Selected Work

MaiLaThai_CreativeDirector_Damsel_Atlant

Damsel
Cabaret Supper Club Launch

Role: Creative Director / Brand Consultant
Engagement: Direct-to-client

Media: Brand positioning / Digital / Social / Email

I developed the positioning and launch direction for Damsel, a premium cabaret supper club. The work established a more cohesive visual identity and a clearer way to communicate the concept across its launch materials.

My role included visual curation, social concepts, email marketing and reservation-page direction. I established a black-and-white visual system, directed the refinement of key photography and introduced the public-facing descriptor “Cabaret Supper Club” to clarify the venue’s offering. Selected elements of the direction were adopted across the brand’s launch materials.

I created the concepts and layouts, produced pencil drawings and commissioned an illustrator to translate them into final hand-painted artwork. When my research found that no digital Guinness typeface existed, I commissioned a typographer to create a custom font based on the brand’s historic lettering. The typeface was used across billboard and full-page magazine layouts. For a later print execution, Gerry Graf wrote the long-form headline, and I conceived the idea of typesetting it into the shape of the iconic Guinness pint glass.

Guinness
Bottle Launch Campaign

Role: Concept / Art Direction / Design
Agency: BBDO New York
Media: Consumer Print / Out-of-Home

For the launch of a new Guinness bottle format, I developed an illustrated campaign inspired by the brand’s historic poster art. The approach gave the modern package a distinctive, handcrafted presence while remaining unmistakably Guinness.

Guinness
Bottle Launch Campaign

Role: Concept / Art Direction / Design
Agency: BBDO New York
Media: Consumer Print / Newspaper

This interactive newspaper campaign ran in The Onion newspaper. It won a One Show Silver pencil. These six ads were specific media space buys that ran in one issue that year.

Red Stripe
“Hooray Beer!” Retail Campaign

Role: Art Director
Agency: BBDO New York
Media: Retail / In-Store / Point-of-Sale

I art directed a retail execution that paired the Red Stripe Ambassador with a beachgoer whose suntan formed a matching red stripe across his torso. The visual joke extended the campaign’s dry, self-aware humor into the retail environment.

Photographed on location by Jeff Mermelstein, the effect was created practically on set using a custom stencil rather than relying on obvious digital manipulation. The finished image was produced as retail and point-of-sale signage and was later selected by the photographer’s commercial agency for use as a promotional mailer.

Burlington
Union Square Flagship Launch & National Retail Expansion

Role: Creative Director / Art Director / Writer
Engagement: Direct-to-client
Media: Out-of-Home / Broadcast / Retail

I led creative work for Burlington during a major period of national growth, as the company surpassed $4 billion in annual revenue, including the opening of its 92,000-square-foot Union Square flagship. The work encompassed launch advertising, seasonal campaigns, broadcast, and localized retail communications.

For the Union Square opening, the team developed an extensive New York City subway takeover comprising more than 80 media units across heavily trafficked commuter environments. The campaign adapted the familiar “I ❤️ NY” language into product-driven, hyperlocal retail messages. Across the broader account, my role included client-facing creative leadership, concept development, art direction, writing, new-store campaigns, and Spanish-language spots and adaptations. The production cycle included more than 20 commercials, regional adaptations, and campaign materials supporting Burlington’s expanding national footprint. View selected work in the Broadcast Reel

Equal
Product Launch Campaign

Role: Concept / Art Direction
Agency: Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners
Media: National Print / Television

For the launch of a sugar blend formulated for baking, I created a simple visual demonstration: construct the product package from the cake itself.

The idea communicated the product benefit immediately without relying on a conventional package-and-dessert image.

I developed the initial layout with an illustrator and then collaborated with a professional cake designer and food-production team to create the package from edible materials, including fondant and hand-applied brand details. The concept was produced for both national print and television, requiring close art direction across overlapping shoots, food preparation and production schedules.

eLuxury
Launch Campaign

Role: Art Direction / Copywriting / Design
Agency: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
Client: LVMH
Media: Full-Page Newspaper Advertising

For the launch of LVMH’s eLuxury, I created a typography-led newspaper campaign that worked with the limitations of newsprint rather than attempting to reproduce conventional luxury photography.

The campaign used bold typography, high-contrast color and a restrained editorial style to introduce online luxury shopping at the beginning of the e-commerce era. The “IN/OUT” copy platform classified basic human necessities such as water, oxygen and shelter as “out,” while declaring eLuxury “in.” The resulting system gave the new brand a confident, culturally aware voice that remained visually distinct within the newspaper environment.

Discover Card
Merchant Acquisition Campaign

Role: Concept / Art Direction
Agency: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
Media: Trade Print / Consumer Print / Out-of-Home

I worked on a merchant-acquisition campaign designed to encourage restaurants, cafés and other businesses to accept Discover Card. The campaign integrated the card’s distinctive shape into premium food and dining imagery.

The executions were photographed practically on a custom restaurant set. Specialized model-making and food styling incorporated Discover Card geometry into real-world surfaces, including cappuccino foam, table settings and cookware. The campaign appeared across trade, consumer print and out-of-home placements. Selected executions were also displayed in New York City bus shelters during Restaurant Week.

The International ANDY Awards
Call for Entry Campaign

Role: Art Director / Designer / Typesetter
Engagement: Pro Bono
Media: Print / Posters / Promotional Mailer

For the International ANDY Awards Call for Entry, I developed a campaign for an advertising audience already familiar with
award-show conventions. The work deliberately used the awkward visual language of stock photography as its central creative device.

At the time, stock photography had a reputation among creatives for appearing generic, staged and creatively limiting. The campaign embraced that perception by placing ANDY trophies into familiar stock-image scenarios. My role included negotiating image usage with Getty Images, working with retouchers to integrate the trophies and designing a six-panel promotional mailer. The piece unfolded into an approximately 24 × 27-inch poster containing festival information, deadlines, judging details and entry categories.