Jeep Design Story
Creative Direction · 2014 – 2016
Most automotive content shows you what a vehicle looks like. This series showed you how it came to be. For two major Jeep launches, we were granted rare access to Jeep's design headquarters — filming inside the studios with the lead designers responsible for exterior, interior, and materials — to create a behind-the-scenes video series that brought the human story of each vehicle's creation to a buying audience for the first time.
The concept
I helped develop the editorial concept for a documentary-style video series positioned in the reveal phase of the vehicle launch — after the initial teaser had generated interest, but before the full launch gave customers everything. The goal was to deepen emotional connection and drive early sales by letting the designers themselves tell the story of the choices they made, the inspiration behind them, and what they were most proud of.
Where it lived in the launch
Pre-teaser
Initial excitement and lead generation — vehicle identity kept under wraps
Design Story
Reveal phase — designer access, early sales activation
The Design Story series aired here — giving prospective buyers an intimate look at the people and decisions behind the vehicle, before it was available to see in person
Full launch
Complete vehicle reveal, build & price configuration, and sales conversion
My role
Developed the editorial concept — framing a complex, technical vehicle design process as an accessible, human-led story for a customer audience in active research mode
Led creative direction and storyboarding for each video in the series, shaping how each designer's perspective was framed and sequenced
Co-directed on location inside Jeep's design headquarters, working alongside our production and direction partner to capture the right moments from hours of studio access
Participated in art direction for the Renegade series and oversaw all post-production editing — distilling hours of raw interview and studio footage into clear, compelling five to six minute films per vehicle
Collaborated closely with Jeep product and marketing teams throughout, ensuring the series stayed true to both the brand voice and the vehicle's communication priorities
Creative Direction — Jason Mills, Jim Borwick
Art Direction — Sherry Tang (Compass)
Inside Jeep's design studios
The access was significant. We filmed at Jeep's design headquarters with the lead designers responsible for the vehicle's exterior, interior, and materials — people who rarely speak publicly about their work. We had access to early pre-production models, giving us a window into the design intent before the vehicle was visible to the world.
That access wasn't handed to us — it was earned through the trust built over years of working as a genuine creative partner to the brand. And it gave the series something most automotive content simply can't offer: the real people, real decisions, and real passion behind the product.
From hours of footage to a clear story
Each vehicle series involved hours of studio filming — interviews with lead designers, walkthroughs of pre-production models, and access to the sketches, materials, and references that shaped the final vehicle. The editorial challenge was significant: distilling that depth of access into a series of focused, watchable films that served a customer audience without losing the authenticity that made the access worth having.
Published on Jeep.com and Jeep's YouTube channel, the series sat at a critical point in the purchase journey — the moment when a customer is engaged enough to go deeper, but hasn't yet committed to a test drive.
The Design Story series is some of the most creatively rewarding work from my Jeep tenure — a rare opportunity to tell a brand story from the inside out, with the people who actually made it.