O’Reilly Media

Background: O’Reilly began as the publishing company that literally wrote the book(s) on how to build the Internet. But over time, how it communicated its position as a technology education leader became muddled—both in message and in visual identity.

Assignment: Lead O’Reilly’s transition to a master-branded online learning partner serving millions of individual subscribers as well as many of the world’s biggest tech companies. Doing so required me to institute a highly-efficient creative process, build out our bench strength, and unite a global marketing team.

The Work: Dig deep into what makes this 40-year-old company unique, then design and implement a completely-new brand system (voice and design) to fuel the creation of a finely-tuned brand marketing strategy.

Biggest Lesson Learned: You have to EARN the C-suite’s trust before they can be ready to push the envelope. The best way to get there is to consistently produce work that delivers tangible results.

FEEDBACK
”I really enjoyed working with John. He has to be one of the most data-driven and insight-led creative professionals that I've worked with and I really appreciated that approach. I was also very impressed by John's ability to mentor the team he inherited. They came so far under his leadership.”

— Carmen Vetere (Boss)
Senior Vice President, Marketing, O'Reilly Media