The Challenge

Edmunds needed a creative function that could do two things at once: generate real revenue through custom advertising partnerships with major automotive OEMs, and eventually push the company into new, unproven product territory as the industry began to shift toward emerging technology.

My Role

I built and led the Advertising & Media Design team from the ground up, expanding a small internal Creative Services function into a full in-house creative agency, then moved into leading Edmunds' New Concepts team, applying the same design thinking rigor to speculative, forward-looking product exploration.

The Approach: Advertising & Media Design

• Built the department: developed and expanded Creative Services into a multi-faceted Advertising and Media Design team, an in-house creative, marketing, and design group functioning as a full internal agency
• Led a cross-disciplinary team of designers, developers, copywriters, and web producers creating custom, native, brand-immersive ad products across Edmunds' central and decentralized site experience
• Managed external partnerships: worked directly with external agencies, production houses, and OEM brand teams to deliver custom creative executions
• Delivered measurable revenue impact: the program generated $10M+ in additional annual revenue through native advertising and placement programs sold to Edmunds' largest OEM partners, both on Edmunds.com and expanded to partner sites

The Approach: New Concepts

With the revenue engine established, I moved into leading New Concepts, Edmunds' product innovation function, applying design thinking methodology to identify real consumer pain points and prototype what car shopping could look like next:

• AI Guided Shopping & Live Data: early exploration of AI-assisted product discovery, nearly a decade ahead of the current AI moment
• Mixed Reality / VR Car Shopping: experimental VR/MR shopping experiences
• Live Virtual Dealerships: prototyping remote/virtual dealership interactions
• Price Value Comparison Tools & Uber Calculator: novel tools exploring vehicle value and cost-of-ownership

Why It Matters

This is the build-then-explore arc: prove the business case first, with $10M+ in real, measurable revenue from a department built from nothing, then earn the credibility to lead speculative, unproven work. The New Concepts projects, especially the AI-guided shopping and virtual/mixed-reality retail exploration, show an instinct for where consumer technology was headed nearly a decade before it became mainstream, a throughline that connects directly to the AI-native brand work happening today.

Outcome / Impact

$10M+

in additional annual revenue delivered through custom native advertising and placement programs with major OEM partners.

[Additional outcomes placeholder: any New Concepts work that shipped, tested well, or influenced later Edmunds products]