Macy’s Parade: Building the Brand

From a newly created team of one to one living brand.

I joined Macy’s Branded Entertainment in a newly created role—as its design team of one. At the time, the Thanksgiving Day Parade came to life through a collection of disconnected creative systems, with no dedicated team shaping its identity as a whole. I saw enormous untapped potential: not simply to redesign an event, but to build a singular brand worthy of its history, cultural reach, and place at the center of American celebration.

I pushed for that vision relentlessly. Within months, I originated and championed a new direction for the Parade, selected Carpenter Collective as our creative partner, and led the brand’s development from strategy through execution. I built the briefs, directed the work, wrote copy, presented to leadership, aligned stakeholders, and established the standards and processes that transformed a collection of annual assignments into one recognizable, expandable creative system.

Because no single team could build a brand of this scale alone, I brought the organization together around it—uniting Macy’s marketing, copy, design, product, merchandising, production, leadership, and external partners including NBC. I became the creative hub connecting teams with different priorities, translating between them, protecting the vision, and moving the work forward.

The system ultimately reshaped how the Parade appeared everywhere: national campaigns, broadcast, digital, social, stores, partner integrations, hundreds of products, credentials, tickets, signage, and the streets of New York City itself. As its reach grew, I built and developed the team around it, expanding my role from hands-on designer to the creative leader responsible for the Parade’s larger brand world.

What began as potential I saw—and kept pushing others to see—became the foundation for years of brand building. I didn’t step into an established creative function. I built the vision, the relationships, the system, and ultimately the role required to lead it.