In 2015, AIR MILES launched their Stage Pass program, allowing collectors to redeem their AIR MILES for concert tickets. I designed the logo and established the look and feel for the program. I came up with engaging animated display screens to be shown at the Air Canada Centre (later renamed Scotiabank Arena) and the Budweiser Stage whenever they hosted concert events.

The launch of Stage Pass was awarded a 2016 bronze CMA for Promotions/Shopper Marketing Consumer Services.

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.

To kick things off, and generate awareness of the new AIR MILES offering, I designed a double decker bus wrap and various bus stop signage used on launch day. The Arkells performed while the bus drove around Toronto, stopping at a few key Partner locations throughout the city.

Fans didn’t have to completely miss the show when they were waiting to use the washroom, or getting snacks at the Air Canada Centre. Display screens around the venue gave guests a view of the stage, and a chance to remind them of AIR MILES Stage Pass.

The media wall at the Air Canada Centre required a unique video solution to best utilize the space. You can view the animation here.

I spent several years, and with two different agencies, helping Canada Post to promote the use of direct mail to businesses, as well as promoting their annual direct mail event: Think Inside The Box.

This was an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the power of direct mail, either through simple postcards; scented or oversized mail; through to sending a sets of wooden hangers or spa rocks as dimensional mail.

Here are a few examples…

The theme for the 2009 Think Inside The Box event was “Ideas That Will Expand Your Mind”. I developed a unique outer envelope that looked like a medical folder. Inside was a mock x-ray of an expanded skull, along with an insert, designed to look like a filled out medical form, containing all the details about the event.

For 2013, the theme was Mad Marketing, or MaDMarketing. That brought my partner and I to a 'mad science' space. We came up with a number of science based concepts, but our favourite was the invite that transformed from a flat invite into a pop-up microscope.

From the outside, the invite looked like a section of whiteboard. As the recipient opens the piece, they see a page from notebook with information about the event, as well as other laboratory items, including a high-security access pass. The final reveal opens to the pop-up microscope, complete with a magnifying lens, highlighting the event details. The ocular of the microscope is a removable webkey that takes the user to the event's registration page.

The mailing was a complete success, with over a 1 in 4 response rate. We were contacted by Direct Mail magazine, who wanted to feature the invite in their publication -- expanding our invite base by over 17,000 impressions.

This piece won 2 silver 2014 Communicator awards.

Canada Post wanted to reach out to business in the health and beauty, and fashion sectors to encourage them to add direct mail to their marketing mix. Canada Post offers full-service solutions to e-retailers, from acquisition to delivery and returns -- and all points in-between.

For the health and beauty retailers, we came up with set of hot stone massage stones, seven in total, each once screened with an icon representing each segment of the sales cycle. We housed each stone set in a custom wood box with a curved, veneer lid, and included a personalized letter in each box.

This piece won silver in the 2014 International Summit Creative awards in the B2B 3D direct marketing category.

For the fashion retailers, we also wanted to highlight each part of the sales cycle and send a premium that the recipient would hold onto. We came up with a seven-piece set of wooden hangers, each one screened with one of the seven icons and a matching sleeve placed on the pants bar. We hung a personalized note to the top hanger and packaged it all in a uniquely shaped box.

The response was incredible! Each mailing was followed up with a sales call, these efforts translated to almost five times Canada Post's original business objectives.

In June of 2021, I participated in the JuneToon daily illustration challenge. Instead of just following the daily prompt to draw a cartoon character, I came up with the idea to play with the connection that cartoons have with Saturday mornings and create cereal box art for each character. The layout for each box was done in the style of the era that the character originated, spanning about six decades.

The JuneToon challenge is always a great way to kickstart the creative juices and have fun, but 2021 was especially satisfying! An annual, month-long passion project.

Here are just a few of the 30 that I came up with.

Late ’60s style Kellogg’s cereal box art.

Mid ’80s style General Mills cereal box art.

’70s style Post HoneyComb cereal box art recreation with Winnie standing in for the kid from the original box.

Early ’70s Post Pink Panther Flakes cereal box art recreation. This was a real cereal!

’50s style Kellogg’s cereal box art.

1973 style General Mills Frosty O’s cereal box art recreation.

’90s style Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Crackers packaging, reimagined as ‘Springfield Farm’ cereal Goldfish cereal.

Late ’60s style General Mills cereal box art.

’80s style General Mills cereal box art.

’90s style Kellogg’s cereal box art.

’80s style General Mills cereal box art.

’90s style Kellogg’s cereal box art.

1973 style Kellogg’s Corn Flakes cereal box art recreation with Alan-a-Dale from Disney’s Robin Hood.

’90s style Kellogg’s cereal box art.

Early ’80s style Post cereal box art.

Late ’50s style Post cereal box art.

’80s style General Mills Cereal box art with Dungeon Master from the Dungeon & Dragons cartoon.