History

Hank Hosfield

Senior Brand Writer & Experiential Brand Strategist | Portland, OR

503.347.2401m | hankh@imagina.com | linkedin.com

hankhosfield.com

Expertise: 
 

Sports Marketing

I cut my teeth writing athletic brand stories for a world of Nike projects. In the quarter century since my first Nike ad, I’ve worked with every major sport and virtually every aspect of sports marketing, from colleges to integrated sponsorship sports branding experiences with NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB teams.
 

Branding

This is the hard work that informs and inspires every brand’s greeting to the world. It begins with understanding the interplay between who a company wishes to be, its promise, and its evolving relationship with its market across every touch point. I’ve helped lead many through this brand discovery process.
 

Experiential Brand Journey

In the late 1990s when I was working on the storytelling for the creation of NikeTowns, we never even heard the term, experiential branding, but that’s what we were doing. Since then, I’ve been involved in a lot of it—especially in my years of work with Downstream to help concept and construct the thematic drivers for built environments as diverse and layered as the user experience in a football stadium, to the customer journey through an executive briefing center integrating deep interactive platforms.
 

Skills:

Work History:

Sr. Writer|Creative Strategist - Downstream, Portland, OR
June 2012 – November 2015

Supported both sports and technology business sectors, driving the storytelling across interactive platforms and visitor experience for a diverse mix of domestic and global brands, including Boeing, IBM, Verizon, Nike, adidas, Swisscom, Telstra, Johnson Controls, Juniper, Minnesota Vikings, Sacramento Kings, Fresno State Bulldogs, Oregon Ducks, Washington Huskies, San Diego State Aztecs, Colorado Buffaloes, NetApp, WSU Cougars, Milwaukie Bucks, Chicago Cubs, Edmonton Oilers, Ottawa RedBlacks, Mondelez and more.
 

Freelance Brand Writer
June 1999 – June 2012

Downstream, Portland, OR
Began project work with Downstream in 2009. Developed concepts and thematic drivers to shape the user experience for sports venues, including the University of Oregon’s Matthew Knight Arena, the University of Washington’s Husky Stadium and Football Ops, PGE Park, Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum, and University of Arizona Basketball Ops at McKale Memorial Center.

Nike, Inc., Beaverton, OR
Hundreds of projects with virtually every department, including Retail, Corporate, Department of Nike Archives (DNA), Direct to Consumer (DTC), Brand Design, Global, Apparel, Nike Better World and Nike.com.

Actual Industries, Portland, OR
Multiple video projects for Nike.

Hybrid Design, San Francisco, CA
Multiple Nike projects, Apple, VitaQ, Glovology.

72andSunny, El Segundo, CA
Portland Trail Blazers, Bacardi, Mansion Poker

Remedy Design, Vancouver, WA
Online and brand work for Intel, Sunriver Vacations, LifeForce and Rose City Awning & Flag.

Razorfish, Portland, OR
Online advertising and brand experience projects for Coors, Expedia, Microsoft, FEI, and Killian’s Irish Red.

Opus Design, Portland, OR
Multiple Nike projects.

Nemo Design, Portland, OR
Multiple Nike projects.

TaylorMade Golf, Carlsbad, CA
Worked with them for two years as their brand writer on numerous projects, including point of sale, catalogs and website relaunch.

Balthaser Studios, San Francisco, CA
Originally brought onboard to create the Pixelon experience for their multimedia web launch, then worked on the Balthaser Online’s groundbreaking Flash website builder. Balthaser was Macromedia’s darling and were the leading edge of Flash design. It was a great learning experience to be part of that.

Writer/Partner - AdFu, Portland, OR 
June 1999 – June 2000

Teamed with AD Greg Nelsen as freelance creative team. Did work mostly with Sena Reider in San Francisco. 

Sr. Writer - Grady Britton Advertising, Portland, OR
January 1999 – June 1999

Hired as senior creative team by Lloyd Wolfe. Worked primarily on Freightliner, Labtec, Kaiser and numerous pitches.

Sr. Writer (contractor) - Nike Retail, Beaverton, OR
January 1997 – December 1998

Developed concepts and stories for new NikeTowns in the U.S. and abroad.

Copywriter (contractor) - Nike Image Design, Beaverton, OR
February 1996 – August 1996

Worked on the launch of Nike.com, plus Atlanta Olympics, and lot of athlete displays for retail.

Freelance Writer - Words by Hank, Portland, OR
January 1991 – February 1996

Pihas, Schmidt, Westerdahl
Borders, Perrin & Norrander
Wieden + Kennedy
 

Copywriter - JK Advertising, Portland, OR
June 1988- December 1990

Handled all 53 Red Lion Hotel properties, plus trade show accounts with To-Ro (now O’Loughlin Trade Shows), Mount Hood Meadows, Clackamas County Chambers and Memorial Coliseum.
 

Copywriter - Berg|Shavere & Associates, Portland, OR
May 1987- May 1988

My first job in advertising in start-up agency. About 70% of our work was broadcast, primarily radio. First teamed with John Boiler and Roger Bentley.
 

Education:

Bachelor of Science in Speech: Telecommunication & Film, March of 1985
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR    

Other Interests:

Avid fly angler and fly tyer; road cyclist; guitar player; dog person; conservationist and former Tualatin Valley Chapter President of Trout Unlimited; college and Olympic sports; former champion wrestler and New Zealand Olympic Wrestling Union Coach; founder of ZeroQuit brand and Better by Millions project.

References:

John Boiler
Founder of 72andSunny
Years known: 30

Cory Hansen
Sr. Creative Director at Nike
Years known: 29

Sean O’Connor
Executive Creative Director for Downstream
Years known: 19