acquired. I designed an animated digital catalogue allowing B/E Aerospace's global airline customers to buy aerospace interior and exterior parts pre-configured for their airline from a range of suppliers. From a maple leaf seat cushion to a new windshield or soap dispenser with your logo, it’s the ultimate one-stop shop. Check often to see what’s new and on sale.


A worldwide hotel that buys independent hotels.

While in University and working at Celcorp, I worked independently with the Holiday Inn Worldwide CMO and CIO to design a system for internal hotel staff to book rooms at independent hotels newly purchased through mergers an acquisitions. Previously independent hotels needed to continue their operations but used booking software different from their new owner, Holiday Inn. Rather than replace systems or shut down, I worked with staff to create a simple internal web solution in the language that Holiday Inn’s global reservations staff understood. The three of us completed the design in days while a floor of scrappy AI engineers developed integration using Celware tools that could handle the reservations at hotels newly acquired.


A digital catalogue for airline owners.

I designed an interactive online catalogue for B/E Aerospace. The catalogue allowed global airline companies to buy branded aerospace products— from a wide range of suppliers— all from one web page. Airlines could purchase products like windshields, seat cushions, cabin dividers and soap dispensers pre-configured in their airline’s brand, colours and design specifications— all from one digital storefront using different vendors. I worked designed an eye-catching design using B/E Aerospace branding while a team of AI engineers integrated the backend software to make background purchasing possible from many different aerospace parts suppliers.


Selling our trademark tagline.

About a year after launching our new brand, we received a call from New York lawyers wanting to reach a deal because their client (a global technology giant) was ready to launch a worldwide brand campaign marking a new direction (the campaign was already shot and ready to air) using the trademark tagline we created. 

Molson 9 Beer:
Six Packs Edition.

Participated in a one-year special project for the development of a new beer called Molson 9. Activities included working with a Molson brew master to create a custom brew formulation based on consumer insights and data, brand design, packaging and advertising in partnership with Molson Coors.

Beer:
Semi-Trucks Edition.

My Management Science class consulted with a micro-brewery to redesign their provincial distribution network and warehouse locations using weekly sales forecasts, highway traffic data and truck capacity. We had to do this in one hour using a spreadsheet, map of Alberta and a data analysis toolkit. Cold beer had to arrive on store shelves as efficiently as possible and without breaking any highway speed limits.

Pembina Institute for Climate Change:
Leading Canada’s Transition to Clean Energy.

I completed senior Management Science consulting focused on advanced analytics and data modelling. In 1999 I worked directly with staff from The Pembina Institute for Climate Change.  

I worked with the Pembina Institute to help businesses calculate true price of carbon within financial statements using management science and economics.

Alberta has Canada’s largest conventional and unconventional oil and gas reserves and there was an early focus within our University on learning how to calculate the cost of carbon emissions.

\ director of marketing 1994-1996

Iwerks TurboRide Theatre
36 Moving Seats. 3-Story Tall Screen. Wind Machines.

I took some time before attending University. During my time off, I led the experience design, marketing and advertising for a $1.8 million Iwerks simulation theatre that combined films projected onto a massive 3-story tall screen with moving seats and wind machines. Iwerks Entertainment was founded by Don Iwerks and Stan Kinsey, former Disney executives. Don Iwerks received an Oscar for his pioneering innovation in motion-picture technology.

Our theatre's seats could move up to 3-feet off along three planes— simulating the slightest vibrations to a fall into a volcano. Our theatre was cutting-edge and experiential content was core to our business. The $1.8 million attraction took several years to construct as a free standing building underneath the world’s largest indoor rollercoaster.

I was responsible for maintaining an active marketing calendar that included promotional partnerships, mall displays, retail theming and advertising. I worked with a range of companies on cross-promotions, TV, radio, print and in mall activations.

We transformed a theme park using lush tropical rainforest with plants and giant posters for Dino Island and had staff in full uniforms along with specialty retail sales for Days of Thunder the NASCAR racing ride. Aliens saw the park transformed into an industrial waste land with pipes, scaffolding, cement bricks and crumbling destruction surrounded by 20th Century Fox Aliens emerging from fog. From distributing 100,000 boxes of cereal with Kellogs; offering a promotion on top of Dominos Pizza Boxes; working with MIDAS muffler and lubricants to create a video preshow before a racing ride; to generating media discussion about rides on morning shows this was all part of my job as Director of Marketing.

City of Edmonton
The City of Champions.  

I consulted with the City of Edmonton's corporate communications team over several years where I developed creative for City parks and major attractions including: 3 city-owned golf courses, fitness & aquatic centres (Stadium Fitness and Kinsmen Sports Centre),Fort Edmonton Park, Muttart Conservatory (Botanical Gardens), Nature Centre and Valley Zoo. Corporate communications headquarters was on the 5th Floor of City Hall but it was executed through an office at Fort Edmonton Park.

