Most of my experience-strategy work happens before a project officially exists: in the pitch, the RFP response, the open brief. A client asks for a solution; the real job is to decode what they’re actually asking for, reframe it as an experience opportunity, and make a strategy tangible enough that evaluators can believe it. This is a look at how I do that, across three engagements.
How I work at the front of the funnel
The same spine runs through every brief, whether it’s a car company or a global institution:
What lands on the desk
What I turn it into
A dense brief or RFP with mixed asks
A clear map of requirements, priorities, and hidden experience needs
A request for compliance
An experience-led proposition that differentiates
Abstract strategy language
Journeys, service moments, and principles you can point at
A vendor answering questions
A partner framing the opportunity
Decode → Reframe → Strategise → Make tangible → Pitch. That’s the loop.
Honda: Mapping the brand beyond the car
Honda is usually seen through its cars. But its portfolio spans motorcycles, automobiles, power equipment, marine, engines, and Acura. This research-led pitch reframed Honda from a vehicle manufacturer into a life-stage mobility and utility ecosystem, one that stays relevant across a customer’s whole life, not a single purchase moment.
Honda: life-stage ecosystem map (products across a customer's life)
The insight: product breadth → life-stage relevance → a long-term brand relationship.
- Kids start early: Junior Red Riders, CRF trail bikes
- Young adults commute: Civic, HR-V, hybrids
- Families grow in: CR-V, Pilot, Odyssey
- Homeowners bring Honda inside: generators, mowers, snowblowers
- Leisure extends the brand: marine, powersports
- Acura is the upgrade path: retaining customers as expectations mature
The output wasn’t a research document; it was a clearer, retellable way to explain Honda’s breadth and defend a strategic positioning direction in the room.
Enterprise & institutional RFPs
For confidential RFP responses, including an enterprise retail brand and a global institution, my role sat between experience strategy and UX: decoding requirements, identifying opportunity areas, shaping proposal themes, and making the strategy tangible through journeys, service touchpoints, and client-ready proposal narratives.
Requirement clustering → experience-led opportunity areas (recreated, sanitized)
What they asked
What we proposed
Scattered requirements across teams
Requirements clustered into user, business, and delivery themes
A compliant response
Experience-led win themes that differentiated the pitch
Strategy on slides
Journeys, principles, and touchpoints evaluators could follow
Each response moved from a requirements-led submission to an experience-led proposal, connecting client priorities, user needs, service logic, and a final narrative into one coherent story.
What this proves
Experience strategy isn’t only about shipped screens; it’s about handling ambiguity at the front of an opportunity: decoding a brief, framing the right experience problem, and making a strategic response persuasive enough to win the work in the first place.
