La Quercia
Overview
La Quercia (pronounced La Kwair-cha ) means the Oak in Italian.
In 1985 founders Herb and Kathy Eckhouse relocated their family to Italy for three and a half delicious years in the city of Parma, in the northern region of Emilia-Romagna and home to prosciutto di Parma and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, as well as hand crafted pasta, wine, balsamic vinegar and other delicacies.
During their years in Parma, the family embraced a lifestyle of enjoying bountiful regional food in season with an appreciation for the art and craft of creating excellence from agricultural abundance.
In 2003, after years of experimentation, they purchased land in Norwalk, Iowa, a few miles southwest of Des Moines as the home of their prosciuttificio and set out to produce the finest cured meats in America.
Over the nearly two decades they have set the benchmark with artisanal cured meats that would make an Italian weep with its award-winning balance of salty, creamy, sweet and rich according to Bon Appétit.
Role
I collaborated with their team to craft a refreshed brand framework, consumer personas and define and measure core metrics like Net Promoter Score. I consolidated their fragmented CRM and email databases into Klaviyo to build a unified view their audience to segment and target with campaigns designed to increase sales along with brand equity. Conducted research to develop new products, expand categories and create opportunities for new partnerships.
Oversaw development and launched a new Shopify 2.0 store as the centerpiece of a strategic shift to build direct to consumer revenue as the primary growth opportunity for the business. From the launch in mid-October 2021 through the end of the year revenue doubled year over, AOV increased 10% and organic traffic increased 63%.
The company was acquired in 2022 and am working with the new ownership growth on a new phase of growth for the brand.
Fanatics
Overview
Fanatics, the global leader for licensed sports merchandise, is a new breed of retailer – part tech company, part logistics expert, part e-commerce company and part manufacturer – that combines exclusive deals with leagues and teams with on-demand production and an agile supply chain to increase speed-to-market of high-quality fan merchandise distributed globally across all retail channels.
In March, as the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the globe, founder Michael Rubin launched the All In Challenge to raise money to combat food insecurity. The AIC aims to be the world’s largest digital fundraiser in history by raising more than $60 million dollars to feed those in need.
Rubin came up with the idea, and then immediately brought in one of his closest friends, entrepreneur Alan Tisch. Shortly thereafter, communications strategist Gary Vaynerchuk joined the team to help launch the movement. Through conversations with his friends in sports and entertainment, Michael knew there would be immediate interest in helping raise money for this important cause.
Through the AIC the world’s preeminent sports, music and entertainment figures donated their most prized possessions and created once-in-a-lifetime experiences for online auction and giveaways. The AIC and Fanatics sit at the unique crossroads of working with nearly every league, team and athlete in this country (as well as many internationally), while having many connections to entertainers and celebrities who are friends, but also sports fans.
Role
I collaborated with the Conductor Productions team to craft a series of campaigns to document the once in a lifetime experiences where fans live out their sports and entertainment dreams.
Invaio Sciences
Overview
Invaio Sciences is a multi-platform technology company that unlocks the potential of the planet’s interdependent systems to address pressing agricultural, nutritional, and environmental challenges. Founded by Flagship Pioneering in 2018, Invaio leverages discoveries from diverse fields including human therapeutics, agriculture, environmental science, and advanced manufacturing. The company’s deep understanding of the physiology of insects, plants and trees, together with its novel integrated solutions approach, promises to refine agricultural practices and reduce the need for pesticides globally. Invaio Sciences is dedicated to developing solutions that are mindful of beneficial insects, bad for pests, and safer for us all.
Role
I collaborated with the Invaio Sciences team to craft a launch campaign around their mission to build a “blueprint for a better future”. The project encompassed creating and scripting three video versions that were sourced using entirely stock video assets due to production restrictions caused by the pandemic.
Volpi Foods X US Soccer
In the summer of 2016, Volpi was launching their line of snack products and sought to reposition cured meats as a healthful snack with simple ingredients and good source of protein for active folks on-the-go. I crafted a 4-year sponsorship deal with the US Soccer Federation through Soccer United Marketing to position Volpi as the “Official Protein of US Soccer” for both the US Men’s and Women’s National Teams.
