Creative Director with 20 years of experience building brands, leading teams, and launching work that drives growth across fashion, spirits, wellness, and music, now operating at AI production speed.
Selected clients & collaborations
01
A six-year creative partnership
Six years as creative partner to Gray Whale Gin, directing campaigns, experiential, packaging extensions, and social through the brand’s growth from 2,000 cases to 40,000: a top-5 super-premium gin in America.
$250K+ experiential productions · 25-person crews · Official Gin of the Boston Red Sox
“They crafted an immersive world that brought Gray Whale to life.”
— Lauren Borstein, Director — Gray Whale Gin
02
Brand leadership, campaign & product direction
BLDWN — Marfa, Texas · collection design, campaign, web & socialView project →
8x wholesale revenue growth across three years, finishing as VP of Brand Creative & Design.
Headspace — “Feelings Are a Full-Time Job” campaign filmView project →
Directed and produced the Mental Health Awareness Month series and its social system.
Fender — “Seacaster” guitar, 16mm film & apparelView project →
A guitar, a 16mm film, an apparel capsule, and an original song. Riviera Club × Fender × Lucky Brand.
Cuyana — Reese’s Book Club collab & creative resetView project →
A creative-direction reset consult and the Reese’s Book Club launch system.
Apotheke — Cocktail book, campaign & Cocktail AcademyView project →
A year of brand content for one of the best speakeasies in the world.
von Holzhausen — Photography & film directionView project →
Photography and film direction across three consecutive seasons.
03
Brand, packaging & estate campaigns
Napa — Malibu
Strategy, packaging, e-commerce, film & social for wine and spirits.
Black Sears→
Kind Cellars→
The Shift — Gray Whale Gin→
04
The first brand
Riviera Club — Dry Ski Club · GQ Best New Menswear DesignerView project →
Co-founded the brand GQ named Best New Menswear Designer in America. Bergdorf Goodman to Dover Street Market London.
05
A new production model
AI did not change what I do. It changed what was possible. I still direct the same way I always have: world first, frame second. Story, taste, and judgment come first. The tools just removed the friction between the idea and the finished work. I rebuilt my production process around this, proved it in live client engagements, and led AI adoption across a 200-person organization. The next era of creative leadership belongs to people who understand both worlds.
Designed and led an organization-wide AI implementation: 200 employees, 11 locations, 40,000 weekly viewers.
“We handed Joe a 200-person organization and asked him to change the way it works. He trained our staff, our creative teams, and our executive leadership, and he did it without losing what makes us who we are. I would put him in front of any organization in the country.”
— Dan Zimbardi, Executive Pastor — Sandals Church
Featured — “Orson,” an AI short film created in collaboration with Black Sears Estate. Written, directed, and generated end to end. Inspired by Orson Welles’ iconic Paul Masson wine commercials of the late 1970s.
06
Est. 2006
I started with a logo. COEXIST, drawn for a college thesis, ended up carried by U2 around the world. That taught me early that an idea travels further than its maker. Since then: co-founded Riviera Club and was named GQ’s Best New Menswear Designer in America. Drove 8x wholesale growth as VP of Brand Creative at BLDWN. Spent eighteen years running The ii Agency, including six as creative partner to Gray Whale Gin through its rise from 2,000 cases to a top-5 super-premium gin in the country. Along the way I rebuilt my craft on AI production, and now I train other creative directors in it. I live in the mountains of Lake Arrowhead with my wife and two kids, and I am looking for one brand to go deep with.
Currently interviewing for full-time or fractional creative leadership roles.
Creative Director · Executive Creative Director · VP Brand Creative
Lake Arrowhead / Los Angeles / Remote