Panda Express
During my time at The Many, I’ve lead creative for Panda Express. Beginning as an ACD and rising to sole Creative Director on the account, I’ve managed creatives and designers to launch national campaigns for six different limited-time dishes which often included: concepting, writing and producing TVC; creating Mandarin covers of popular songs; directing food photography shoots and design for digital, in-store and out of home advertising; concepting, creating and sometimes starring in Meta and TikTok content; and developing content in partnership with celebrities and content creators.
Over the course of my three years on the brand, we created their highest performing campaigns, leading to 93% brand awareness. Panda Express also moved up to the 14th largest US QSR by sales in 2023 and saw sales rise by $800 million between 2022 and 2023.
Hot Ones™ Blazing Bourbon Chicken
In 2024, Panda Express partnered with First We Feast’s “Hot Ones” to launch their spiciest dish yet.
As Creative Director, I managed a small team to concept and produce a fiery campaign that celebrated both brands and illustrated the flavor and craft of the new dish in a visually arresting way.
Firecracker Shrimp
For the return of this fan-favorite dish, we needed a campaign to match the explosive fervor (and flavor) brought on by Firecracker Shrimp.
This TVC was our most ambitious to date and saw us shooting against a giant blue screen, suspending talent from wires, overseeing an extensive VFX team and creating a Mandarin cover of a classic CharlieXCX track.
Sizzling Shrimp
Building on the success of previous campaigns, I creatively co-led my team to launch Panda Express’s newest dish.
For the first time, our TVC not only celebrated the ingredients, flavors and cooking expertise found in Panda’s kitchens, but also used CGI and playful camerawork to to bring to life the experience our guests have when experiencing the dish.
Our national TVC earned iSpot’s Breakthrough Award and (along with the additional social, creator partnerships, food photography, OOH and in-store point of sale we created) led to the dish exceeding sales goals and the brand experiencing its most successful campaign to date.
“SizzLing Streaks” Promotion and Influencer Partnership
To further promote the new dish and grab the attention of a younger audience on social, we created an unofficial Final Four promotion giving away free Sizzling Shrimp every time a team went on a 10-point “Sizzling Streak” in the tournament.
Along with a vendor, we developed a digital tool to follow every game and trigger social posts every time the 10-point streak hit.
To build hype around the promotion, we collaborated with famous basketball influencers and NCAA players to create content directing fans to watch for the chance to win. (I even personally shot content for former Harlem Globetrotter and NCAA women’s player, Crissa Jackson!)
Beyond™ the Original Orange Chicken™
In 2022, Panda Express partnered with Beyond® to create a plant-based version of its iconic Orange Chicken.
As one of the creative leads on the account, I co-managed a team of creatives and designers to concept and produce a full 360 campaign including national TVC, social, digital, product photography, OOH and in-store point of sale design.
The campaign led to a 3.2% lift in sales and, to this day, fans still comment with demands for the dish’s return on every piece of content Panda posts on social.
Wok-Fired Shrimp
To celebrate the return of a fan-favorite dish, we partnered with actor, comedian and Panda super fan, Jimmy O. Yang, to create a special episode of his YouTube series, “Jimmy’s Kitchen.”
In sharing our recipe with his audience, we generated tons of engagement and were able to slice and dice the footage into bespoke social content on Panda’s owned channels.