I was responsible for the efficient weekly design and creative development of newspaper ads, event/course catalogues and visitor guides/maps at multiple facilities with complex programming, multiple stakeholders and distinct branding requirements.

West Edmonton Mall
104 Football fields in size.
5.3 Million Square Feet of WOW! 

Prior to heading to University, I was offered an opportunity through Triple Five Worldwide Developments– the developer, owner and operator of the world's largest shopping centre.

A mall that is 104 football fields in size attracting 32 million visits a year needs a flexible parks and attractions marketing coordinator.

I helped increase visibility, customer spending and return visits. I gained know-how and got a behind the scenes working knowledge  of some of the world's most innovative indoor parks to be found North of Disney. My area of expertise included: Galaxyland Amusement Park, World Waterpark, Deep Sea Adventure (5 Polaris-class submarines), Ice Palace (Edmonton Oilers' NHL practice ice), The Dolphin Lagoon (5 chatty, treat-eating dolphins with rubber-like heads) and an indoor golf course.

I coordinated parks and attractions marketing for 3 months before heading to University after spending more than a year working with Iwerks Turboride. I had made the decision to get a University education after a year off and had already applied to post secondary and was accepted into second semester which started in January.

I stayed with the mall and assisted with the transition and worked a the desk next to West Edmonton Mall’s Advertising Manager assisting her however I could. West Edmonton Mall’s Advertising Manager was unique because she acted as an in-house account person who accepted business briefs and budgets and responded to mall staff with an advertising business case. She then briefed outside creative and production agencies on behalf of West Edmonton Mall’s internal marketing staff.

I assisted with business briefs, calculating the physical size of ads we needed to buy based on the amount of creative copy and what we would need for a visual. I had media cost calculation rulers for the major newspapers and by designing a mock ad using filler copy— I could calculate to the penny how many columns and inches we would require to say what we needed to satisfy our internal clients. A captivating visual from West Edmonton Mall’s visual asset library and a few sentences of placeholder copy without having to consult outside suppliers. West Edmonton Mall’s creative focused on large visuals and modern minimal design and so the creative formula was set. I could assist with creative design when urgent business needs such as not meeting weekly “Super Summer Attractions Pass” sales would require print advertising, placed within days, to boost sales for the following week. Super Summer Attractions pass sales cost approximately $300 per person and sell out every year for unlimited summer access. Parks and Attractions had weekly summer sales objectives that could be influenced with supplemental promotional advertising heading into weekends.

Why WOULD West Edmonton Mall hire someone FULL-TIME INTO PARKS AND ATTRACTIONS Marketing with ONLY
a high school education?

I already had design skills and years of marketing experience that could not be matched.

West Edmonton Mall had both retail and parks advertising running in Canada and the North Western United States. I was a flexible Parks and Attractions Marketing coordinator and I was born just across the street from West Edmonton Mall.

I didn’t ever bring anyone at West Edmonton Mall’s head office their “morning coffee.” I was able to design a mockup advertising creative that consisted of four our five sentences of copy and visual. This design could form the basis of a cost and creative discussion that Jenifer, our Advertising Manger could hold with her internal marketing staff. This saved time and money because the creative design was a marketing formula at this time. We could make efficient use of dollars by prototyping the best design and discussing the options.

Looking back now, Jenifer was adept at writing creative headlines and copy because of her years of working with creative agencies. I would propose visuals, a design layout and a few headline options for Jenifer to take to her meetings with mall marketing staff. My experience working with City of Edmonton allowed me ownership of media rulers where I could calculate the size of ads their cost. Print advertising was sold according to space— but it made a difference how the advertising was designed.

If you were weren’t running a full page ad, the prices of media varied based on what was available and the size specs. If you created a tall and skinny ad, it cost less than using the same space in a wide landscape-sized ad. Creativity could sometimes find a strong media solution that saved money by thinking outside the box. In the early 90s, I was able to prototype different design options in different configurations— that Jenifer could take to internal stakeholders at West Edmonton Mall— because of my learning experience with the City of Edmonton. For City of Edmonton, I helped determine the specifications for print newspaper advertising that happened every week for City of Edmonton Park and Attractions based on what needed to be communicated. This maximized a city’s annual print advertising budget because we didn’t buy media and retrofit. If we could save a few thousand dollars by being creative one week, this meant more to the City over the course of a year. Same for West Edmonton Mall.

I was able to design ads in-house parks and attractions advertising for urgent business needs, without having to source an outside supplier. The mall didn’t employ creative design staff and I was able to supply camera ready creative using West Edmonton Mall’s asset library and Jenifer, the mall’s advertising manager as creative copywriter. She could write creative copy on the spot because of her years of experience working with the mall’s creative agencies in Canada and the United States. Her copy would match to the language, tone and style of creative agencies and together we could deliver in hours.

Advertising was my passion and I assisted her however I could for the time I remained with West Edmonton Mall. Being a Director of Marketing and having much larger control and responsibility wasn’t the same as working as a coordinator within a large organization. I already knew that I was accepted to business school and I made the most of my time to help the mall I grew up with.

