Max Pfennighaus

Piloted the IBM brand and product work at VSA Partners. My team collaborated with Big Blue to create global brand expressions, identity systems, environmental designs, digital product experiences and business strategy.

The newsroom tells the stories of the world; I led the 50-person brand creative department in that told the story of the New York Times itself, through strategic brand and direct marketing efforts.

During my tenure at the Times, the marketing department saw record-breaking numbers of subscribers, hitting our one millionth digital subscriber just as I was leaving. A fun place to work, loaded with smart people

The title pretty much says it all: I directed NPR's strategic marketing and branding efforts, telling the brand story through all sorts of creative audience-building tactics. We used everything but the kitchen sink, really: integrated awareness campaigns, live events and experiences, collateral, merchandise, relationship marketing, the works. Much of what I did was in strategic partnership with NPR's 268 Member Stations.

The job was partly about reaching the audience directly, but it was also about supporting other teams in the building with the tools to do their jobs, like fundraising or business development. I also worked very closely with our digital product teams to keep NPR products on brand and on point with the needs of the existing (and potential) audience.

I should also mention that I built both the brand marketing discipline at NPR from the ground up.

Prior to the Director job, I was working downstairs in Digital Media, overseeing the design strategy and user experience of the entire NPR digital product suite: the website, the iOS and Android music and news apps for mobile and tablet, the Pandora-esque NPR One mobile app, and the in-dash car experiences for Ford and others.

I was part of the core team that formulated the organization’s current digital audio product vision and strategy.

I also invented several unique proprietary, cross-platform advertising units for NPR digital properties. These have been doing very well for NPR, revenue-wise

Clients: American Express, Best Western, Emirates Airlines, Four Seasons.

At ISM (now part of Connelly Partners), I led the digital creative efforts of the agency. Most days I was working closely with the CMO, account management and the Executive Creative Director to formulate interactive marketing strategies and integrated campaigns. We also did a ton of direct marketing work for all of our clients, particularly American Express. It was a small, bootstrappy shop and I really enjoyed my time there. I did lots and lots of business development work.

Clients: Boy Scouts of America, ESPN, Fidelity, Gillette, Radio Shack, Rembrandt, Royal Caribbean, Southern Comfort, TAG Body Spray, “Truth” Anti-Smoking Initiative, Volkswagen, Volvo.

Arnold was where I really cut my teeth in big game advertising. It was a good-sized shop with a lot of specialized talent to draw and learn from. I was able to get hands on lots of different sizes and shapes of projects there, developing creative concepts, copywriting and design for integrated campaigns. I worked on broadcast, print and interactive work. My awards from Arnold included Andy Awards (Silver and Gold), London International Silver, a Cannes Shortlist, and a Communication Arts Annual award