Role: Creative Director

Immigration was the most divisive issue in the country, and "the wall" had become shorthand for keeping people out.

We had a simpler idea: what if a wall brought people together instead of dividing them?

"Walls Are Meant for Climbing" turned that into a real, global campaign for The North Face — out of home, film, and social across the US, Canada, the UK, Mexico, and China. We didn't just run ads about it, either. We declared August 19, 2017 Global Climbing Day, teamed up with some of the best climbers in the world, and opened up 50+ climbing gyms around the globe to let anyone climb for free. Turns out when you give people something to climb instead of something to fight about, they show up.

Drew Christie brought the campaign to life with animation that made it feel less like a corporate stance and more like a genuine invitation. The New York Times covered it. More importantly, people actually climbed.

It's the kind of campaign I got into this business to make — one that takes something ugly happening in the world and finds an honest, human, slightly stubborn way to say something better about it.

Animated by Drew Christie.