Project Pushed

To: Loren Schiller
From: Carter H
Subject: Fintech rebrand
Date: January 17 2016 10:22AM
Hello Loren. I’m the Resources Coordinator here at Homing Pigeon. Trevor D
recommended you, and the strategy writing samples on your website are strong. We’re
doing an image update for a major FinTech brand and could use some help. Any
chance for a 1H for 1/20-2/5?
Carter
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
Homing Pigeon: A Creative & Branding Agency
3900 S. Grand Ave, Los Angeles 90019
***
From: Loren Schiller

To: Carter H
Date: January 17 2016 11:15 AM
Thanks for reaching out. I have a 1H during that time. Would you like to challenge?
Loren
***
To: Loren Schiller

From: Carter H
Date: January 17 2016 4:15PM
1
I’m pretty positive we’ll want to. Will let you know by EOD.
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
***

To: Carter H
Hi Carter,
Following up about this project. Thanks.
Loren
***
To: Loren Schiller

From: Carter H
Date: January 19 2016 1:33 PM
Hey Loren,
It looks like the project is going to push slightly. We’ll know more after the Monday
producers meeting. Thanks!
2
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
***

To: Carter H
Hey Carter. Following up. Any word on the project?
***
To: Loren Schiller

From: Carter H
Date: August 9 2016 7:20 PM
Hey Loren. Looks like we’re a go on this. What’s your avails 8/12-26?
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
***
3
To: Carter H
Just to be clear: we’re talking about the thing you never got back to me about in
January?
***
From: Carter H
Date: August 10 2016 7:34 AM
Oh man so sorry for that. Things have been crazy around here. Is 8/12-26 available?
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
***

To: Carter H
Date: August 10 2016 10:26 AM
I can start 8/19.
***
From: Carter H
4
I think we can make that work. Let me talk to producers. I’ll follow up EOD.
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
***
To: Loren Schiller

From: Carter H
Date: March 3 2017 11:06 AM
Hi Loren,
Hope all is well. Sorry for delay here. Project ended up pushing. Would you be available
starting next week?
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
***

To: Carter H
5
Date: March 3 2017 4:41 PM
Carter,
I don’t think I like the way you’re making me feel.
Loren
***
To: Loren Schiller

From: Carter H
Hm. Not sure I follow?
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
***
To: Loren Schiller

From: Carter H
OK read back thread Loren, and I think I follow. We definitely respect what you do, and
want to get you in here, so let me loop you in (not our usual with freelancers, but you
deserve it)... The client has never done a rebrand before, and has had a lot of questions
that have delayed the project, but Justin our CD finally broke through late Thursday
night!
6
Now everything is moving fast, and we’re flying to Chicago Monday for an executive
intake. We’d want a writer/strategist in the room.
Full transparency: Justin is talking to a couple of other writer-strategists, but Trevor’s

recommendation is definitely working in your favor. Any recent samples (ideally
re-brands of FinTechs done in the last 6 months) could help put you over the top.
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
***

To: Carter H
Carter,
Thank you for your best efforts to get me in, and that bit of explanation offered despite
my status as freelancer. I will admit though, I am intrigued by Justin’s “breakthrough”
and find myself wanting to know more. You say it happened late at night? Another
interesting detail.
As for your request, that’s literally the most specific writing sample I’ve ever been
asked for, and I unfortunately do not have it. We’ll have to go with what’s on my
website and Trevor’s recommendation.
To: Loren Schiller

From: Carter H
7
Date: March 3, 2017 8:58 PM
Hey Loren,
Hope you haven’t spent too much time getting together those samples. To continue
keeping you in the loop, Justin decided to go with a strategist with a proprietary
process for extracting core brand truths.
We’d still need a dedicated writer when we get back. If you have any proprietary
processes, that could really help me sell you through to Justin.
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
***

To: Carter H
I don’t even know what a proprietary process is.
***
To: Loren Schiller

From: Carter H
Date: March 3, 2017 12:11 PM
Ha. Love your honesty. Super refreshing. Me neither truthfully, but we’ll find out in
Chicago.
8
Keep me posted on your availability starting mid-month.
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
***

To: Carter H
Let me just say, I couldn’t be more excited to get started.
***
To: Loren Schiller

