Rolling Rock:
Town Gazette
 I really fought for this age gate. Approximately 60% of drop-off occurs here on this page. Making it easier to click through faster lowers the barrier for entrance. |  The Rolling Rock Town Gazette homepage. I shot most of the photography on the site. (Budgets were slim pickins') |  |
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 A lot of this photography was pooled from my personal collection and my friends. Ha Ha Tonka was a band out of Springfield, MO that played a local venue. The Rolling Rock team threw a big party and I shot a ton of photography of the band at the show. |  We were tight on a budget and had no money for a photographer. So I called some local bars and took some agency folks out for beers all day. Playing horseshoes and carting buckets of beer around town, I think we got some great shots. I'm incredibly proud of these photos and what we were able to pull off. |  I handled the wireframes and information architecture for the digital experience. |
 |  The four key bands were part of the Bloodshot Records family of artists. |  Each band had a featured page highlighting tour dates, music videos, and photos. |
 The partnership with Bloodshot Records featured a series of live shows from the indie record's lineup across the country. |  Like any small town newspaper, we needed oddball news. Fake news, but news to someone. |
At Momentum, this project was one of my claims to fame because of the breadth of content we were playing with on top of the inter-office partnership success with this program. It was a fully integrated program bring on-premise promotions, advertising, and digital efforts together to relaunch this iconic brand. The New York-based team that had been the core of Amster Yard collaborated with the St. Louis-based account and creative teams to develop “Born Small Town” for the newly acquired AB-Inbev brand Rolling Rock.
We activated the campaign through a music tour, online content, email, and local bar events featuring Bloodshot Records artists and a really relaxed vibe that resonated with Rolling Rock’s indie cred. As the Digital Creative Director for the Anheuser-Busch team, I oversaw the strategy, information architecture, design, and development of RollingRock.com. I worked with the talented folks at DriftLab to launch this site, breaking the mold for all other A-B websites at the time.
Born Small Town
The new Brand Belief was a pivotal shift from where Rolling Rock was before. It centered around the INDEPENDENCE OF SPIRIT. And it was the unique culmination of independence and quirkiness of independent thinkers, creators, and music lovers. The new brand was a fit with our audience: off-ness, American-ness, our conviction that the individual will prevail. A Belief that was, is and will forever be relevant in America and even the world. Born Small Town isn’t about a place or rural location, but a state of mind. A rock band, for instance, can be “Born Small Town,” but they come from Detroit. The “where” doesn’t matter. If they embody the spirit and values of the brand, it works.
"It's not where we're from...
It's who we are"
The Town Gazette was the digital manifestation of the brand in the online space. Every small town has news to share, and it’s usually a little off and entertaining. Our town loved music and had a lot to share with its residents.
Awards
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2010 AIGA ST. Louis Design Show
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AAF ADDYs — Anheuser-Busch, Inbev, Born Small Town, District Nine ADDY
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Webby Awards: 2010 Official Honoree, Food & Beverage — RollingRock.com, Born Small Town