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Multi-year contracts for a series of projects and ad campaigns with Nikon Corporation and Clark Little Photography including television commercials, multiple documentaries, advertisements, and product endorsements for worldwide markets including North America, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and Australia.

The main contract negotiations were complicated and conducted over a three month period. After the contracts were signed, the next nine months were spent coordinating the projects including filming TV commercials, production of documentaries, licensing imagery for print advertisement and product endorsements.

Coordinated the contracts and project conditions on behalf of Clark Little Photography for assignment photography and film used in the world-wide launch of the Apple Retina Display. Through negotiations, the project was expanded and the budget was tripled.

Clark’s photography was prominently displayed in all Apple stores world-wide, Apple’s website and promotional material. Clark Little was also featured in the promotional video featured on the Apple website and screened at the WWDC 2012 product launch in San Francisco.

Over a five year period, worked closely with Clark Little Photography and the curator and staff for the Smithsonian Museum’s annual photography exhibition, Nature’s Best Photography.

Clark was selected to participate in two exhibitions at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC, including winning the Ocean Photography Award. With the award presentation at the Smithsonian Museum, it is one of the highest honors in nature photography.

Projects with the team expanded to licensing photography for the Smithsonian’s annual calendar and working in Japan to launch Nature’s Best Photography Japan, now known as Nature’s Best Photography Asia.

Several projects with American Savings Bank and Clark Little Photography including licensing images for their four credit cards and exhibiting photography incorporated into their signage in all of the Hawaiian Island branches. Events with Clark Little appearances were also organized at several ASB branches.

Consulted during the initial stages, and working together to propose Clark as the first artist for the program, the success of the project led to the continuation of exhibitions at the bank.

Series of projects with Clark Little Photography and Parco Entertainment, one of Japan’s leading art, fashion, music and retail companies. Projects included coordinating, designing and installing two solo exhibits in Parco’s Tokyo gallery, publication of a Clark Little book sold throughout Japan, and publication of a yearly Japanese wall calendar. Each project included working with Japanese media with marketing and promotions.

All projects, from negotiations and contracts to design and marketing, were conducted in Japanese and English.

Designed, custom programmed and maintained the Maui Film Festival website and email newsletter for thirteen seasons.

First contacted in 2003, our mission was to bring the website up to date and launch a brand new look. Our personal goal was to create something that could rival any top film festival website in the world. We accomplished what we set out to do, and what ensued was a wild ride.

Under the festival umbrella there were three separate film events with three distinct websites.

Besides running the festival website, the project included creating 25+ email newsletters annually, designing online ads, and publishing an annual festival eBook.

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Designed and custom programmed a new website for The Jean Charlot Foundation, whose mission is to perpetuate the legacy of Jean Charlot, one of the most celebrated artists to have resided in Hawaii.

Charlot worked around the world creating 74 murals and monumental sculptures; over 1200 oil paintings; 772 original prints; 51 published books, plays and portfolios; many illustrations for books; and numerous scholarly and popular articles.

The website features galleries of his artwork, biography and exhibition history, an archive of media articles and writings, a private artwork purchasing component (e-commerce) used for fundraisers, and membership signup with financial donation capabilities.

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Collaborated with representatives of the Japan Sumo Association, the national sport of Japan, to create a Japanese and English website for the two Grand Sumo tournaments held in Hawaii and Los Angeles.

The website was extensive with information on the history of sumo, rules, tournament wrestler profiles, videos, merchandise store, sponsor information, and ticketing reservations.

In addition to the website, a collection of tournament merchandise was designed (t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, mugs, clocks, bags, stickers, and other items) for the online store.

A lucky break was to work with Stan Lee and the team at Marvel Comics to license and create Spiderman illustrations for an advertising campaign for OMP, a Japanese internet security firm. Spiderman protecting the web– it was a perfect match. Or so it seemed. When Marvel was first approached, they were not interested and wouldn’t consider it for any condition or price.

Unbeknownst to the world, Marvel was in the last round of negotiations for the first Spiderman movie starring Tobey Maguire, the film that would kick off the current phase in superhero cinema.

This project with OMP turned out to be Marvel’s last Spiderman licensing deal for advertising. The contract was signed, then 5 minutes later, in the room next door with Sony / Columbia Pictures lawyers, Spiderman was signed away to film history.

Working with art directors from Paris and a veteran Japanese product photographer, nine product photographs were created for the French cosmetic company Lancome. Products included the Hydra and Hydra Zen lines of compact, mascara, creams and lotions. Images were used worldwide in advertising, billboards, printed material, POP, store displays and packaging.

It took two days just to capture the compact, which was the first product shot. The worldwide reaction to the compact photography was so positive, the project expanded to eight other products.

When the launch of Vogue Japan was announced, it was the most exciting fashion news both inside and outside Japan.

One year before the launch, I was brought on board to present Japanese photographers to the magazine editor. My relationship with Vogue began a year prior through photography projects with Vogue Paris.

Over a period of months, I gathered the top photographers in Japan and visited the Vogue offices weekly for presentations. Out of the countless photographers under consideration, three were selected to work on the launch issue. One of which was Naoko Hiroishi, a photographer who I presented. In Issue #1, her work was very well received, and many projects with the magazine followed.

A series of characters appearing in five illustrated scenes created for Sony with UK artist and toy designer James Jarvis. This was a major ad campaign throughout Japan (print, posters, internet) that feautred every Sony product.

The project was a coup for our team, since Sony owns their own ad agency and usually keeps the coordination of major projects in-house. Sony’s team had tried but failed to secure the artist for the campaign. We were given one hour to see if we could come up with a different outcome. Within 30 minutes we had succeeded and the project was ours.

The ad series won top advertising awards in Japan, the first for an illustrated ad campaign.

Two other projects with Sony included working with their music and licensing divisions.

Nomura Securities is a financial services group, global investment bank and the oldest brokerage firm in Japan. The New Yorker cartoonist Lou Myers’ drawings became synonymous with Nomura through their Face to Face ad campaign. These illustrations were some of the most recognizable characters in Japanese advertising during this period.

I was placed in charge of the project in the last year of a three year contract, to coordinate with Myers a new set of illustrations for the final campaign season. My role quickly expanded to pitch and help negotiate a contract extension, which was never intended to occur. To everyone’s surprise, an additional one year contract was agreed to in the closing days. This laid the groundwork to successfully renew the contract multiple times in subsequent years.

The Coffee Man character consisting of 18 different scenes was created with American illustrator Eric Hanson for UCC Coffee Japan - the company which introduced the world to canned coffee.

The character was originally created for the UCC corporate calendar in 2000. The calendar was an instant hit. As a result, the usage was expanded to advertising. The series of illustrations were also displayed at the UCC corporate headquarters.

Illustration created by the renowned graphic designer and illustrator Michael Schwab for the JLPGA professional golf tournament in Japan. The image was featured on posters, banners, brochures, tournament material, media, and on special edition tissue boxes distributed throughout Japan. The event sponsor was the brand Elliar (Daio Paper Corporation), a major Japanese paper company.

Schwab is most known for graphics used in the Pebble Beach PGA Tournament, his series of National Parks and Amtrak posters, and the Sundance Film Festival logos and designs.