The concept for the Creators Gathering 2020 film stemmed from the hype we’d gotten in previous years surrounding the behind-the-scenes social coverage of the trips. It was clear that people weren’t just into seeing the polished final selects. Vissla is known for their diverse team of surfers, glassers, craftsmen, woodworkers, and artists. People liked getting a glimpse behind the curtain… seeing the guys screw around, hearing the conversations that take place, and witnessing the various collaborative projects that come to life when you get such a wide range of artistic talent together in one place for a week. For that reason, we took a documentary-style approach to the film. Give it a watch here.

The social coverage of this trip each year on IG stories garners more views and engagement than any other marketing campaign throughout the year. The candid, behind-the-scenes look at the everyday happenings gives people the opportunity to not only see projects come to life from start-to-finish, but to follow along for all the stuff that happens in between: the meals, surf checks, late night lam jams, random experimentations, roadside dance parties… all the stuff everyone wishes they could be a fly on the wall for and finally get to be.

On these trips, you’d find me phone in hand, connected to a power bank in my back pocket, documenting nearly every happening during each moment of every day. Being glued to your phone takes on a whole new meaning during projects like these.

Creators Gathering Film —

“Each year we gather with our crew of Creators & Innovators for a week of collaborative experimentation, board building, ming merging and overall creation. This year led us to the Santa Cruz mountains where we tested theories of board design, fins, and templates, then emerged from the backwoods and took to the coast to put theory into practice with a closing session on the new sliding equipment.

Immerse yourself deep within the redwood vortex in which we stretch our minds and watch the creativity come to life. Perhaps you’ll experience an expansion of your own.”

Creators Collection —

“Brotherhood of Craftsmen

Surfings most influential artists aren’t just the highly skilled practitioners deep in the shadows of a barreling reef or getting their fins above the lip. The evolutionary arc of surfing is undeniably tied to the diverse range of craftsmen in their respective workshops––laboring over ideas and instincts that might unlock the next milestone in surf culture. Without these guys, none of us would be here. So what better way to celebrate the craftsmanship of these Creators & Innovators than to create a collection of functional, sustainably-made garments for them.

Introducing our first-ever Creators & Innovators eco-collection: built to get you through whatever work you’ve got cut out for yourself.”

2020 marked Vissla’s first Creators Collection, a collection of functional, sustainably made garments inspired by their team of ‘Creators & Innovators.’ The launch of the collection was accompanied by the release of the Creators Gathering film across all channels.

Coordinated the overall campaign, including, but not limited to:

• Overarching timeline

• Meetings with campaign partners

• Film cuts

• Campaign tease

• Launch strategy and dates

• Endemic media involvement

With the help of Surfrider’s leading environmental scientists, we compiled research regarding the threats of climate change on coastlines and sea levels.

This phase of the project was the heftiest by far. Knowing the Rising Seas Wetsuit film could potentially go viral and reach audiences outside of surf and environmental science throughout the US and beyond, it was imperative that every feature of the suit could be legitimized. The wetsuit wasn’t actually in development, but all of the features I had devised would have to be fool-proof; they’d have to actually be able to work with technology available today if the suit were actually to go into production.

View the final features of the Rising Seas Wetsuit here.

Thanks to environmental scientist, activist, educator, and all-time human, Cliff Kapono, for helping in the beginning stages of this research.

Overall campaign messaging
Microsite
Film title cards
Newsletter
Social
Blog

Created the foundational structure of the Rising Seas microsite (including copy & image selects) with the incredible help of Ryan Stucky (grade-A human & friend) who brought it to life via ReadyMag.

View the microsite here.

Organized the support of endemic media for the launch of the campaign. This included an editorial piece from Surfline and a spotlight in their Wetsuit Buyers Guide.

• Launch Strategy

• Timeline

• Campaign Messaging

• Social Coverage

• Events & Activations featuring the Cortex Cruiser – LA Gallery Event with Stab, Cosmic Creek Surf Festival, Rolling Review Film Premiere

• Cortex Cruiser Giveaway

• Final Launch

Organized the support of Stab Magazine which included an editorial write up and launch party in celebration of the Jason Woodside collection.

Behind-the-scenes coverage of our trip to Joshua Tree to paint the car and film

Vissla x Stab x Jason Woodside LA gallery party

Cortex Cruiser at ISA, Cosmic Creek, feature film premieres, etc.

A night of tacos, beer, kombucha and Jason Woodside’s artwork displayed in many forms (canvas, inflatable structures, and the spray-painted Mercedes) in celebration of his collaboration with Vissla.

