HELLO, I’m David.
I’m a Creative Director, Brand Strategist, and Conductor. I help global companies visually and verbally translate their distinct brand personalities onto products and stories that meet strategic goals. Goals like sell-thru, value creation, and connecting with people in whatever Verse they inhabit.

I’m also a hiker, history nerd, sometimes gamer, sports fan, and co-founder of the former FRANK CREATIVE. We focused on active lifestyle brands rooted in performance, purpose, and when possible, beer. We were a brand house, design studio, and executive consultancy of strategists, storytellers, content creators, and product marketers.

One client described our work as brand wallpaper that sets the tone for the entire house. I prefer the rug that ties the room together.

It’s a process that considers a brand's entire communication rhythm and tone in the marketplace. We layer together appeals to reason and emotion like a beat and melody. Tactics that determine tempo and where timing is everything. It's about laying down a master track that can be revised, edited, and improvised along the way.

This is because active lifestyle brands are unique. An authentic fusion of performance, style and fashion, and beacon of values and purpose. This requires a balance between emotive storytelling and commercial sales pitching. By organically moving between these states, we are able to resonate with our core audience while also attracting a wider, more diverse group of people. Brands that may not be for everyone, but are open to anyone.

None of this gets done without building talented, inclusive teams that punch above their weight. I dig mentoring these creative people to problem solve, collaborate, and create with courage. There’s a power and soul to the work that comes from this process. People feel it. Stakeholders. Customers. Even your relatives.

It generates desire, increases demand, and lifts a core culture. A predictable and repeatable process that stands up, stands out, and rocks the market. By which I mean sell more products and become more popular. This is why the creative director in me loves what I do. And the sports fan? Well, that’s easy: Go Team!

Thanks for checking out the site.

You can reach me at davidkarstad@gmail.com CV available upon request.