Have you ever finished a project that went so well you ended up being pushed out by the new management who was hired as a byproduct of the growth your work had inspired? I have.

In 2013, after years of effective marketing support the very successful rebrand of Bell Helmets, the new VP or Brand and Marketing had their own ideas of how Bell should go to market and we were dismissed. It was a bummer. Usually, that’s the end of the story. But not with Bell.

4 years and 11 Bell marketing managers later, we ran into the GM at the San Jose airport. He told us we should stop by. We were in the Bay Area for some other meetings, but quickly rejiggered our plans to make it to Scott’s Valley. We discovered that the VP who had ousted us was leaving, the GM was taking over, and could we please come fix the cycling side of the brand. The motorsports side had stuck to the script we laid out in the earlier brand work and had grown 10x. The cycling side had opted to go their own way (especially in Road) and it hadn’t been as successful. What an opportunity; to reengage in the project that had taught me so much about how to build a brand and apply all the expertise I had learned since. This second go round was a joy, and the enhancement of the design by our Design Director Jesse Conte is a triumph.