Hi. I (me, Sam) am a writer and strategist living in Brooklyn, NYC. I offer copywriting, consulting, strategy, naming, art direction, & editorial.
Over the years, I’ve lent my words (and thoughts) to the likes of Verizon, Uniqlo, Walmart, and Cash App. And my writing about art (and culture) has appeared in Artforum, Art Review, The Believer, and frieze.
And when I’m not doing any of that (i.e. on the weekend), I work on my skateboard magazine, PLANK.
About
My perspective combines nearly a decade in advertising with 15+ years of art world experience. Which is to say, I believe there are many ways to impact culture.
Projects
From copywriting for 6,000+ retail stores to curating at Italian art museums. From strategizing about skaters to naming (and taglining) major apparel brands. I bring a tastefulness to all my projects…and some deadpan humor.
Clients
Cash App, Verizon, Ledger, Samara, ARCHITECTURE, Teamwork.com, Topo Chico, Uniqlo, Walmart.
The Verizon Use-Case
Re-brand all of Verizon’s OEM video content under a single house style, while showcasing devices and accessories with inspiring use-cases. That was the idea behind the dozens of videos I wrote, pitched, and helped AD for Verizon retail stores. Partnering with the likes of Samsung, Google, MagSafe, Razer, and motorola, we brought a regional focus to each shoot, mounting multi-day productions in major cities from NOLA to LA, Seattle to Miami, and everywhere in between. Their themes ranged from a fictional metal band (Bucket of Thorns) gaming backstage, to a film student making her first action movie. From an ambitious curator mounting a major museum retrospective, to a behind-the-scenes look at a fashion show.
6,087 Verizon Stores
In addition to video content, I was the lead copywriter for Verizon’s retail division, where I was responsible for all in-store copy at the company’s 6,000+ retail locations nationwide. Over the course of several years, I developed a holistic approach to in-person experience, simplifying the wayfinding system, adding personality to the self-service experiences, and making the digital UX more intuitive. For more cultural experiences like pop-ups and tech labs, I carved out a gallery-like context for the company’s educational initiatives, and developed fun, interactive ways for customers to explore the potential of 5G.
The Sk8 Report
Or how I spent the summer of 2023. Commissioned by Cash App, this extensively researched insights report on the state of skateboarding draws upon dozens of conversations with industry heads, skate shop owners, scholars, writers, photographers, brand managers, media folks, etc.—and includes more than 20 interviews with a diverse array of skaters. Skateboarding is a fickle subculture, and notoriously skeptical of outsiders, but this report captures skaters’ cultural rituals, stylistic tropes, idiosyncratic interests, and unique spending habits. This is skateboarding now, as told by the skaters themselves.
A Better Backyard
The housing market is, to put it mildly, mercurial. Which means selling houses online is downright magic. So, ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit) manufacturer, Samara, needed help. My copy treatment for their website made the sales experience more actionable and intuitive, positioning their product—called Backyard—in a more accessible way. Additionally, I named new products including batch ordering for developers and a landmark, industry-first, ADU-specific financial product. Now, home owners across California can unlock the (earnings) potential of their yard.
Conscious Object
The metaphysics of a chair. The existentialism of a bench. The phenomenology of a stool. Or, as I put it in the manifesto for architect Lenka Ilic’s furniture line: “Each piece in Conscious Object inhabits a room with a haiku-like essence.” To launch Ilic’s new website, I developed the brand strategy, crafted the narrative, and shaped the tone of voice—drawing inspiration from sources as varied as the Metabolism Movement in Japan to the poetry of John Ashbery. The goal? To capture the philosophical core of the design, built around a paradigm of white paint and sustainable materials. The result: playful, heady copy and a name—Conscious Object—that encapsulates the brand’s ethos of intentionality. Fun fact: 75% of all aluminum mined since 1888 is still in circulation today.
Fluff-free B2B
At Teamwork.com, I lead content strategy—shaping a brand voice that cuts through the usual B2B fluff with a mix of sharp clarity and just enough wit to keep it human. Over the past year, I’ve pushed that voice into bolder, more confident territory, rewriting and launching a new website that doesn’t just look good but actually speaks to overworked agency teams. No jargon, no corporate cringe—just straight talk that makes a complex product feel effortless. And then there’s The Client, a campaign that turned every agency’s worst nightmare into a fictional supervillain—and, somehow, a viral hit in the B2B world.
A Free Press
Reviving overlooked art, poetry, and media isn’t just about reprints—it’s about restoring culture’s depth. As Managing Editor at Primary Information, I dig into the archives to bring lost and historically overlooked publications back into circulation—overseeing everything from in-depth research and editing to the nuts and bolts of production. I’ve helped revive THING magazine, recentering Black voices in Chicago’s house music scene, and brought N.H. Pritchard’s beguiling lost novel, The Mundus, back into the world. Our motto? Give people access to the source materials, and they'll make better culture. And it works. As the go-to PR lead, I’ve expanded coverage and increased press by 30% in just one year. This isn’t just about reprints; it’s about democratizing the past.
Meet Joe Combo
Hotel rooms don’t just book themselves. At Combo, a boutique hotel brand with three historic properties across Northern Italy, we sought to create an authentic meeting place that would attract both locals and an international array of travelers, artists, and other global nomads. The result was a playful brand voice (and sonic branding initiatives like an in-house radio station), which we lovingly referred to as Joe Combo. He was the helpful concierge who checks you in, deciphers the dinner menu…and sneaks you into the rave at 2am.
Soft. Sophisticated. Socks.
A broad national expansion had Uniqlo on the ropes, urgently requiring the Japanese company to adapt its in-store copy for an American audience. Both an exercise in value prop, and an all-out refashioning of how individual items were talked about, the new copy highlighted the tech behind the brand’s technical fabrics and design, elevating its casual wear in the minds of Americans, while giving it a sophisticated touch. Retail-based revenue increased across North America.
Hard Seltzer, Easy Spirit
The world of hard seltzer called Topo Chico's name and it answered. But it needed an entirely new brand ethos to differentiate the new spirited seltzer from its mineral water with spirit. Harkening to Topo Chico's cult-like following, we cast the spell of Magical Realism to ensure devoted consumers found something new, and new customers were ushered into this rich, bubbly universe.
The Critic
A critic. Yes, that’s how I have spent a lot of my time over the last 15 years. Playing witness to, thinking on, and writing about art, fashion, food, drink, books, film, and culture for publications like Artforum, Art in America, frieze, and The Believer. During this time, I was also an editor at ArtReview, a legacy publication where I spearheaded coverage of art in the Americas, traipsing across the world to find the best…or weirdest manifestations of art and culture this hemisphere had to offer. And I hosted the art criticism roundup radio show, In Conclusion: A Review of Reviews on Montez Press Radio, discussing the current state of the art world with other leading critics.
The Curator
My start in all of this was as a curator. For years, I organized exhibitions for an array of global art galleries and institutions. No two shows were ever alike, and over the course of my curatorial career, I produced films and managed enormous sculptural productions, received six-figure grants and established publishing programs, staged fashion shows, rediscovered lost artists, published books, shone a light on controversial issues, and stared at paintings for hours on end. Conversation was my medium, and I strategized with artists to create some of the most ambitious projects of their careers—projects that continue to celebrated by museums, and taught in art schools. I was never afraid to go into the weeds in pursuit of these artists’ ideas.
A note on method