West Edmonton Mall Security didn’t allow my access card to tap into Marine Life, but I got to go pretty much everywhere else. I was hired into West Edmonton Mall after my time at Iwerks TurboRide when the decision was made to sell the ride to the mall and include the facility within the regular admission price to Galaxyland. The staff who worked at Iwerks TurboRide head office were transferred into West Edmonton Mall’s administration team with an expanded mall-wide portfolio of responsibility since we already knew most of the staff, how the mall operated and had direct, daily contact with Iwerks Entertainment in Burbank, California.

I didn't do a 'Bottlenose' lunch with Marine Life Trainers at the pool hidden underneath the mall, only reserved for staff and the dolphins who made the underwater journey from the main lagoon. I did however get to feed our Bottlenose dolphins a pail of fish while in public view.
 

CINEPLEX ENTERTAINMENT 1992-1993

I worked with Cineplex Entertainment at Cineplex Odeon Eaton Centre Cinemas in Edmonton for two years in a brand experience role where I wore a bowtie and suit. I was part of the feature film launches of Jurassic Park and Aliens among many others. I left Cineplex Entertainment to move to a Director of Marketing role at Iwerks Turbo Ride. In this new role, I worked with adaptations of several films that I was part of at Cineplex— but in new immersive and high-performance ride film format.

\ Victoria School for the Performing and Visual Arts 1991-1993

3 point lighting.
3 point layups.

Majored in Visual Art. Instruction in commercial art, television art, design and photography.

Our school’s design and photography studio created advertising for performing arts, basketball tournaments and Alberta School of Ballet. Electives completed in television art included instruction in various roles within our school's TV studio where we produced and aired a daily live morning show.

In an all-arts high school for the performing and visual arts, you need an intense morning show on live television. In the early 90s and armed with television in every classroom along with a full tv production facility, we brought the morning news to life during a live broadcast. VTV News was hard-hitting, action-packed and went deeper than regular television. Our production studio had two floors of equipment, talent, lighting and professional grade television systems donated by national broadcasters.

VTV News needed a flexible third-year television arts director to call the shots from the broadcast control room on level two above the studio. Banks of tv monitors, wireless radios and the hottest technologies meant the morning show was started on time. Watching VTV News was mandatory during homeroom at Victoria School for the performing and visual arts. 

A heart-wrenching breakup between third year morning show news anchors who were dating, led to slow quiet tears that quietly started to fall during live television. This live television moment played to nearly a thousand people who respected the two of them.

I had lunch with the two morning show anchors the day before, at a downtown Edmonton Italian restaurant, on Jasper Avenue. My two friends and VTV News colleagues told about their break up over lunch and I was shocked and disappointed. When the whole “tears” incident started on live television, I made the call for our switcher to transition away and protect our talent from on-air embarrassment. The broadcast studio was frozen because tears started falling despite calm faces on-air and uninterrupted normal dialogue during the TV segment.

Slowly and painfully the tears spilled on live television and the segment just kept going as if nothing was happening. I was the Director but our Executive Producer and high school teacher was a highly qualified film and television academic. She sat in the control room she was bewildered by the tears falling despite normal and composed conversation. It was the strangest thing that ever happened and after this romance ended VTV News was never the same and we coasted until graduation, just months away. This couple was well-liked within the school of almost a thousand people and the disappointment of the break up was translated into almost all of our school not wanting to watch VTV News anymore.

Started as a volunteer and over the course of more than 11 years, left as House Manager.

In Junior High School I did a school report and work experience program at the science centre— and I ended up staying for 11 years. What inspired me about the science centre was the creativity and innovation that happened there. Many aspects of the facility were custom made and one-of-a-kind because we innovated and created what didn't exist.

The science centre had an in-house creative studio, art production, exhibit workshop, photography lab and sound studio. We crafted our own planetarium shows, special effects, interactive exhibit spaces, original musical scores and even our own custom software to run admissions, memberships, ticket sales and seat selection — years before it was possible in traditional movie theatres. We hosted international traveling exhibitions that were not available anywhere else in Canada as well as experiences we created and then leased to other locations around the world.

I had the opportunity to work with the designers, artists, carpenters, audio composer, marketing professionals, IT professionals, scientists and more. 

I designed the Edmonton Space and Science Foundation's 1996 annual report for the Edmonton Space and Science Centre's operations because the Science Centre's art production department was too busy producing planetarium shows, exhibits, advertising and marketing content for one of the largest tourist attractions in Alberta. The Executive Director and Finance Department didn't get the numbers ready in time, so he turned to Curtis who worked on it over the weekend. See if you can find a shout-out to Iwerks Entertainment on the cover of the Edmonton Space and Science Centre’s annual report cover. You will only know if you have copies of Iwerks Entertainment’s 1994 Annual Report. I don’t think IMAX Systems Corporation was aware of what I did. Click here to see.

 \ 1984 —