I design emails and handle other marketing avenues at Black Rifle Coffee Company. Writing for an audience comprised of boomers, veterans, patriots, outlaws… Common denominators include the Second Amendment, great outdoors, and giving back.

As a more hippie-type with a background in journalism, not to mention being freshly transplanted to San Antonio, Texas from Washington, DC, I wondered how I would find the monster truck voice. To explain what I’m working with, I recently wrote copy for a text message paired with an image of an armed Santa. Turns out, my creative energy narrows focus when I have some boundaries. What I lack in gun knowledge, I make up for in my bold embodiment of the brand’s voice.

Though seemingly out of my wheelhouse by sheer contrast in my lack of military experience and gun ownership, turns out writing within Black Rifle’s highly specified voice inspires some of my best work. I used to think a blank sheet of paper was what I craved most, but I have come to find out it’s much more about the strategy, and working within some kind of parameters provides a challenge for me to then solve creatively. 

To wrap up the less savory time that was 2020, we wanted to end things on a positive note. To do so, we rounded up as much data we could find on our charitable efforts in the last year. I tend to veer toward crisper layouts, likely steered by my background in magazine and menu design. This print-format led me toward an infographic-type layout for this email.