During my time at LOUD Technologies, I lucked out and was assigned to Ampeg, a venerable manufacturer of bass amplifiers that traces its roots all the way back to the 1940s.

When LOUD acquired Ampeg in 2005, one of our first challenges was to consolidate the brand's identity and launch a strong new ad campaign to let the world know that Ampeg was about to enter a new phase in its storied history. 

Ampeg's original rise to prominence took place in the late sixties and continued well into the seventies. Taking my cue from the fashions of that era, I sourced authentic model photography from Getty Images' archival collections and composited it with custom-shot images of Ampeg's current product line. 

Within months the campaign — which included print ads, a new website, display ads, trade show design, and 40-foot banners outside Guitar Center — had proven itself so successful that I was given the go-ahead to launch a second phase of the campaign, highlighting Ampeg's top-shelf community of artist endorsees. 

We brought the visual style from the first ads into the artist campaign, using talented stylists and fashion photographers to evoke a timeless aesthetic. We lined up some of the baddest bass players in the industry, and I shuttled back and forth to New York and Los Angeles to art direct the shoots.