33%
Revenue
100%
Click Through Rate
6AM City is a hyper-local media company that designs, launches, and monetizes community newsletters across 26+ U.S. cities. Their mission is building "Pride in Place," celebrating local communities with positive, neighbor-to-neighbor storytelling. More about 6AM.
Roles: Brand Design, Brand Strategy, Advertising, Motion Design, Graphic Design
During my four years at 6AM, I led advertising creative across 30+ markets and had a measurable impact on both the brand and the business. I pushed the visual language toward more personality through gradients, texture, type scale, and animation until it became the new standard. I worked with hundreds of clients, from local mom-and-pop shops to major brands like Home Chef, producing thousands of designs and driving a 33% increase in ad revenue and a 100% increase in click-through rates throughout my tenure.
Culture
When I was asked to create a training tutorial, I saw an opportunity to make something that went beyond the brief. Not just a resource for editors to reference, but something the company could actually look forward to. I wrote, shot, produced, starred in, and edited the video myself. The response was so positive that we had plans for an entire series, complete with its own lore.
6AM Ad Library
The sales team regularly needed ad examples to share with prospective clients by industry. The problem was our files were organized by client, not industry, which meant every request pulled us out of production to dig through folders. I designed and built the 6AM Ad Library, an internal search tool that tags designs by industry, format, and other characteristics so the sales team could find what they needed without interrupting the design team. Built with Node.js, MongoDB, and Express.
Light Version
Header Ads
The Header is the premier ad placement featured at the top of every newsletter. I elevated our advertising by creating more engaging designs tailored to each client's goals. Higher engagement led to more requests for premium placements, which made the newsletter easier to sell and ultimately generated more ad revenue.
Giveaway Ads
Local markets partnered with businesses to create promotional giveaways, which were advertised through newsletters, social media, and the 6AM market websites. The ads I designed achieved high click-through rates, particularly from social media and newsletter placements.
E-Commerce Emails
For a time, 6AM operated a sub-brand called Six and Main, an online shop that leveraged the 6AM audience to showcase featured local businesses. Each week, I designed custom newsletters highlighting different businesses and their exclusive deals.
