While our time working together was brief, I owe Josh a recommendation for collaborating closely with me on a brand development project that went through discovery, conceptualization, and rollout in expedited fashion. In 2019, we were tasked with architecting a brand family for the merger of two 180-plus-year-old community banks under a new parent company. This project presented unique challenges. Our discovery process began in spring 2019, and public rollout of the new brand needed to be prepared for execution by the ends of the same year. We also had to architect a new brand family without renaming either of the two retail banks being merged together. Faithful customers were promised that the name of their bank would not change in advance of our discovery process. Additionally, differentiation was even more paramount to this brand development project than usual. We were merging two community banks in arguably the most saturated community bank market in the United States. Together, Josh and I worked as the lead tandem -- creative director and strategist -- through each phase of the project. Josh was a unique talent in that I could lean on him to be heavily involved in the discovery phase of the project. Given our tight timeline, I assigned Josh to conduct half of the customer interviews and employee interviews I would normally carry out myself. We also divided competitive analysis and independent research tasks. We synchronized our discovery insights, conceptualized brand strategies together, and ultimately executed a winning rebrand that honored the heritage and history of each bank, rallied two teams around a shared brand vision and culture, and helped bank leadership steer clear of customer attrition, dissatisfaction, or confusion. Along the way, we presented options to a new leadership/change management team, as well as two separate boards of directors. Josh's strength as a brand strategy presenter helped us get the buy-in we needed to complete the project on a tight timeline. We were able to explain our creative strategies in ways bank executives could not only understand, but champion going forward as they began building a workplace culture around the new brand family we created. If you ever have the chance to work with Josh on a project that feels "high stakes," he won't disappoint! I'm grateful we had this experience together. It was a highlight of my early career to help our client through this significant change management scenario.

While our time working together was brief, I owe Josh a recommendation for collaborating closely with me on a brand development project that went through discovery, conceptualization, and rollout in expedited fashion. In 2019, we were tasked with architecting a brand family for the merger of two 180-plus-year-old community banks under a new parent company. This project presented unique challenges. Our discovery process began in spring 2019, and public rollout of the new brand needed to be prepared for execution by the ends of the same year. We also had to architect a new brand family without renaming either of the two retail banks being merged together. Faithful customers were promised that the name of their bank would not change in advance of our discovery process. Additionally, differentiation was even more paramount to this brand development project than usual. We were merging two community banks in arguably the most saturated community bank market in the United States. Together, Josh and I worked as the lead tandem -- creative director and strategist -- through each phase of the project. Josh was a unique talent in that I could lean on him to be heavily involved in the discovery phase of the project. Given our tight timeline, I assigned Josh to conduct half of the customer interviews and employee interviews I would normally carry out myself. We also divided competitive analysis and independent research tasks. We synchronized our discovery insights, conceptualized brand strategies together, and ultimately executed a winning rebrand that honored the heritage and history of each bank, rallied two teams around a shared brand vision and culture, and helped bank leadership steer clear of customer attrition, dissatisfaction, or confusion. Along the way, we presented options to a new leadership/change management team, as well as two separate boards of directors. Josh's strength as a brand strategy presenter helped us get the buy-in we needed to complete the project on a tight timeline. We were able to explain our creative strategies in ways bank executives could not only understand, but champion going forward as they began building a workplace culture around the new brand family we created. If you ever have the chance to work with Josh on a project that feels "high stakes," he won't disappoint! I'm grateful we had this experience together. It was a highlight of my early career to help our client through this significant change management scenario.

While our time working together was brief, I owe Josh a recommendation for collaborating closely with me on a brand development project that went through discovery, conceptualization, and rollout in expedited fashion. In 2019, we were tasked with architecting a brand family for the merger of two 180-plus-year-old community banks under a new parent company. This project presented unique challenges. Our discovery process began in spring 2019, and public rollout of the new brand needed to be prepared for execution by the ends of the same year. We also had to architect a new brand family without renaming either of the two retail banks being merged together. Faithful customers were promised that the name of their bank would not change in advance of our discovery process. Additionally, differentiation was even more paramount to this brand development project than usual. We were merging two community banks in arguably the most saturated community bank market in the United States. Together, Josh and I worked as the lead tandem -- creative director and strategist -- through each phase of the project. Josh was a unique talent in that I could lean on him to be heavily involved in the discovery phase of the project. Given our tight timeline, I assigned Josh to conduct half of the customer interviews and employee interviews I would normally carry out myself. We also divided competitive analysis and independent research tasks. We synchronized our discovery insights, conceptualized brand strategies together, and ultimately executed a winning rebrand that honored the heritage and history of each bank, rallied two teams around a shared brand vision and culture, and helped bank leadership steer clear of customer attrition, dissatisfaction, or confusion. Along the way, we presented options to a new leadership/change management team, as well as two separate boards of directors. Josh's strength as a brand strategy presenter helped us get the buy-in we needed to complete the project on a tight timeline. We were able to explain our creative strategies in ways bank executives could not only understand, but champion going forward as they began building a workplace culture around the new brand family we created. If you ever have the chance to work with Josh on a project that feels "high stakes," he won't disappoint! I'm grateful we had this experience together. It was a highlight of my early career to help our client through this significant change management scenario.