Product Launches
Launching a new brand into the market requires careful positioning, robust strategy, and memorable names. Luckily, I can do all three.
I’ve launched dozens of products into the market, taking them from unknowns to household names in just a few months.
My role across projects included: market analysis, customer analysis, brand positioning, brand naming, verbal strategy, and launch content strategy.
Here are a few of the product launches I have led.
Ford F-150 Lightning
The best selling truck in America was launching its first ever 100% electric vehicle (EV). The truck’s branding needed to be iconic, strong, and resonate with a target demographic that was somewhat skeptical about the power of EVs. I worked in the Ford Detroit offices for nearly a year, developing 10,000+ name options and dozens on naming strategies and approaches. We eventually landed on Ford Lightning, a brand name that is powerful, electric, and that nods to a previous truck in Ford’s historic lineup. In addition to the Ford Lightning, I also led the strategic brand work across the Ford Transit, Ford Autonomous, and Ford PRO verticals.
Microsoft Mesh
Microsoft tapped me to help them communicate their new mixed reality offering in a simple and human way. They wanted something quick and tangible that used an action-oriented verb to communicate what working together really felt like in this new reality. I created the brand name “Microsoft Mesh”, capturing a sense of collaboration, presence, and togetherness. Soon after it launched, “Let’s Mesh” was ringing out in workplaces across the world, with coworkers engaging with each other through Mesh-enabled devices, including Microsoft HoloLens, VR Headsets, Smartphones, Tablets, and PCs.
Element Guard & Woodluxe
by Benjamin Moore
Benjamin Moore came to me with two rebranding asks. Their current deck wood-stain named “Arborcoat” was not resonating with consumers. The word arbor was not well known and they needed a name that quickly communicated a long-lasting and luxurious wood stain. I created the brand “Woodluxe” to replace “Arborcoat”, helping them tell a simpler, more streamlined story. For their outdoor paint lineup, they wanted to move away from “Ben Exterior” and create a brand that communicated moisture resistant, durable, and weatherproof. Thus “Element Guard” was born. Two descriptive rebrands that resulted in increased clarity and increased sales for Benjamin Moore.
Versal (AMD)
Technology behemoth AMD asked me to come up with a brand for the industry's first adaptive compute acceleration platform (ACAP). What the heck does ACAP even mean? Essentially a ton of computer power in a tiny chip that powers everything from satellites to complex AI computing. Plus, this new chip was extremely versatile and has global applications across industries. The resulting brand was “Versal” (a coining of the word universal) that also nodded to the versatility of the product. The product has gone on to be one of the keystone products of the AMD universe, resulting in millions in sales.
Bask Bank
Texas Capital Bank came to me with a unique proposition— a high yield savings account that pays customers out in American Airline AAdvantage miles vs. cash. Bank customers get 1.5 miles for every $1 in their account, perfect for those people who put travel before anything else. I wanted to create to create a brand that nodded to the feeling of enjoyment we all get while traveling so we landed on Bask Bank. The name of the bank encourages customers to bask in the savings, bask in the sun, and bask in the bliss of free travel.
Constellation Agency
An automotive-focused, social media advertising agency asked me to help name their company in a way that told a global story. My name, Constellation Agency, served as a metaphor for how each one of the small social media ads the team delivered to clients added up to something big, beautiful, and impactful. Constellation Agency connects the dots across touch points to get customers to see the bigger picture.
Delinea
In 2021, Thycotic and Centrify merged together to become one of the largest cyber security companies in the world. This new company needed a new brand—a brand that signaled the company’s ability to keep up with ever-changing demands of security, privileged access management, and clearance. The brand Delinea was born from delineate, having the critical skill of being able to decide in real-time who needs to see what information when.
Bric Menswear
I got a call from a new menswear company that was reinventing the male sizing game. The company wanted to be more than “big and tall”… they wanted to stand for better and tailored. This brand is all about creating foundational clothing for men who don’t fit into traditional sizing. I created hundreds of naming candidates for them, eventually landing on Bric. The name told a story at many levels— it is coined the word fabric (speaking the the quality of the garments), it used brick as a metaphor for a bigger/taller man, and brick also nodded to the fact that each piece of clothing was a foundational brick in a man’s wardrobe.
State Of Studio
A new LA-based wellness studio was launching and needed a brand to stand out from the crowd. The brand name had to balance the both the physicality of the studio’s offerings (like workout classes) with the fluidity of the more wellness-centric offerings (meditation, sound baths, light therapy). The result was State Of Studio. Not only did the name create a perfect metaphor for capturing everything the studio wanted to offer (state of mind, state of being, state of change, state of rest, state of motion), it was also legally viable with URL availability. Win, win. State Of Studio opens in 2025, let’s go sometime shall we?
Other naming and product launch clients include: AIG, Amazon, Cisco, Citibank, Fairmont Hotels, Google, IBM, IHG, Intuit, Lexus, Lincoln, Grant Thornton, McDonalds, MLB, National Geographic, Toyota, and more.