MEET MIKE

I am a passionate, charismatic, big-idea machine who fosters a collaborative culture of innovative concepts and engaging stories. My work is designed to hit hard, drive sales, and completely revive beleaguered brands. To me, boring is absolute blasphemy. I constantly seek to create original, emotive, and inspiring stories drawn from the lifeblood of a brand, shaping them into powerful campaigns that excite, convince, and earn consumers.

​

Advertising is a team sport, and everyone needs to buy into the mission. I operate as a player-coach, fostering a high-performing, fun, and deeply collaborative environment that consistently ignites creative disruption and staggering ingenuity. I strive to build creative families rooted in care, challenge, and the absolute joy of cracking a complex puzzle. We pull for each other, but we also fight fair—because healthy conflict is the only real way to get past the traps of comfortable crap. When you fight for one another and the big idea, the pressure of delivering exceptional work transforms into a shared victory.

​

Throughout my career, I have continually expanded my skill set to accomplish ambitious visions. This insatiable thirst has allowed me to direct commercials and documentaries, write over 30 brand songs, produce award-winning experiences, and push the boundaries of AI across audio, image, and video. This sheer versatility results in a leadership style that elicits the absolute best performance from every team member while mentoring with both empathy and applied expertise. If you’re looking for my signature visual "style," you won't find one. I aim to deliver rational brand communications wrapped in emotional resonance that people actually want to spend their time with, because every brand demands something entirely its own.

​​

The truth is, my brain rarely clocks out. The same energy I bring to an unusual creative assignment fuels my life outside the office. You’ll usually find me restoring my father's 1968 Pontiac GTO, sweating the details on a landscaping project, or coaching Jr. Boys basketball—a constant, real-time reminder of what it looks like to strive for a personal best. At the end of the day, it all circles back to appreciating a good beer and jumping into fun conversations about absolutely everything, and nothing at all.

​

  AGENCY GROWTH & LEADERSHIP  

​​

NEW BUSINESS: $85 Million in new accounts over 10 years.

AGENCY BUILDER: Helped scale previous agency from 70 to 250 Employees.

ENTREPRENEUR: Founded LEGEND, a Creative Agency specializing in sports and entertainment marketing. Clients include Coca-Cola, AMB Sports & Entertainment, Global Payment, and SCANA Energy.

​

AWARDS: Won top honors across diverse categories for integrated campaigns, experiential innovation, content, and commercials. Accolades include twice winning The Drum Award, Chief Marketer, CTAM Top of the Mark Award, Addy Awards, and Telly Awards for iconic brands like LG, Netflix, Dolby Labs, Ménage à Trois, and SC Commerce.​​​​

​​

​

  RECENT HIGHLIGHTS  ​​​

​

SUPER BOWL: Penned and produced an original live music performance for the NFL Owners' Super Bowl Event.

​

CENTENNIAL YARDS: Led the brand identity design, guidelines, and launch activations for one of the largest urban revitalization projects in America.

​

FORD'S LONGEST-RUNNING SPORTS PLATFORMS: Created Defend the Dome with the Atlanta Falcons and the NCAA Built Ford Tough Saturday series, both serving as multi-million dollar partnerships and the longest-running sports platforms for the brand.​

​

RED ROBIN: Spearheading the creative strategy, influencer partnerships, and execution, achieving brand best content engagement and translating directly to a massive brand turnaround.

​

BEVERAGE: Named Full Throttle Energy Drink and served as the lead creative for the massive product launches of the Coca-Cola Fridge Pack, Diet Vanilla Coke, and POM Wonderful.

​

​

  SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT  

​​SPORTS: Deep professional experience spanning ESPN, Fox Sports, the NFL, MLB, NHL, MLS, NASCAR, F1, CART, Turner Sports, WWE, AEW, and the PGA.

ESPN: Led ESPN commercial and promo creation for five years, directly collaborating with top-tier talent including Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Stuart Scott, Kenny Mayne, and Chris Fowler.

​​

​

​

  DIVERSE SKILLSET     

​​​

• Documentary Directing: Progressive Insurance, NFL Atlanta Falcons, and Sutter Home.

• Commercial Directing: South Carolina Parks, Recreation, and Tourism, WWE, and Ford.

• Content Creation: Red Robin, Church's Chicken, Outback Steakhouse, Coca-Cola, and Ford.

• Gaming: Ford.

• Original Music and Songwriting: Ford, Red Robin, Progressive, Civil Rights Museum, and the NFL Super Bowl.

• Artist Collaborations: Produced original music alongside Platinum-selling and award-winning artists, including Suzanne Vega, Lisa Loeb, Kevn Kinney, Trey Hensley, and Rob Ickes.

• Live Performance Production: Robin Thicke's halftime performance.

• Additional Expertise: Contract negotiation, celebrity talent negotiation, video editing, AI image creation, and AI video creation.

​