Meet Left Coast Marketing & Design

Left Coast is a pretty fun name.  What’s the origin story?

Left Coast Marketing & Design was founded back in 2008 by my wife Stacey and I, as one of the early Digital Marketing agencies in the wine industry.  As you might guess the name drew influence from our West Coast geography but also from the "SoCal vibe" that we experienced growing up in Southern California.  One of my favorite work memories in recent years was doing a one-on-one weekly meeting with our project manager Jon Strachan on the Russian River on a paddle board.  Kind of screams ‘left coast’ to me!

How did you get into the biz?

My background was technology for the wine industry with Robert Monday Winery.  I started in the IT department managing retail and reservations systems. I went on to be a Sales & Marketing Analyst when I realized the sales folks have all of the fun.  

After starting Left Coast, our first client was importing pomegranate wine from Israel (surprisingly delicious) and we helped them launch a website and manage their direct to consumer marketing business. Email and direct mail and good old-fashioned event marketing was how we built their brand without much of an advertising budget. Over the last decade we have worked with over 150 companies of all sizes and continue to expand our client portfolio across the U.S.

What are you working on now that is really fun?

We have been very busy designing and launching websites and brand campaigns as businesses push to invest in their online business. Our largest website launched this year was for a Luxury Bedding company called Bed Voyage. We recently breathed life into a 150 year old distillery brand who owns Sonoma Distilling. One of our favorite Web + Digital Marketing clients Trapper's Creek produces some of the best smoked salmon in the country and exports 75% of their production to Europeans who love their Lox! And locally we completed a website for Armida Winery which has been fun to work with as they are right in our backyard.

The Creative industry mastered the virtual team long before Covid.  Given all that Left Coast does, there must be more people on your team? 

For sure! Our website design and development focusing on e-commerce integration is headed by our partner Tony Immordino.   We have a full suite of creative services including brand/logo development, packaging design, print design and product photography, from our team that includes Sheree Kamler as Lead Designer and Stacey Chapin who leads our Photography projects.

You’ve been with CraftWork from the beginning (thanks for that!) What makes us special?

Craftwork opened at the perfect time for our company. As we spread out along the Left Coast our need for a centralized office space became less and less important.  Prior to CraftWork opening most of our team was already working remotely which we embraced as a central part of our company culture. There were days when only 1 or 2 of us were in the office.  Seeing this made the decision to move to CraftWork a no brainer!  

As a founding member, I truly appreciated having CraftWork as our company’s rock in the past year’s storm. The social events are something I always look forward to – whether formal or informal. One of my favorites was a collaboration I did with CraftWork where we hosted a beer tasting with a side-by-side of Pliny the Younger and his older brother.

Lets talk food! What’s your favorite place to eat in Healdsburg?

We are big fans of Rustic Winery at Coppola. We have been taking our kids there since they were born and still sleeping through dinner. Our kids have the best memories and my goal is to get my daughter to apply there for her first job (family discount?) With the new ownership we are hoping the family culture remains part of the fabric of the winery.

I see a lot of subtle beach and Hawaii references on your desk…are you a surfer?  Hawaii fan?

Mahalo! Yes we are big fans of the Aloha Spirit and everyone on the Left Coast team brings their own version of the Left Coast Vibe. I grew up near the beach and studied in San Sebastian Spain when I was younger. The ocean has always been a big part of my life although since moving to wine country we have equally enjoyed the vineyards, coastal redwoods, the hills, lakes and the rivers.  We are also big fans of the Hawaiian Islands and travel there just about every year with our kids and hope to retire there to someday…but not too soon!