Macy’s Parade: One Away from History

One parade away from history—and designed to make the countdown feel inevitable.

For the 99th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, I developed a strategic idea that transformed an in-between year into the opening chapter of a larger story: 99 wasn’t simply the number before 100. It was the moment anticipation began.

I led the creative direction from strategy and copy through presentations, collaborator management, stakeholder alignment, and execution. Building from Macy’s broader Wonderful Stories campaign, I creatively directed Alex Trochut’s work for the Parade and guided a team of collaborators in creating an identity distinctly its own—bold typography, autumnal jewel tones, editorial photography, and the ribbons of Macy’s “Gift to America.”

The system extended across hundreds of touchpoints, including broadcast, digital, social, print, environmental, editorial, credentials, signage, merchandise, and press. Every expression needed to feel cohesive at scale while building momentum toward the 100th Parade in 2026.

The 99th Parade delivered a record 34.3 million viewers across NBC and Peacock—up 8% year over year—and became its biggest combined audience ever.