Sage Rider

Leading and collaborating with a team of Art Directors, Designers & Writers, telling stories across channels. Setting the vision and strategy that shaped some of the company's first marketing efforts for TV, video, digital, print, podcast, radio, and more. Coached and led the team to lean into new ways to present work and sell creative ideas.

CREATIVE THEATER
• Negotiated and pitched the idea of hiring actor, John Slattery from Mad Men fame to introduce our new Holiday campaign at our national sales meeting. I ideated and wrote the 3-minute script and the grey fox delivered. As he spoke my words, snow magically fell in the Target Center on to a packed house of Team Members.

• I crafted a short set for Jamie Foxx to perform at our national sales meeting, he was inappropriately awesome.

• Pioneered, concepted and created 3D renders of every person in the entire Target Creative studio as a holiday gift. Spearheaded efforts while working with our 3D print lab and CGI studio to scan and print mini figurines of all 300+ of our creatives.

• Created and emceed all content for a made-up game show for a United Way fundraising event with Target’s CMO on stage at the Target Center and again the following year on Target Field.

EXPERIENCE
2016 – 2021, Associate Creative Director
Target, Target Creative, Minneapolis, MN
• Creative lead for Target Back to College campaign 2021
• Directed the creative team towards innovative ways to breakthrough to our younger guests using, a new partnership with up-coming content creators to help craft short bytes of video content and photography remotely.
The team delivered some killer creative – social, video, digital and Snapchat and serious results for back to college campaign $5.1B in sales, up $387M to LY leading to the most successful Back to College campaign in company history.

• Led creative partnership with Netflix and Target’s brand integration for Selena the series - fall 2020 launch - 2 seasons. Supported all creative research and development along multiple teams working across channels to make some magic.
• Creative lead 2020 Black Friday. Supported internal teams working across channels - Target Creative, Promo Marketing, SEM to design a flexible and connected message that is unmistakably Target. Implementing a strategic plan that led the team to “Black Friday Now”, under a ticking clock.
• Lead ACD Holiday 2020 Promo – Social, digital, radio, video. Promo accounted for over half of the media placements for Target Holiday. Flexed strategic thinking while managing tight timelines, re-work and business critical decisions that kept the team focused and within the swim lanes of the overall look and feel and voice of the Holiday campaign.
• Motivated all creative Target’s Holiday creative for all 2019 social videos and posts.
• Piloted the 2019 Target annual report creative from concept to pitch. The team created a bold new design direction to reflect our company's forward momentum.
• Lead writer ACD on 2018 Target Run campaign, video, social and all radio.
• Passionate leader that shaped and led the Garage, Target Creative’s internal innovation lab. Our safe place to do dangerous things.

Writer and creative type with Target Creative, father of 3 boys and many questionable ideas, currently the reigning Target Marketing ping-pong champ.
Boo ya.

Instructing creative writing sessions and fireside advertising chats. Good times had by most.

My Fall 2014 Scriptwriting class of 4 students won 4 Pins @ MN Ad Fed "The Show"
• 1 Gold - Pantone - Poetry of Color - Carl Peterson
• 1 Silver - Pantone - The heart of color - Colleen Mulheran
• 1 Bronze - MN Made Hockey - We are made - Colleen Mulheran
• 1 Bronze - MN Made Hockey - Made into something greater - Hans Hamann

Classes taught: Radio, Long copy, Script writing, Short & Sweet, Headlines, Story writing, Portfolio Development, Editorial Writing, Wordsmithing, Social

Minneapolis ACCOUNTS: General Mills, Caribou Coffee, Nestle, Ecolab, Minnesota Roller Girls, Target, Nutrament

Minneapolis ACCOUNTS: Gingiss Formalwear, Jacob Wetterling Foundation, Lawson Software, Medica, Minnesota State Lottery, Mystic Lake, St Paul Pioneer Press

Young & Rubicam, New York City ACCOUNTS: AT&T, Sony, Bronx Zoo, Campbell's Soup, Burger King, Dr. Pepper, Computer Associates, V8