Results
The first phase of the partnership was launched during the Copa America Centenario Pregame on Fox Sports 1 – the biggest tournament for North American and South American soccer outside of the World Cup. The spot and experiential campaign ran through 2018 men’s World Cup qualifying.
The campaign continued through the 2019 Women’s World Cup victory in France.
The partnership was the deciding factor in 7-Eleven adding the brand to their almost 8,000 US locations.
YETI x MeatEater
Overview
Collaborated with Yeti to craft a partnership to position Steven Rinella as one of their premier brand ambassadors. The partnership included integration onto the MeatEater TV show, use of related IP for marketing touch points across in-store, social media, etc.
A four short film series was produced for YETI Presents for a Father’s Day campaign.
RESULTS
Rinella was featured on the cover of their Spring 2017 catalog with over 2 million copies printed and distributed to their customer base via mail and in-store at retail partners across the US and Canada.
With sales of over $900M annually, the brand is currently valued at over $3B.
Sonos x The Mind of a Chef
Overview
Research conducted by Sonos revealed that their best in class speakers were most often used in the kitchen. Around this insight I created the Playlist Potluck campaign anchored by the award winning series The Mind of a Chef.
Featuring a soundtrack with Van Halen, Willie Nelson, Al Martino, The Cure and Kate Bush.
The extensive project comprised of 14 video assets produced by ZPZ, an event program, and Spotify partnership. ZPZ secured distribution for the special on Netflix and amplified the reach via Mind of a Chef and Food Republic websites, YouTube, and the chefs’ social channels.
Results
This groundbreaking project generated in excess of 1.5 million organic video views, 316K social engagements and 5K consumer generated playlists prior to its release to 100M+ Netflix global households.
2017 Daytime Emmy Nominee: Outstanding Directing, Special Class
2017 Webby Award Nominee: Film & Video – Branded Entertainment Long Form
2017 Webby Award Honoree: Film & Video – Branded Entertainment
MeatEater X Cooking Game with Weston
Overview
Weston designs and markets cooking tools targeting the 45 million hunting and angling enthusiasts in the United States. They sought to showcase a variety of their products including meat grinders and smokers in a hands on way to demonstrate their versatility and durability.
Results
Crafted a video driven recipe series featuring Steven Rinella using Weston tools around a Twelve Days of Gifts holiday theme that were promoted across the MeatEater social platforms, website and podcast to an audience of over 1M loyal enthusiasts.
The videos were then edited into the Netflix Original series as a cooking special available for streaming in over 180 million homes globally.
Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead x Breville
The film debuted in July 2011 on Netflix to around 20M US subscribers for their streaming service at the time. We estimated that 6 million Americans had watched the film by 2013.
Search queries for the film were directly correlated to searches for Breville juicers. The brand was completely sold out of juicers by September.
By the end of 2013 annual sales of juicers had quadrupled with Breville owning 70% market share delivering an incremental $75M in revenue.
Hennessy X The Mind of a Chef
Overview
The French luxury cognac Hennessy X.O approached me about opportunities to integrate their brand into The Mind of a Chef. The perfect opportunity arose when French born and trained, now Los Angeles based Chef Ludo Lefebvre came on board for the feature chef on season five who was a fan of their cognac.
Results
In the episode titled “La Joie de Vivre”, two old friends, both brilliant chefs, get together to make a traditional French pastry. Millefeuille, which translates as “a thousand leaves,” is a delicate dish that combines a rich filling layered with lightly charred puff pastry.
To enjoy their work to the fullest, the chefs pair the dish with Hennessy X.O — the smoky notes of X.O are a perfect complement to the subtle char of the Millefeuille.
The integration streamed on Netflix in over 120 million homes globally.
Make It Vegan x Breville
Overview
While at Breville, that I launched in the North American market in 2004, our best in class juice extractors became the #1 selling appliance in dollar share in 2012 after being featured in the documentary film Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. The film touts the health benefits of a plant based diet and Breville sought to piggyback on the momentum by partnering with Isa Chandra Moskowitz, a best-selling cookbook author, whose vegan recipes are so good that they’re likely to convert quite a few meat eaters.
The video series included a downloadable recipe ebook and all backed by an exclusive theme song, “Salt,” by the band R. Ring, led by Kelley Deal of the Breeders.
