PO & Co.

How can you sell products and services if you're ignored in the first place?

PO&Co. helps small-to-medium-size companies spring from their sales plateaus and increase revenue through effective marketing free of buzzwords, shiny objects, and black boxes.

Marketing Consultant & Fractional CMO

Common Giant

Common Giant is a growth-minded branding agency that digs deep into marketing strategy to produce stunning creative execution.

Common Giant was founded in 2012 to My role with Common Giant is to help grow the brand strategy framework for the agency and evangelize the company's brand. 

As of 2021, I have moved out of day-to-day operations to focus on brand growth at SFW.

Founder, Board Member, and Partner

Common Giant is a brand growth agency that digs deep into marketing strategy to produce stunning creative execution for companies who want to become legendary.

Common Giant stands tall with expertise in brand strategy, creative execution, and strategic communication. Our ethos is not only about delivering collaborative, successful brands and campaigns for our clients, it is also about building committed partnerships. We’ve worked globally with clients in the software technology, medical technology, consumer packaged goods, food, and retail industries.

At Common Giant, we channel our partners’ visions into projects that are inspired, clear, and concise. We bring our team’s full range of talents to generate a signature agency experience.

Founder and Chief Creative Officer

The YEC is a selective, invite-only group of like-minded peers and entrepreneurs from nearly every industry. YEC has been honored by Nasdaq, The White House and has been recognized in media outlets worldwide.

Member

Sales Factory

Sales Factory is a retail-focused agency compelled to succeed by a data-driven integrated approach for home retail brands eager to learn, grow, and win.

My focus is to develop winning brand strategies that drive business growth for our clients.

Vice President of Brand Strategy

Piedmont Opera

The mission of Piedmont Opera is to create operatic productions of the highest artistic quality to enrich our community and to advance the art form.

Our Vision is to be the finest opera company of our size in the nation and acknowledged as the best at what we do.

Board Member

iCan House

iCan House supports and enhances the lives of those with social challenges by teaching social skills, educational opportunities and provide a source of educational resources and networks. 

In our community, there exists a large population who live their daily lives with autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, PDD-NOS, and other social disorders. As they grow and experience a world created with rules that they may not understand, it is imperative that these unique individuals are provided with positive social models that care to help them grasp the social world in which they must live in.

Together we are stronger. A support system of parents, professionals and advocates will help us succeed and provide our loved ones with the best chance to get the most out of life. Let's chat and see how I can help.

The Variable

Formerly known as PAVE Creative Group, The Variable is a digitally informed marketing think tank that is committed to turning the traditional agency-client relationship on its head. We like MadMen here. But we're more like MathMen (and women, of course). In that spirit, The Variable thinks agencies should stop being cost centers and start being revenue generators.

Specialties –
Business Strategy, Digitally Informed Advertising, Brand Development, Innovation Development

Art Director

PAVE Creative Group

Designer / Art Director

Freelance Graphic Designer / Art Director

Freelance Art Director

Crobar Creative Leverage

Marketing consultant, Fractional CMO, brand strategy, energetic speaker, foodie, soccer player, and proud Dad

I love marketing and building brands. Friends, colleagues, and clients feel that energy from the first moment of interaction. It all begins with curiosity and evolves into a blend of strategic thinking and creative magic to construct brands through effective marketing.

Over the past two decades, I've led marketing initiatives for a diverse range of companies across various industries and sizes, including technology, medtech, consumer goods, and professional services, catering to both B2C and B2B sectors.

In 2012, I founded Common Giant, specializing in crafting branding and marketing for companies that understand that brand is a competitive advantage in a world full of commodities and a marketplace competing on price.

During my career, I’ve worked client-side managing retail stores up to $52MM, served on the agency side as VP of Brand Strategy, successfully launched an agency with global clients, started a marketing consultancy, and served as fractional CMO for multiple businesses. 

Throughout my career, I’ve believed in these four pillars:

1 - Marketing is a business practice. 
Successful businesses use marketing beyond promotion, as a series of business levers to pull for higher profits.

2 - Know the customer as much as you know yourself.
We’re in business to sell products and services. But it’s hard to sell something customers don’t want or why they should buy from you. Get to know what, how, and where they’ll buy.

