Digital storytelling / Creative direction / Audience strategy

Racing Extinction

The film wasn’t the starting point.

Racing Extinction changed how I thought about building digital experiences. The film explored some of the most existential challenges we face as a species. I didn’t want to simply create a campaign, launch social channels, and build a website to promote a documentary. We needed a movement. As the project’s Director of Digital, I led the creation of an expanding ecosystem around the issues, people, and solutions at the heart of the film. We wanted to bring audiences along on the journey so that, by the time the film premiered, they were already part of the story. They knew the characters, understood the issues, and had opportunities to take action.

To make that work, every social post, website experience, event, and ultimately the film itself needed to stand on its own. But the connective tissue between them was just as important. Each piece added something new to the larger story, deepening the audience’s understanding, building on what came before, and giving them a reason to keep exploring.

We flipped the script. Nearly a year before the premiere, we began introducing the issues, characters, and solutions without giving away the film itself. Rather than asking audiences to wait for the documentary, we invited them to become part of the story as it unfolded. The film became the culmination of that journey, not the moment it began.