david Abend

Haas is the leading grower and supplier of hops in the U.S. But most craft brewers don’t even know who they are. That’s because historically, they have only sold in large quantities to the Big 4. But with the growth of the craft brewing industry, Haas realized they needed to market to this audience in a way that demonstrated their passion for brewing great beer.

Our recommendation was to leverage the relationships they did have with some of the most well-known and respected craft brewers in the industry. The result was this “Here’s to the moment” campaign which used these brewing superstars to help introduce Haas to a whole new market for their hops. Link to

website.

Plynk – Naming, Branding & Launch

Fidelity sought to engage a new generation of investors with a platform that felt approachable, modern, and unintimidating. I came up with the name and led the branding efforts that resulted in Plynk—a name evoking the sound of a coin dropping, symbolizing the start of an investment journey. I crafted the tone, messaging, and visual identity, and supported the product launch across digital and social channels.

Since its launch, Plynk has achieved significant milestones:

Recognized as “Best Brokerage for Beginners” at the 2023 Benzinga Global Fintech Awards .

Garnered over 180,000 app installs within two years, contributing to a growing customer base of more than 176,000 accounts .

Achieved an 8% lift in brand awareness and a 50% reduction in customer acquisition costs through a $9M cross-channel marketing campaign .

Plynk now stands as a Fidelity subsidiary, empowering new investors with clarity, confidence, and ease.

Whether you’re looking for skilled nursing and rehabilitation for elders or a foster care program for children, the decision-making process is not always a logical one; it’s a journey of emotions. So instead of focusing on giving readers a slew of statistics about beds, staff ratios, and equipment, I focused on giving them what they really wanted: confidence that they were making the right decision for themselves or a family member. The result was a website that leads with compassion and follows up with credibility.

to view the live website, click here

AthenaHealth help asked our team to come up with a way to help individual clinics enroll their patients in their online portal. The result was this “I Signed Up Because…” campaign. I wrote a series of posters and a tri-fold brochure designed to humanize digital health and boost Patient Portal adoption. Each headline began with a relatable, personal reason—“I don’t like hold music,” “I wanted my test results. Now.”—capturing the small frustrations that drive real behavior. The concept gave patients a voice while subtly reinforcing the portal’s benefits. Behind the simplicity was a strategic blend of empathy and clarity, balancing the emotional truth patients feel with the clinical functionality providers need. It’s patient education that speaks human—one reason at a time.

For OmniSeq, a precision oncology company, I developed four tri-fold brochures that translate complex medical data into clear, actionable insights. Two brochures focused on the Comprehensive genomic testing product—one crafted for clinicians, the other for patients. The other two introduced OmniSeq’s Immune Report Card, again tailored separately for medical professionals and the people they serve. Writing for both audiences required fluency in the science as well as empathy in the storytelling—striking the right balance between technical accuracy and human clarity. This project showcases my ability to distill dense clinical content into persuasive, easy-to-understand materials across audience types.

I created this ad campaing to promote NBC’s Jeep World of Adventure Sports—a dynamic action-sports series produced in collaboration with Aura360. The show spotlighted elite athletes and adrenaline-pumping expeditions across the globe, from BASE jumping off the Eiger to rally racing and ultra-endurance events . To communcate the cutting-edge nature of the sports and the sometimes inhuman strength and abiltiies required, I drew upon the animal and insect world. This helped capture the spirit of adventure and the synergy between athletes and the rugged Jeep brand.

When we started working on the Colby Sawyer College Brand Book and Microsite, one thing struck us: Why does every college use non-college students to make their pitch to potential applicants? Why not use current students to communicate the brand message that a CSC education is all about experiential learning. Sure, they attend class. But so much of what students learn at CSC takes place outside the physical classroom. Our solution? Use the social hashtag #thinkoutsidetheclass as a way for current CSC students to capture those moments when they are learning outside the classroom and share them via Twitter and Instagram. We then curated the hundreds of posts to create a microsite and brand book which targeted high school juniors and seniors using a medium that was sure to appeal to them.

View Live Site

You don't wear Chuck Taylors because they feel good. You were Chuck Taylors for the way they make you feel. Like you belong. This campaign used athletes in an understated way to reinforce the emotion of the brand. (art director: Pete Favat)
 

I've worked on a lot of challenging projects in my career but none tougher than this one — convince a generation of people whose memories of visiting grandparents in nursing homes was right out of a Steven King novel to consider a nursing home for their parents. The guilt was too much. Our strategy? Turn the guilt upside down by showing the isolation that many elderly people face living at home. It's a little hard to read here but worth the effort. (Art Director: Paul Renner)

Brand Essence Video

Previous brochures for Delta Dental’s three plans looked — and read — like medical journals. By using animals famous for their teeth as symbols of each plan’s benefits, we made it easier for members to understand and choose the plan that was right for them. (Art director: Sandi Quatrale)

I helped launch PapiCann from the ground up, a cannabis brand backed by David Ortiz. That included defining its voice, writing packaging copy, crafting web and social content, and developing the messaging for its launch campaign. In a crowded and often generic market, we positioned PapiCann to stand out with sharp, confident language and a clear point of view.

 I helped launch Revolutionary Clinics by developing the brand positioning around one powerful word: Connect. From there, I wrote and shaped the voice across every major channel—website, outdoor, social, and print. The goal was to build trust and approachability in a rapidly evolving medical cannabis space, with messaging that emphasized relationships, community, and care.

The following ads epitomized the “Connection” positioning and created heroes out of our budtenders.

This international campaign for Samsung business printers stressed the simplicity of creating networks of printers that were all tied into one database to give everyone from the IT cowboy to the CTO a way to provide their users with great printers while lowering their costs. Sound hard? It was easy. As easy as Ctrl P.