Repositioning and Rebranding of Horse&Rider
In 2017, I encountered the unique opportunity to reposition and rebrand Horse&Rider and its many facets—from its monthly print presence to all of its online offerings. In doing so, we were faced with the challenge of incorporating the audiences of two other brands—American Cowboy and The Trail Rider—in the new direction. Having worked on H&R since 2010 and growing up reading the magazine, I was intimately familiar with that audience and its wants and needs; extensive research aided in getting to know the other two audiences. Alongside the H&R art director, we collaborated with an outside creative to completely redevelop all aspects of the brand including the logotype, content mix, color palette, fonts, department treatments, cover style, and more.
In all, I spent almost 10 years with Active Interest Media, now the Equine Network. During that time, leadership gave me immeasurable opportunity to no only write and shoot photos, but help shape the future of the equine media world. It allowed me to combine my passion for horses, writing, and photography with my diverse background, including my years with The Integer Group where I learned to embrace being unique and thinking differently than everyone else. In a world full of followers, this is an essential skill to stand out from the crowd and be noticed. Equally as valuable is my naturally introverted nature, which allows me to know when subtlety is a better choice for a situation or task.
My contributions to Horse&Rider and to new business teams, including working with Catapult Creative Labs, eventually elevated me to be named the first-ever Western Content Director for the Equine Network—a goal I established when I first started at AIM as a managing editor. I’m forever grateful to my teammates at AIM and the leadership for giving me opportunities that helped get me where I am today.