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Portfolio

Detailed case studies from a career connecting operations, guest experience, communications, brand strategy, community engagement, and the people responsible for making the experience real.

How this portfolio is organized One page. Separate project sections. Full context.

Each section documents the challenge, Ryan’s role, strategic decisions, collaboration, measurable outcomes, and the actual media created along the way.

Case Study 01

Municipal Animal Services · Brand & Community Engagement

The Colony Animal Services

Marketing Project Manager · August 2018–November 2022

A four-year brand, communications, social-media, public-education, and reputation-management program for a small municipal shelter and its nonprofit support organization.

OrganizationThe Colony Animal Services
Supporting organizationFriends of The Colony Animal Services
Primary audiencesResidents, adopters, donors, volunteers, rescue partners
DisciplinesBrand · Social · Public Information · Reputation · Events
The Colony Animal Services campaign banner featuring the refreshed brand identity

The challenge

Build a trusted community brand around a public-service mission.

The assignment was much larger than posting adoptable animals. The shelter needed a clearer identity, stronger social habits, more useful public information, better online discoverability, consistent reputation management, and communication systems that staff, volunteers, residents, rescue partners, and donors could understand.

Ryan led brand marketing, community engagement, social-media strategy, creative development, and reputation-management initiatives for The Colony Animal Services and worked closely with the Friends of The Colony Animal Services nonprofit board.

The work connected the public-facing brand to the operational mission: helping animals be reclaimed, adopted, rehabilitated, or transferred to rescue partners while giving residents practical information they could use.

Role & scope

From identity and content strategy to public education and reputation.

The program evolved over four years. Some initiatives were launched, others were refined or paused based on available staff and volunteer capacity, and additional concepts were developed for future implementation.

01

Brand system

Helped shape a warmer, more recognizable shelter identity, including logo direction, color, tagline, social treatments, recurring creative, and event promotion.

02

Social growth strategy

Developed publishing rhythms, mobile-first content, engagement practices, platform priorities, hashtag strategy, and standards for tone, grammar, copyright, responses, and working hours.

03

Community engagement

Supported volunteer participation, rescue relationships, donor communication, nonprofit fundraising, event ideas, sponsorship concepts, and the everyday stories that invited the community into the mission.

04

Public information

Created educational materials covering weather safety, barking and ordinances, rescue resources, wildlife, animal cruelty, donation needs, adoption, and the shelter’s live-release commitment.

05

Reputation & discovery

Focused on reviews, search visibility, Google Business performance, community channels, and a more consistent digital presence across Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, and emerging tools.

06

Programs & future concepts

Developed or explored ideas for shelter events, adoption materials, donation drop boxes, children’s programming, volunteer training, newsletters, live sessions, staff advice, headshots, and community outreach.

Performance snapshot

A 28-day reporting period showed rapid growth across the funnel.

The figures below come from the project reporting supplied for this case study. They are presented as a defined reporting-period snapshot, not lifetime results.

+190%Page views28-day reporting period
+351%Page likes28-day reporting period
+468%Page followers28-day reporting period
+351%Post engagements28-day reporting period
+504%Video interactions28-day reporting period
+151%Reach28-day reporting period
54,769reach
29,967post engagements
13,930video interactions
2,660page views
369new followers

Longer-term audience development

The internal updates show growth beyond one reporting window.

4,869 → 8,200Facebook page likes

The internal update noted that the page reached 4,869 likes after the initial 2018 strategy shift and later reached 8,200.

4,787 → 8,494Facebook followers

The reporting separated followers from likes and documented continued audience growth.

898 → 1,602Instagram followers

The account was cleaned up, better organized, and incorporated into the broader content strategy.

33,807Google searches in one month

The same report documented 500 calls generated through Google search activity during the month.

Facebook insights presentation documenting audience growth
Facebook audience development
Instagram follower growth presentation
Instagram growth and cleanup
Google Business search and call performance presentation
Search visibility and calls
Weekly social media content plan
Recurring publishing discipline

Strategy was more than posting

Platform decisions reflected audience behavior and operational capacity.

The internal deck is valuable because it documents both growth and judgment. Channels were not treated equally; the strategy considered available manpower, volunteer support, response expectations, and whether the team could execute consistently.

Facebook

Primary community engine for organic audience growth, fundraising support, Messenger standards, response behavior, grammar, and working-hours expectations.