Results
Over 2 million organic video views helped grow North American sales to $250 million with EBITDA of $44 million in 2015.
Breville X Christina Tosi and Milk Bar
Momofuku Milk Bar creator and owner Christina Tosi shares all of her crazy good recipes like Crack Pie, Cereal Milk and Bagel Bombs.
Volpi Classics
Overview
The limited series entitled Volpi Classics offers new riffs on time-honored recipes – with a uniquely Volpi twist. The 17-part video series is made of short-form recipe content, less than 60 seconds in length, and aims to showcase how consumers can use charcuterie in a variety of ways: from an upgraded Breakfast sandwich to an IPA Spritz garnished with Hot Sopressata. The series is currently live on Volpi Foods YouTube, Instagram and Facebook pages as well as volpifoods.com.
Results
Over 10 million views for the series across YouTube, Facebook and Instagram with strong audience engagement.
2020 Webby Award for Best Food and Drink social media c
Mastercard x Food Republic
Overview
To expand Mastercard’s long running Priceless campaign, the brand sought our expertise in food and travel to augment the brand-burnishing efforts with tactical advertising to offer cardholders exclusive experiences in major cities around the world called Priceless Cities.
Under the Food Republic media umbrella we crafted an exclusive ticketed chef driven series called Food School in five US cities. The successful campaign included curating and executing the events and creating a video series to generate awareness.
Results
The events quickly sold out around the country delivering buzz and generating brand loyalty from cardholders.
Jeni Britton Bauer
Food & Wine declared, “No one else makes ice cream like Jeni Britton Bauer.” We agree! Learn about her new book Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream Desserts and get great recipes to make at home.
Restriction as Inspiration
It can be a challenge to design a meal that takes dietary restrictions and aversions in to consideration. But not for Chef Bryce Shuman of Betony in NYC. This series showcases meals he crafts for his gluten-free mom.
Road to the Recipe
The Mind of a Chef Techniques April Bloomfield
Chef Chris Hastings shows his appreciation for the fisherman in Breville’s Road to the Recipe series. Chef Hastings also talks about the Gulf Oil Spill and how it affected the fisherman and the blue crab population. Chef Chris Hastings and his crew at his restaurant Hot and Hot Fish Club appreciate the fisherman and crabbers who work hard to ensure the best ingredients for his guests at dinner. Watch Chef cook up some delicious blue crab recipes using the crabs he catches on a day on the water.
April Bloomfield has spent most of her life in the kitchen, and she had the pleasure of working with some of the most revolutionary chefs before taking on a kitchen of her own. A native of Birmingham, England, one of April’s trademarks is paying homage to the foods that her countrymen grew up on, but making slightly more refined versions. April opened The Spotted Pig, The Breslin Bar & Dining Room, and The John Dory Oyster Bar and most recently they opened Tosca Cafe in San Francisco’s North Beach.
Southern Fan Fare
James Beard Award winning and football loving Chef Chris Hastings of the Hot and Hot Fish Club shares great game-day recipes for tailgating. Hastings believes tailgating is powerful and connects us to our children, to our friends, to our place, and to our food. His menu includes pulled pork sandwiches, shrimp and grits, fried pies, and more.
The Mind of a Chef Techniques Sean Brock
Mind Of A Chef is that rare and beautiful thing: An intelligent show about cooking. In Season 2, Brock explores his native South and takes viewers from his beloved Lowcountry all the way to Africa for a trip to explore how cooking and farming in Senegal influences his cuisine and that of the American South. Here are the recipes he creates along the way.
Meat & Greet
Chef Seamus Mullen talks about grass-fed beef, visits the butcher to choose the perfect cuts of beef, and shares great tips for preparing grass-fed beef at home.
Heritage
Chef Sean Brock’s first book, Heritage, was the winner of the James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook and the IACP Julia Child First Book Award in 2015 and was called “the blue-ribbon chef cookbook of the year” by the New York Times. Brock won the James Beard Award for Best Chef Southeast in 2010 and was a finalist for Outstanding Chef in 2013, 2014, and 2015.
Gone Native with Daniel Patterson
Chef Daniel Patterson of Coi in San Francisco forages for ultra-local ingredients in order to connect with the locals who dine at his restaurant.
