Hi, I’m Larry Johnson. I am a strategist, creative, and writer.
I co-founded a brand design studio (Wild Shore), built and led a strategy team (at Odopod), and actively practice the craft of marketing.
My focus: Leading cross-disciplinary teams in bringing meaningful communications to brands and products.
Some highlights:
- Go-to-market positioning for Nest
- Commerce + Content: Sony Store + Google Store
- Innovation: Coca-Cola, Virgin Voyages + Target
- Creative Platform: American Giant + Frank & Eileen
- Branding SaaS: VectorCare + Temporal
Branding SaaS: VectorCare / Temporal
VectorCare is a startup building software that helps care teams in hospitals coordinate around moving patients, caregivers and life-saving equipment. They came to Wild Shore for a new brand strategy and identity. In talking to the team, and understanding their customers and the industry, we saw a chance elevate them
Launching: Nest
When a startup in stealth mode— Nest—approached Odopod to help with the brand positioning, messaging and website to launch their new connected thermostat, I was excited. As we dug in, two opportunities emerged: 1. How can you take the grand ideas of a visionary founder like Tony Fadell and
Creative platforms: American Giant / Frank & Eileen
American Giant American Giant had already accomplished amazing things, being called The Greatest hoodie ever made. but what next for the brand? how could it be bigger than it's most popular product?. We worked with founder Bayard Winthrop to understand the ideas to bring new energy to it. It became
Innovation: Coca-Cola / Virgin Voyages / Target
After Odopod was acquired, we started to sell more Digital Innovation services – thinking about how technologies would create opportunities for brands. I always thought of these in terms of "possible futures" – I sometimes called them "Happy Tomorrows." By creating a narrative, we could create a vision for an experience, which
eComm Platforms: Sony / Google
Both of these projects involved massive teams, both at Odopod and at our client partners at Sony; and then Google. In both cases, I was focused on the question: How can we help people shop with marketing content that assists without getting in the way. For Sony, we were building
Brand Lives in Channels
Brand is built in the channels where your business operates. Seems obvious, but so much brand identity work focuses on defining a monolithic, sacred brand – then shows a few expressions in channels as a tacked on exercise. Instead, brand identity should focus on expressions in those channels—while establishing a
Creativity, Remote: Part 2
Continuing the previous post [https://larry-on-brand-2.ghost.io/creative-remote/] More barriers to Creativity in a remote/hybrid workplace. (Solutions coming...but first, more pain.) Trust To get to good ideas and great ideas, you have to be able to share bad ideas and terrible ideas. The channels where remote happens
Creativity, Remote: Part 1
COVID may be slowly winding down. But remote and hybrid work are just getting started. As someone who has spent a career trying to be creative with other people, I have felt the pain of remote work, and crave solutions that I can glimpse but not see fully yet. First
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