3 - Grow the orchard while you sell the fruit.
A small percentage of your current target audience is ready to buy. Sell when they’re ready and invest in the brand long-term to sell a lot more.

4 - Boring is expensive.
Boring is forgettable and less effective. Being ignored means being forgotten and spending more for attention. Boring is bad for business.


Now that you’ve read this excruciatingly verbose bio, I’d like to add that, in addition to my professional endeavors, I am an enthusiastic keynote speaker, delivering engaging talks on branding, marketing, creative problem-solving in business, and effective marketing strategies to audiences of all sizes.

Phillip Oakley

As people discuss the business decline of McDonald's and Wendy's, and blame it on brand promise or not making customers "feel" something, we need to keep in mind that prices outpaced inflation, and (for most), quality declined to maximize profits. 

Providing decent food for the value is the bottom rung of the consumer benefit ladder. You need a solid first rung before climbing up to the feels.

Once that bottom rung breaks, just as Domino's faced years ago, you must slide back to the ground to fix it. 

Or customers won't care to ask "Where's the Beef?"

Stand Tall.

Mixing strategy and creativity to build brands through effective marketing. Energetic speaker, foodie, soccer player, and proud Dad.

Did you know 30-year-old sonic branding for Mentos is so powerful, it can burn a Michael McDonald Yacht Rock earworm straight out of your brain?

I have a confession to make: I quite like Yacht Rock. 

My wife and I have been enjoying more than our fair share of The Doobie Brothers, Christopher Cross, and Steely Dan of late. For some reason, Michael McDonald has cameos in loads of them. 

One night last week, I couldn't get to sleep. I was being haunted by Michael McDonald. If you've heard the song "Ride Like the Wind," you know why: 

🎶 I've got such a long way to go 🎶

It had to stop. (Such a long way to go)

So I turned to ... The Freshmaker. And it works every single time. 🎶Doo doo doo doo, doo doo, doo wah! 🎶

Loads of smart people talk about brand codes and distinctive brand assets here on this platform. But I'll fly the Mentos flag any day as being one of the most powerful assets that's still an easy recall. 

Bookmark this post, so next time there's an unwanted song stuck your head you can freshen up with this commercial (one of many, might I add). How many of their TV spots do you remember? 

Nothing gets to you, staying fresh, staying cool, with Mentos, fresh and fuuuuuuull of life!

Stand Tall.

“I hate those things.” After overhearing three different customers share the same opinion in two days, the visiting district manager removed the virtual tellers from my local bank, for good reason. 

First off, good on the area manager for being in the branches to see how customers interact. 

Secondly, good on them to recognize tech was getting in the way of helping the customer, and hurting the brand. 

This was a video teller interface. You would walk into the branch, not speak to a human, visit a kiosk and push a button to summon a remote teller who would assist you via video. And when they finish your transaction, they can move on to someone else in another city.

Sounds a bit dystopian. And while the tellers were trained well, it just felt disconnected.

I’m sure decisions makers tried to level the playing field with larger banks through technology. And I’m willing to bet this idea was presented in a deck along with the words “digital transformation” in the mid-2010s.

But in the end, it actually removed what makes small local branches better: help.

Help from a real human. 

Know your brand by recognizing what customers need from the different touchpoints of your business. Especially the points where they seek real human interaction. 

If it can be outsourced to a screen, it can be outsourced to AI. 

Stand Tall.

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“I went back to the BMX* deck, and I gotta say, I didn’t realize how much you’d nailed it. It had everything I needed to get focused.” — Our client, while making decisions on a campaign. 

Loads of people bash “brand strategy decks” on this platform. It’s easy, of course. 

Tales of 200-page decks of fluff. Performance art named strategy. Platitudes meant for break room walls that promote eye-rolling responses. 

But a good deck, meant to be a reference point not a performance, is distilled thinking that connects brand strategy to the business. 

It’s a point of focus used to make concerted business and marketing decisions, measured on value, not page count 

*The BMX is our Brand Matrix guide. It’s distilled into one page for a valuable, quick reference. We encourage clients to print and post it near their desk, so it’s ready to see and use.  

Stand Tall.

Want to find out how much you know about your customers and category? Prompt ChatGippity to ask YOU questions about the market you’re in.

