Francis Ford Coppola Winery
In-House Brand Work
This was my dream job.
When I was growing up, my dad kept Coppola Rosso in the house by the case. It wasn't a special-occasion wine. It was just the wine we drank. That mattered to me more than I probably realized at the time.
Years later, I worked in-house at the winery. My role spanned brand development, product, and partnerships. The challenge wasn't building awareness. The brand already had cultural weight. The challenge was making sure it stayed relevant without flattening what made it special.
Insight
A brand with history doesn't stay alive on its own. It needs to keep earning its place.
What I Did
I approached the brand as a whole system. Product launches, partnerships, and content all had to feel consistent with the same point of view.
- Helped develop Gia Coppola Wines, a newer expression of the brand based in the next generation
- Led brand management on the Diamond Collection, the winery's largest portfolio
- Led the development of Diamond Collection canned still wines
- Expanded the brand's reach through partnerships tied to food and music culture, including Outside Lands, Newport Folk Festival, Newport Jazz Festival, and Evite
- Wrote brand content that connected wine to food and music, treating it as something people live with, not something they need to study
Working in-house taught me that brand work is mostly about choices. What you extend. What you protect. What you leave alone.
Bisquick
Cultural Relevance Through Product
Bisquick is one of those brands everyone recognizes and almost no one thinks about.
It has been in American kitchens forever, but over time it slipped into the background. Younger audiences weren't rejecting it. They just didn't have a reason to notice it.
Insight
Bisquick was already part of culture. It just wasn't taking credit for it.
What We Did
Instead of running a traditional campaign, we treated the product itself as the medium.
We created limited-edition collaborations that let Bisquick show up where culture already lived. On shelf. In people's hands. In moments that felt fun and earned, not forced.
- Limited-edition packaging inspired by Fargo
- A collaboration with Kid Cudi that reimagined funnel cake mix through a playful, illustrated lens
- A sports-driven partnership with Jayden Daniels that tied food to ritual and fandom
Sometimes relevance is just giving a brand a reason to show up again.
Visit Philadelphia
Changing Perception of Place
The data showed Philadelphia was a skippable city.
People associated it with history and school trips. Important, but flat. At the same time, we saw something else. When people actually visited, they couldn't stop talking about it. The food. The neighborhoods. The bars. The feeling that something unexpected was always around the corner.
The problem wasn't the city. It was the assumption.
Insight
People came to Philadelphia for what they knew. They stayed for what they discovered.
What We Did
We didn't try to undo the city's history. We added texture to it.
"Come for Philadelphia. Stay for Philly." became a way to hold both truths at once. The institutions mattered. So did the lived-in parts of the city that people fell in love with once they were here.
It didn't oversell. It gave people permission to notice what was already there.
Progresso
Reframing the Midday Meal
The brief was to reach "Comfort Seekers." Adults 55+ and their midday meal routine.
It would have been easy to treat this audience as winding down. The data said the opposite. This group had time, agency, and strong opinions. They weren't settling. They were choosing.
Insight
Lunch wasn't a break from life. It was a moment of control.
What We Did
We reframed Progresso as a signal of taste and self-assurance, not convenience.
"When You Make It Progresso, You've Made It." positioned the brand as something you choose because you know what you like. Not because you're tired. Not because you're out of options.
The work showed people using their midday moment to do what mattered to them. Creative pursuits. Personal interests. Quiet confidence.
Comfort wasn't about slowing down. It was about having nothing left to prove.