From: Carter H
Date: March 3, 2017 12:17 PM
Amazing! Talk soon!
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
***
9
To: Loren Schiller
From: Carter H
Date: June 4 2017 9:43 AM
Hey Loren,
Before I inquire about your availability, apologies for taking so long to get back to you.
Things have been next-level insane here.
Project pushed a little. To keep you in the loop (not our protocol with freelancers, but
Trevor sings your praises and he’s a legend) while we were out in Chicago for our
executive intake, Justin ended up getting a cloud migraine (he gets them occasionally),
and when recovered, he walked in on the strategist conducting a full brand audit! For
the record, we weren’t even close to there yet, and an audit is definitely not something
you try on a brand that isn’t even solid on their communication tone and manner. Justin
chased this *person* from the room, but the client was already pretty shaken up, and
months of work had been undone...
We have finally gotten things back to a place where we can move forward with
positioning, but given the delay, we’re looking to move forward at supersonic speed
with a Monday kick-off. Are you available through this month, possibly into next?
Any writing samples could be helpful, but given time constraints, really not a
deal-breaker. After all, Trevor says you’re great.
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
***
10
To: Carter H
Date: June 3 2017 10:50 AM
Wait that’s a real story?? Either way, did anyone tell you you’re a pretty good writer.
***
To: Loren Schiller

From: Carter H
Date: June 3 2017 1:22 PM
Totally real. Thanks for the compliment but I’m no writer. Glad you understand the
delay, and you’d be available for a Monday AM kick-off?
(Also, if you have a proprietary process, maybe better not to mention it around Justin)
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
***

To: Carter H
Like I said before, I have no idea what a proprietary process even is, and inherently
distrust anyone in this industry who claims to have one.
11
***
To: Loren Schiller

From: Carter H
Yes! I’ll mark you down available. Should have an update EOD.
***
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
***
To: Loren Schiller

From: Carter H
Date: December 9 2017 10:06 AM
Hey Loren,
Hope you’re having a good 2017 and staying busy. Super sorry I didn’t get back to you
in June. To loop you in, I was literally hitting send on an official booking request to you,
when Justin burst into my office. He’d just come from a breakfast (Republique) where
an off-handed remark by the client surfaced the insight they don’t even know their
brand essence! How this slipped through the cracks is anyone’s guess, but of course
Justin was the one to catch it. The client fled the restaurant in apparent shame and
embarrassment. Justin was able to give chase (he ran cross country in college) and
assure them that we can fix this, but an emergency ethnography would be needed to
12
surface the core customer’s core values and behaviors. The client said they’d think
about it, and then tore off down the alleyway.
We didn’t hear from them for months, and then earlier this week, Justin’s phone rang in
the middle of the night. Guess who? Yep the client. They said they had done some
soul-searching, and realized the need for an ethnography if it wasn’t already too late.
Justin was hesitant. A lot of time HAD gone by. But the client pleaded, insisting that
they’d changed, and would even submit to a full rebrand if that’s what we
recommended.
So we’re heading to the midwest to embed with the core customer for 2 weeks, then
we’ll need a writer to synthesize our insights into positioning.
This would be a minimum 6-week booking. Writing samples are totally your call. Trevor
recommends you, and Justin trusts him with his life.
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
***
To: Carter H
Date: December 9 2017 3:31 PM
Read this several times. The most extraordinary email I have ever received.
***
13
To: Loren Schiller
From: Carter H
Date: December 9 2017 5:05 PM
Ha! I’ll take that as you’re available mid-May. I think we can have booking confirmation
before we leave for the ethnography.
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
***
To: Loren Schiller

From: Carter H
Date: November 19 2018 12:11 PM
Hey Loren,
Just wrapped up the ethnography, and we’re ready to rock. What’s your availability in
December?
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
14
***
To: Carter H
Carter! You’re back! 11 months later though. Wasn’t it supposed to be 2 weeks?
***
To: Loren Schiller