Most of us who grew up in the 1970s or 1980s can recall that the Fruit of the Loom logo used to feature a cornucopia, a horn-shaped basket spilling out apples and grapes. Except it never did. 

There was never a cornucopia. Not once. Not ever.

Yes, I checked. I scraped the interwebs. Snopes confirmed it.

My childhood memories are lying to me.

If you remember the cornucopia, you’re in the collective hallucination with me, in what’s known as the Mandela Effect. It’s when a large group of people confidently remembers something that never existed.

But here’s what’s fascinating from a brand perspective: Fruit of the Loom built such powerful mental associations that we invented missing details, giving fruit leaves more importance than they called for. 

The logo felt like it should have a cornucopia. The imagery of abundance and nostalgia was so strong that our brains filled in the blanks. That’s brand memory at work.

Distinctive assets so sticky they expanded themselves in the public imagination. And even with several major refreshes over 100 years, the logo stayed consistent enough to be recognized through every iteration.

Or maybe it’s just crazy pills passed out by the bucketload.

Every brand should hope to be remembered so vividly that people recall things that were never even there.

Stand Tall.

📸: Snopes

“It’s a workshop for startup incubators, of course we have to use acronyms.” - Tongue in cheek client comment. I chuckled at this smart, self-aware comment by one of our clients in a brand workshop this Thursday. 

Sometimes, it seems today’s business world makes up comments on the fly. 

What’s your CAGR from your COGS?

Is your POS communicating your TOS to land your SLA?

And if your brand doesn’t know its COGS, how can your sales team understand its BANT?

How about your OAR? ELO? KLF? REM? POD? INXS? NWA? TLC? EMF? RUN-DMC?

LMFAO!

Isn’t the inside speak exhausting? It sounds like my mixtape playlist from 1992.

Speak clearly and lose the jargon if you want to connect with your target audience. They’ll appreciate the lack of need for an FAQ, IMO. 

Because if you overuse acronyms and insider terms, they’ll look at you like ODB. 

Speak the language of your customers. 

Stand Tall.

Rach Davis

It's all about integrating wonder, curiosity, and creativity into your collaborative sessions! 🙌

Workshop Creation + Facilitation
* Creates customized workshops and activities for client workshops based on desired outcomes.
* Facilitates workshops to extract insights, gain consensus, and help conversations unfold.
* Develops interactive virtual experiences in remote tools like Miro and Mural, pulling from design thinking and creative strategy approaches.
* Build trust with participants and create a brave space for collaboration. 

Your True Tribes is now Rach Davis - Check out my new site https://www.rachdavis.com/

Collaboration Co-Pilot + Facilitator | Founder

Fearless

Independent Consultant currently crafting and leading immersive design thinking and strategy workshops. 

Projects for Fearless Tech starting in 2021, through including designing experiences internally, process improvement, workshop creation and facilitation, learning and development approaches, and creative strategy.

Workshop Experience Designer + Facilitator

Motto®

Lead Strategist + Facilitator

Chief Of Staff

iNovex

Note RealmOne was previously iNovex, and has gone through a rebrand. 

* Exploration and auditing of the brand as a baseline for growth. 
* Developed and enhanced the iNovex brand—maintain consistency with the brand while bringing unique design ideas to the table. 
* Storytelling and design to showcase iNovex and it's purpose.
* Fostered relationships with partners and external thought leaders.

Brand + Content Strategist

Elevate & Cultivate Design Collaborative

Elevate & Cultivate Design Collaborative is a community for graphic design professionals to strengthen their skills, receive feedback on their work and make friendships stronger than Gotham Ultra! 

As Community Ambassador, I engaged the Elevate & Cultivate tribe through posts, blogs, coaching, and sharing resources. We worked together to create a community of support and honesty where designers feel safe growing their craft.

Community Ambassador + Moderator

Ladies, Wine, & Design: San Antonio

Co-Lead of the San Antonio Chapter of Ladies, Wine, & Design. 

Ladies, Wine, & Design is a worldwide organization that brings women in the creative field together. The San Antonio chapter holds monthly meetups and runs an online community to promote mentorship, collaboration, support, and professional growth for local creative women.