Determined the timeline of the giveaway and strategized each phase of the sweepstakes promotion

Managed back-end set up of the sweepstakes on the hosting platform (Woobox)

Selected the final winner and arranged Mercedes delivery to its new owner

The concept for the Creators Gathering 2020 film stemmed from the hype we’d gotten in previous years surrounding the behind-the-scenes social coverage of the trips. It was clear that people weren’t just into seeing the polished final selects. Vissla is known for their diverse team of surfers, glassers, craftsmen, woodworkers, and artists. People liked getting a glimpse behind the curtain… seeing the guys screw around, hearing the conversations that take place, and witnessing the various collaborative projects that come to life when you get such a wide range of artistic talent together in one place for a week. For that reason, we took a documentary-style approach to the film. Give it a watch here.

The social coverage of this trip each year on IG stories garners more views and engagement than any other marketing campaign throughout the year. The candid, behind-the-scenes look at the everyday happenings gives people the opportunity to not only see projects come to life from start-to-finish, but to follow along for all the stuff that happens in between: the meals, surf checks, late night lam jams, random experimentations, roadside dance parties… all the stuff everyone wishes they could be a fly on the wall for and finally get to be.

On these trips, you’d find me phone in hand, connected to a power bank in my back pocket, documenting nearly every happening during each moment of every day. Being glued to your phone takes on a whole new meaning during projects like these.

Creators Gathering Film —

“Each year we gather with our crew of Creators & Innovators for a week of collaborative experimentation, board building, ming merging and overall creation. This year led us to the Santa Cruz mountains where we tested theories of board design, fins, and templates, then emerged from the backwoods and took to the coast to put theory into practice with a closing session on the new sliding equipment.

Immerse yourself deep within the redwood vortex in which we stretch our minds and watch the creativity come to life. Perhaps you’ll experience an expansion of your own.”

Creators Collection —

“Brotherhood of Craftsmen

Surfings most influential artists aren’t just the highly skilled practitioners deep in the shadows of a barreling reef or getting their fins above the lip. The evolutionary arc of surfing is undeniably tied to the diverse range of craftsmen in their respective workshops––laboring over ideas and instincts that might unlock the next milestone in surf culture. Without these guys, none of us would be here. So what better way to celebrate the craftsmanship of these Creators & Innovators than to create a collection of functional, sustainably-made garments for them.

Introducing our first-ever Creators & Innovators eco-collection: built to get you through whatever work you’ve got cut out for yourself.”

2020 marked Vissla’s first Creators Collection, a collection of functional, sustainably made garments inspired by their team of ‘Creators & Innovators.’ The launch of the collection was accompanied by the release of the Creators Gathering film across all channels.

Coordinated the overall campaign, including, but not limited to:

• Overarching timeline

• Meetings with campaign partners

• Film cuts

• Campaign tease

• Launch strategy and dates

• Endemic media involvement

With the help of Surfrider’s leading environmental scientists, we compiled research regarding the threats of climate change on coastlines and sea levels.

This phase of the project was the heftiest by far. Knowing the Rising Seas Wetsuit film could potentially go viral and reach audiences outside of surf and environmental science throughout the US and beyond, it was imperative that every feature of the suit could be legitimized. The wetsuit wasn’t actually in development, but all of the features I had devised would have to be fool-proof; they’d have to actually be able to work with technology available today if the suit were actually to go into production.

View the final features of the Rising Seas Wetsuit here.

Thanks to environmental scientist, activist, educator, and all-time human Cliff Kapono for help in the beginning stages of this research.

Overall campaign messaging
Microsite
Film title cards
Newsletter
Social
Blog

Created the foundational structure of the Rising Seas microsite (including copy & image selects) with the incredible help of all-time guy Ryan Stucky who brought it to life via ReadyMag.

View the microsite here.

Organized the support of endemic media for the launch of the campaign. This included an editorial piece from Surfline and a spotlight in their Wetsuit Buyers Guide.

• Launch Strategy

• Timeline

• Campaign Messaging

• Social Coverage

• Events & Activations featuring the Cortex Cruiser – LA Gallery Event with Stab, Cosmic Creek Surf Festival, Rolling Review Film Premiere

• Cortex Cruiser Giveaway

• Final Launch

Organized the support of Stab Magazine which included an editorial write up and launch party in celebration of the Jason Woodside collection.

Behind-the-scenes coverage of our trip to Joshua Tree to paint the car and film

Vissla x Stab x Jason Woodside LA gallery party

Cortex Cruiser at ISA, Cosmic Creek, feature film premieres, etc.

A night of tacos, beer, kombucha and Jason Woodside’s artwork displayed in many forms (canvas, inflatable structures, and the spray-painted Mercedes) in celebration of his collaboration with Vissla.

Determined the timeline of the giveaway and strategized each phase of the sweepstakes promotion

Managed back-end set up of the sweepstakes on the hosting platform (Woobox)

Selected the final winner and arranged Mercedes delivery to its new owner