Thirty years building brands, leading teams, and shipping highly effective work, inside both agencies and in-house. I partner with CMOs and marketing leaders as a senior creative executive, full-time or fractional, depending on what your team needs.
Grew the team 2 to 12, creative demand 7x year-over-year, and launched 50+ campaigns hitting 10%+ CTR.
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Full rebrand built on competitive research. Banner ads tracking at 8% CTR against a 0.5% industry benchmark.
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A concept that became the operational foundation for a 165,000 sq ft museum. Still running 14 years later.
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Brand, GTM, UI, motion, and copy. Six disciplines, one creative director, zero ramp time.
Read the case studyI architected an automated ad production system: designed the prompt framework, the brand input structure, and the quality standards. A structured brief goes in, deploy-ready display ads in multiple formats come out. What used to require a designer, a brief, and two rounds of revisions now takes twenty minutes. I bring that methodology to new organizations.
I've built workflows where brand standards aren't a PDF people ignore. They're structured inputs that constrain what AI produces. First-round design exploration for booth layouts, banner ads, and campaign assets happens in hours, not days. The team focuses on judgment, not production.
I can spec, prototype, and deploy functional web products using AI tools, without waiting for a developer. For certain categories of work, that eliminates a bottleneck that used to cost weeks.
I've spent my career walking into creative organizations that needed clarity and leaving them stronger. Sometimes that meant building a function from two people to twelve. Sometimes it meant landing a rebrand that had been stuck for a year. Sometimes it meant taking a tired conference and turning it into an award-winning summit.
I work agency-side and in-house with equal fluency. I partner with CMOs as a peer, not a vendor. I've led identity systems, demand campaigns, content programs, experiential events, and the operating models that make all of it function at scale.
What I bring to a marketing org is a senior creative leader who has done the job before, knows what good looks like, and won't need a year to ramp.
Campaign demand growth year-over-year at Avalara, built on an agency-style operating model installed from scratch.
Banner ad CTR for Icertis in the new brand identity. Industry benchmark is 0.5%.
Ad units produced annually across 20 simultaneous AWS campaigns at Catalysis.
Growth in monthly unique visitors to gatesfoundation.org following a full site redesign.
Telly Gold + Silver · The Seattle Show (Gold + Best of Show) · Interactive Media Awards (Best in Class) · Communication Arts (multiple) · Print Regional Design Annual · GDUSA · HOW Books
"Working with Rick is like being on an epiphany carousel. He often strings together a course of action from seemingly thin air.
Rocha Dollar Airbnb
"A gifted visionary with meticulous attention to detail. He can't help it. High standards. Direct, yet gentle in offering creative direction.
Robyn Luk Deloitte Digital
"I was continuously impressed by his magician-like dexterity pulling innovative, customer-focused experiences out of his designer tool box. What if? and Why not? are Rick's guiding principles.
A-M Petersons Avalara
"Technically-minded and understanding in a way that is refreshing. Bridging the gap between creative and dev with thoughtful questions and valued criticism.
Rick Pierce Stitch
This might be "inside baseball", but it counts.
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What really deserves your input?
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Easy to understand. Difficult to remember.
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Getting it right doesn't have to be difficult.
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I’ll choose it every time, no matter the role.
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Stop what you're doing. Maybe
Read on LinkedInIf you're hiring, building a team, or thinking about creative leadership for your organization, we have some things to discuss. Let's chat!
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