Community Lead

Creative Parc

Brand Strategy + Messaging
* Workshop development and facilitation that successfully guided clients through brand discovery and messaging.  

Copywriting + Content Strategy
* Creative copy for campaigns, websites, and printed materials for clients, integrated with their brand voice and representing their purpose to tell the right story.
* Proposal development resulting in large contract wins.

Social Media Strategy
* Created strategy and approaches to grow the brand's online reputation and visibility.
* Implemented strategies, and provided creative direction for asstes, to engage with audiences and tell the story of the brand.

Creative Strategist

AIGA San Antonio

Vice President

Board member of the AIGA San Antonio chapter. 
Assisted with board communications and operations.

Code for Baltimore

Brigade Mentor

We are civic hackers interested in contributing to open data and open source in Baltimore.
All skill levels and types are welcome; coders need designers, project managers, champions, and data ninjas.

Develop content + social media strategy.
Create + maintain relationships with government, city, and non-profit partners.
Manage our member communications (ex: Slack Team) and recruit new members.
Organize + plan monthly events and larger Hackathon events.

Co-Founder + Community Lead 

Fiesta San Antonio Commission

Strategist  
Led digital and social media strategy for Fiesta. Executed strategy to maintain and enhance the brand. Developed original, creative, and persuasive content, promotional materials, newsletters, and visuals for events before, during, and after Fiesta. Worked to drive reach, engagement, and action for the Fiesta audience and partners. Leveraged social and digital channels, developed and executed ongoing, proactive, and fully inclusive strategies to stay top-of-mind for the current audience, work to acquire new visibility and audiences, and drive results – event attendance, impressions, and interaction. Designed materials for implementation (graphic design).

Coach/Collaborator 
Collaborated with partner organizations and coached them through digital strategy, promotion, and engagement. Worked closely with media (both traditional and digital) to maintain open lines of communication about all aspects of Fiesta. Collaborated to provide assets and content both ways and the ability to be available to support the media in their inquiries.  Collaborated with local Influencers to drive impressions and engagement before and during Fiesta. Maintained and cultivated an ongoing relationship with Influencers to tell the story of Fiesta by the community for the community. 

Innovator 
Researched future trends in social networking, specifically as it pertained to leading festivals and events. Kept a pulse on the state of technology and tactics/techniques that drives engagement forward, both in person and online. Developed new ways to reach Fiesta audiences and partners. Identified and developed new opportunities for reaching the community. Worked to grow partnerships with relevant digital influencers and organizations to support continued engagement.

Analyst 
Defined key metrics and monitored those to measure effective and efficient delivery of strategy. Gathered + analyze results for key online metrics + provided visibility to sponsors and partners.

Director Of Communications

Workshop Experience Designer + Facilitator 🥳

Hi, I’m Rachel, think of me as your Facilitation + Collaboration Co-Pilot. I’m a Workshop Experience Designer and Facilitator who helps teams ditch default meetings and design collaborative sessions built to challenge assumptions, pull people out of their own heads, and push past the first answer traps.

With over 20 years of experience across design thinking, brand and creative strategy, workshop creation, and facilitation, I’m a firm believer that wonder is the doorway to our wildest ideas. Coming from an environment where being curious and creative felt like pulling teeth, I’ve learned that moving ideas, decisions, and change forward all comes down to how we work together. Not just hoping people speak up or that something useful will come out of a meeting, but actually shaping the way we collaborate — facilitating it.

Rachel Davis

Beautiful, awesome mistakes in the wild… 

The hubby bought me a present while I was out of town for work, he had to of course make sure it was labeled correctly.

The present was fantastic but the scribble out of my accidentally misspelled name and then the rewritten one was my favorite part. 

Embrace the messy. Celebrate mistakes. That’s what this brought up for me. It made me smile 😊 

If you wanna jump into the mess with me that’s what we also do at Miro Board Improv 🙌 we just let things happen, no erasing but sometimes lots of pivoting. Have you joined one yet with me and Jonathan? We have our last one of the year next week! 

Shout out “Let’s get messy!” In the comments and I’ll make sure you get the link to sign up.

Collaboration Co-Pilot | Workshop Designer | Brand Strategist | LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Certified Facilitator | Miro Hero

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