Every great brand has a red thread.

Belk brand film · 2025

I build the teams and systems behind brands people remember.

Creative and marketing operations executive. 20+ years building the creative engines behind major retail brands.

Better experiences wherever the customer goes. Delivered on strategy, on schedule, on budget.

100+creatives led

20+campaigns a year

300+stores, one brand story

Multiple seasons. One campaign.

Work

The brand,and the enginebehind it.

See the work →

Approach

Build thefoundation.Free the creative.

How I lead →

About

The threadthat unites creativeand operations.

Meet Justin →

Let's talk

Building something that needs both the idea and the engine? Let's talk →

The brand, and the engine behind it.

How one brand was built, run across many seasons and every channel, and delivered all the way through.

01 · Seasonal campaigns

A new story every season. One brand every time.

Each season shipped as one campaign: a hype film, a full photography library, and the creative for every channel built from it.

Spring ’26 · Campaign Video

Campaign photography

02 · Brand

Family Since 1888, retold for today.

One brand story, built in steps: the original intent, the rules, the voice, then the platform and film that carried it everywhere.

2019
Original rebrand · agency

The original intent.

The agency rebrand set the direction: a bold, joyful department store, with a new logo, color and photography language, and a store that had to feel new.

Brand guidelines · 2019
2023
Belk Ethos

The voice, written down.

The Ethos turned the rebrand into a shared language: who Belk is, five brand words, the hooks and the colors every team could work from.

Cheerful · Reliable · Family · Authentic · Relevant
2025
Brand positioning

"We are…" A platform for every channel.

The positioning work, the major creative project of the run: seven "We Are" pillars, a new photographic language and a story that runs from 1888 to now.

Select any spread to page through the full document

2025

Brand film

The brand film, with its messaging: Welcome to Belk. Family since 1888.

03 · Omnichannel deliverables

One idea. Every touchpoint.

Launches, programs and partnerships carried from homepage to app, email, social, store floor and arena.

Brand launch · Spring 2025

Sewing Down South × Crown & Ivy

A collaboration launch carried through every channel: teasers, a homepage takeover, landing pages, app, targeted email, in-store and a meet & greet event.

HomepageAppEmailSocialIn-storeEvents

Loyalty & credit · 2026

Belk Rewards+ refresh

A redesign of the credit card and loyalty program, from the card itself to acquisition, store toppers, point of sale and the program landing page.

Card designAcquisitionIn-storePOSWeb

Sports partnerships · 2025

In the game since 1888.

The Charlotte Hornets and Spectrum Center partnership, plus the Keep Pounding High School Classic: arena and concourse displays, events and in-store activations.

ArenaConcourseEventsSocialStore activation

New store formats · 2025

Belk Market & Belk Outlet

Brand environments for new formats: wall graphics, brand columns, pricing signage and a local personalization wall for each store.

Store environmentWall graphicsSignageLocalization

Next · Approach

The work is what you see. Here’s how it gets made. Approach →

Point of view

Build the foundation.Free the creative.

Better creative doesn't start with a bigger budget. It starts with a better foundation.

When the systems behind the work are strong, teams stop fighting the process and start taking creative risks. For 20+ years I've built those systems (in-house studios, a creative organization of 100+, AI that gives people time back) so the budget and the talent go to big, bold ideas.

Creative and operations aren't opposites. They're the same thread.

Process & function

From plan to placement.

The idea is the start. The work is done when every asset is live, on time, in every channel it was planned for.

Strategy
Concept
Plan
Produce
Place
Measure
Win

Sewing Down South · content overview

Strategy, planning and media placement, week by week.

One board for the whole launch. Every week, every channel and every touchpoint was planned up front, then the final creative was dropped into its slot, so creative, digital and media teams worked from the same plan.

Teasers to takeover, weeks 14–21
Homepage, landing page, app, email, events
Final creative placed in every slot

Examples available to discuss, and to apply to your brand.

Excerpt of the Sewing Down South content overview, weeks 18 and 19

Belk Outlet · concept rounds

Where we started, and how it got there.

Three rounds of store graphics for a new format: a first direction, a tighter system after review, then a color exploration to land the final look.

Want to see more? Let’s partner and make something great.

Excerpt: where we started — 01 Where we started

Excerpt: color exploration — 03 Exploration

The engine

The teams and systems behind the work.

Great creative depends on the operation underneath it. Two examples: the creative organization I rebuilt at Belk, and the in-house photography and content studio I built for aerie.

Belk · 2019–2026

Rebuilding the creative engine while the business kept moving.

Through restructuring, ownership changes and executive transitions, the creative organization kept 20+ campaigns a year in market while moving to a digital-first, AI-enabled way of working, on a leaner operating model that delivered more work, not less.

110+employees & contractors

175+users on one workflow

55K+hours given back through AI & automation

72%leaner operating model

American Eagle · aerie

Thousands of images. One launch day.

When aerie decided to stop retouching and show real women, the brand promise depended on the content behind it. I budgeted, planned and ran the studio operation that made it real: every bra and undie, in every color, across a range of sizes and body shapes, captured, tagged and curated to the site for a single-day launch.

20K+assets a year from the in-house studio I built

Perspectives

Next · About

Every system has someone behind it. Here’s who. About →

About

Justin is the thread that unites creative expression and operational mindset.

He sets the creative vision and leads the full marketing lifecycle, from strategy, concept and brand storytelling through every channel the customer touches, aligning creative, production, technology and web teams behind one cohesive brand experience.

Ohio Pennsylvania North Carolina

In their words

**Will Langley**Chief Financial Officer
BelkExecutive leadership partner

**Sara Wright**Chief Marketing Officer
BelkJustin reported to her

**Tiffany Reeves**Sr Manager, Shoot Production
BelkReported to Justin · 7 years

**Brandon Atwood**Operating Partner & Creative Dir
Perch PartnersAgency partner on Belk

Next · Let’s Talk

Building something that needs both the idea and the engine? Let’s talk. Let’s talk →

Let's talk

Let's talk.

The best ideas I've had started as conversations. Whether it's a leadership role, an advisory project or just swapping ideas over coffee, I'm always learning, always curious and always glad to talk.

Leadership roles

SVP Brand, SVP Creative Strategy and Creative Operations, Executive Creative Direction.

Advisory workThe Red Thread Creative

Creative strategy, studio development, content planning, workflow and operations, and agency strategy.