Zak Spilo
Bridging the gap between functional utility and aesthetic beauty through my philosophy of Experiential Modernism.
Brandcenter Portfolio
My team was tasked with choosing a moment in recent pop culture and exploring the impact of that moment for other brands. We chose Coach’s “Live Your Story” campaign.
I researched Coach’s repositioning efforts and crafted the narrative of how their new campaign fits into their greater business strategy. Coach’s comeback in recent years is an example of deeply understanding and catering to their target audience.
My team was tasked with conducting a SWOT analysis for Coinbase. Then, we had to identify a target audience for our chosen opportunity.
As the Creative Brand Manager with a background in finance, I led the team’s research efforts as well as deck storyboarding and design.
In my Research Methodologies class, I was tasked with creating a “Get Smart” deck on a given brand. I chose Vacheron Constantin because of my interest in luxury watches.
The deck covers Vacheron’s brand strengths, an overview of the Swiss watch market, their competitor’s advertising strategies, and potential opportunities for the brand.
In my Research Methodologies class, we were tasked with creating a one slide overview for a retail brand’s audience. As someone who would never ride a motorcycle, I thought it would be interesting to cover Harley Davidson.
I pulled this slide together using a combination of quantitative data from MRI Simmons and qualitative data from sources like Reddit to inform the audience, whom I defined as “Third Act Thrillseekers.”
Experiential Modernism
"Form follows function" is an idea popularized by modernist architects. It follows that aesthetic beauty is secondary to and derived from performing a task well. That is, the beauty is in being good.
That thinking informs my approach to branding. A business must answer the questions: "who are we serving?" and "what do we do for them (better than anyone else)?" Then, the brand is built around organically communicating that value. I codify this thinking under the moniker "Experiential Modernism."