Back of the House with Tony Maws
Go inside the mind of James Beard Award winning Chef Tony Maws. Tony was a pioneer in the farm-to-table movement and is a self described idealist when it comes to agriculture and cooking. He’ll show us inside his world of exacting standards and his “uncanny” ability to match flavors perfectly. We’ll see the role that thinking and creativity play in crafting perfect dishes.
Fishing for Real with Jeremy Sewall
Chef Jeremy Sewall show the audience how to identify fish at the market to make sure that it’s the real deal and prepare some easy and delicious recipes for your favorite seafood items.
Road to the Recipe with Michael Anthony
Chef Michael Anthony of Gramercy Tavern prepares some of his favorite dishes.
Breville Presents Samuel Jackson
Chef Sam Jackson of KO Pies uses the Breville Hot Wok and Personal Pie Maker to create Australian-style pies that are a knock-out.
Road to the Recipe Floyd Cardoz
The late Chef Floyd Cardoz was the first chef born and raised in India to lead an influential New York City kitchen, at Tabla. Here he shares some of his favorite memories and the recipes that they inspired.
Chef’s Table
James Beard award-winning journalist, Scott Haas, sits with legendary chefs Marc Vetri, Tony Maws, Dave Pasternack, Alfred Portale and Andrew Carmellini to discuss the inspiration and intricacies of being a restaurateur.
Pro Moves with Roads + Kingdoms
In this series Breville and Roads + Kingdom present top chefs showcasing their Pro Move. Amanda Cohen, Chef-Owner of Dirt Candy Pro Move: Indoor Smoked Vegetables Anita Lo, Owner and Executive Chef, Annisa Pro Move: Crispy Fish Skin Floyd Cardoz, Executive Chef, White Street Pro Move: Toasted and Bloomed Spices Mads Refslund, Head Chef, Acme Pro Move: Salt-Baked Vegetables Matthew Lightner, Executive Chef, Atera Pro Move: Fan-Dried Duck Michael Psilakis, Chef-Owner of MP Taverna Pro Move: Blackened Grilled Fish
Road to the Recipe
Chef Seamus Mullen his philosophy on “Hero Food” and recipes that include his favorites like Brook Trout and Oysters.
Chef Secrets: Oysters
Chef Jeremy Sewall shares deep knowledge about delicious bivalves. He grew up in a fishing family from southern Maine. In the 1930s, my grandfather was a lobsterman out of York, Maine, and my family still lobsters there today.
Breville Presents
Chef Patricia Yeo discusses her culinary philosophy. Even though she has a degree in biochemistry, she sees cooking as an art and a language.
She also touches on some common misconceptions about cooking Asian food. It’s not all about ginger and soy sauce. There is a whole world of flavors and ingredients to get to know and love.
Wicked Good Barbecue
Chef Andy Husbands and the rest of Team iQue participate in the Harpoon Championships of New England Barbecue in Windsor, Vermont and make some of the award winning recipes in the Breville kitchen.
Whole Hog
Chef Jamie Bissonnette explains and demonstrates his approach to butchering a pig along with some
Road to the Recipe
Chef Sisha Ortúzar of Riverpark and Riverpark Farm is featured in the premiere of Breville’s Road to the Recipe video series. Sisha grew up in Santiago, Chile, and has been cooking in New York City since 1996. His collaboration with Tom Colicchio began in 1997 at the acclaimed Gramercy Tavern. When Tom moved on to found Craft, Sisha joined his team and played a critical role in the growth of the Craft Restaurant Group. In 2003, At Riverpark, Sisha combines his inventive and skillful treatment of high-quality market ingredients with New York City’s international influences.
Taste of the Town
Chef Chris Cosentino devours New York and Boston with his chef friends, including Jamie Bissonnette. Antics and good food to follow as Chris visits Takashi, Pok Pok, Maison Premiere, jm Curleys, The Butcher Shop, Toro and Island Creek Oyster.
Behind the Design
Breville designers go deep on their innovative approach to building better kitchen gear.
Recipes from the Boss
Recipe video series to launch the Boss blender.
Taste is Personal
:30 second spot from the campaign to launch the YouBrew coffee maker.
The Reviews are In
:30 second spot from the campaign to launch the Smart Oven which became the #1 selling toaster oven in dollar volume around the world.
Rob Sheard 