From: Carter H
Yes! Did I not let you know? OK looping you in here the ethnography surfaced some
pretty surprising insights into the core customer’s behaviors and values, and Justin
decided to embed even deeper with a small group of them, posing as a Dutch graduate
student. That’s when the insights really started pouring in. The client is awed by our
process, and it’s truly been a joy to see the glow return to their cheeks.
As far as booking you, it may be a good idea to send some writing samples. Trevor
recently recommended a designer who wasn’t the best, so Justin would prefer to look
at your work himself.
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
***
15
To: Carter H
Not to get hung up on details, but why did he choose the character of DUTCH
GRADUATE STUDENT??
To: Loren Schiller

From: Carter H
Justin lived in Holland as a child. Don’t know about the graduate student part. I think
instincts.
Actually hold off a beat on getting those writing samples together. Project may be
pushing slightly.
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
***
To: Carter H
16
I hope to meet Justin someday. And you. Even if we never work together, I’d like to
meet you both.
***
To: Loren Schiller

From: Carter H
Totally. Let’s try to get you in on this. Should know more EOD.
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
***
To: Loren Schiller

From: Carter H
Date: October 25 2019 5:33 PM
Phew! We’re almost ready to jump into writing. Just to keep you looped, as a last
pre-positioning step, Justin wants to perform a full brand colonoscopy, to get in and
take a good look around. He sees the client in the morning. Until then, they’re on a
prescribed 12-hour social media fast.
Stand by for booking update.
Carter
17
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
***
To: Carter H
My therapist advised me not to reply. But I am here.
***
To: Loren Schiller

From: Carter H
Awesome! Should have update EOD tomorrow.
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
***
To: Carter H
18
Date: November 3 2019 3:22 AM
Carter:
I never heard back from you, and honestly have been obsessing about what happened
with the full brand colonoscopy. I don’t usually send emails like this, but I have
questions that won’t go away. I told my therapist about the colonoscopy and she’d
actually love an update as well.
***
To: Loren Schiller

From: Carter Lloyd
Date: June 17 2020 9:20 AM
Hey Loren,
Sorry for the delay. Things have been psychotic here, like so slammed it’s disgusting.
But we’re grateful for it. Glad you’re so engaged in our process. And your therapist too.
Safe to assume she knows how to keep things confidential?
So yeah -- Justin did perform the procedure, and when the results came back, it turns
out our client isn’t even a FinTech brand at all. They’re Hospitality! Justin has been
performing brand scopes for years, but he’s never had to “re-sector” anyone!
The client was initially enraged by the suggestion that after 35 years, they should stop
being an online bank, and immediately pivot into opening a chain of boutique hotels.
This went on for many months, but then Justin unexpectedly broke through very late
last night!
Now it’s off on our ethnography. Should only be about 2 weeks, and then we’ll be
launching into writing!
19
(Have you ever worked with a hospitality brand? Definitely send samples. Your best
ones. Trevor is not to be trusted, and his recommendation may be a disadvantage for
you)
Carter Headmon
Associate Producer
20

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To: Loren Schiller

From: Loren Schiller

To: Loren Schiller

From: Loren Schiller

Following up about this project. Thanks.

To: Loren Schiller

From: Loren Schiller

Hey Carter. Following up. Any word on the project?

To: Loren Schiller

From: Loren Schiller

I can start 8/19.

To: Loren Schiller

From: Loren Schiller

I don’t think I like the way you’re making me feel.

To: Loren Schiller

Hm. Not sure I follow?

To: Loren Schiller

Full transparency: Justin is talking to a couple of other writer-strategists, but Trevor’s

From: Loren Schiller

To: Loren Schiller

From: Loren Schiller

I don’t even know what a proprietary process is.

To: Loren Schiller

From: Loren Schiller

Let me just say, I couldn’t be more excited to get started.

To: Loren Schiller

Amazing! Talk soon!

From: Loren Schiller

To: Loren Schiller

From: Loren Schiller

To: Loren Schiller

To: Loren Schiller

To: Loren Schiller

Carter! You’re back! 11 months later though. Wasn’t it supposed to be 2 weeks?

To: Loren Schiller

To: Loren Schiller

To: Loren Schiller

To: Loren Schiller

Stand by for booking update.

My therapist advised me not to reply. But I am here.

To: Loren Schiller

Awesome! Should have update EOD tomorrow.

To: Loren Schiller

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