Instagram

Account cleanup, visual consistency, hashtag development, and growth from 898 to 1,602 followers in the internal update.

Snapchat

The official account was created, then intentionally placed on hold when volunteer and staffing capacity could not support reliable execution.

TikTok

Launched with an encouraging early response, followed by the need for a sustainable strategy shared by the shelter and nonprofit support team.

Twitter

The update identified a consistency gap and called for stronger cross-posting from Facebook and Instagram.

Google & Waze

Search performance was used to guide discoverability work, with Waze explored as another way to help residents find the shelter.

Recurring content system

A repeatable rhythm replaced inconsistent posting.

The weekly plan changed as the strategy matured. Recurring series gave volunteers and staff a clearer framework, helped followers know what to expect, and made the brand feel active even when the team had limited production capacity.

#MotivationalMonday#TriviaTuesday#WisdomWednesday#ThrowbackThursday#FunFriday#MansBestFriend#2CuteTuesday#FelineFriday#FieldTripFriday#BootTheScoot
Internal roadmap listing brand, policy, outreach, reputation, and content priorities

A broader operating roadmap

The internal plan also tracked branding guidelines, social policies, quarterly newsletters, virtual events, staff advice, team headshots, LinkedIn and Pinterest, community outreach, reputation management, event concepts, and the need to match ambitions with available manpower.

Identity evolution

From a functional department mark to a flexible community-facing system.

The visual work included a refreshed identity, a social banner, recurring illustrated content, and event creative that made the shelter more approachable without losing the seriousness of its public-service role.

Earlier The Colony Animal Services logo
BeforeEarlier departmental identity
Refreshed The Colony Animal Services logo
AfterRefreshed community-facing identity
The Colony Animal Services social banner
Campaign system“A small shelter with a big heart”
Mark's Corner illustrated content series
Recurring contentA recognizable educational personality
Bowling for Paws fundraising event poster
Event promotionFundraising and community participation

Public education

Useful information designed around real resident questions.

The brochures combined the shelter’s mission, city ordinances, safety information, rescue contacts, donation messaging, operating details, and the shelter’s commitment to a 97% live-release rate.

The Colony Animal Services staff, volunteers, and community partners gathered outdoors with a dog
The work depended on staff, volunteers, nonprofit partners, rescue organizations, donors, and residents.

Community & collaboration

An organic audience became a support network.

The internal social-media summary credited collaboration between The Colony Animal Services and its nonprofit support organization with building an audience that genuinely cared about the shelter. It also noted that much of the fundraising support had been generated through Facebook.

That mattered because donations supported the medical fund used for injured and sick animals. The communications work connected attention to action: adopt, foster, rescue, volunteer, donate, share, or contact the shelter with the right information.

  • Volunteer and nonprofit collaboration
  • Rescue-partner relationships
  • Fundraising and medical-fund messaging
  • Event, sponsorship, and community-program concepts
  • Resident education and service expectations

Storytelling in motion

A shelter story people could see, hear, and share.

Video helped translate the operation into an emotional and accessible story—connecting the community with the animals, staff, volunteers, facility, and mission.

Reputation created opportunity

Local credibility led to renovation coverage and a proposed national television pilot.

Local newspaper coverage of renovations at The Colony Animal Shelter
Local media

Facility improvements became a community story.

The creative package preserved coverage of shelter renovations and leadership—another example of using media to help residents understand the operation and its progress.

Archived article about filming at The Colony Animal Shelter for a proposed television pilot
National consideration

The shelter was selected for filming.

A 2019 report said producers chose The Colony after learning about its ratings, reputation, and heavy social-media presence. The proposed pilot was intended to be pitched to major networks, including Animal Planet and Discovery.

The page does not claim that the pilot became a television series. The documented achievement is that the shelter’s reputation made it one of three North Texas shelters selected for filming.

Read the archived article
“Ryan has been instrumental in the success and re-branding of our Animal Services department, as well as building a strong following for our 501(c)(3) charity organization.”

— Mark Cooper, Director of Operations, City of The Colony

Original work samples

Review the source materials behind this case study.

The story above is built from the supplied presentation, creative package, brochures, archived article, images, and video—not just a short summary card.

What this project demonstrates

A strong public-service brand makes the mission easier to understand and support.

This work shows Ryan’s ability to build a brand system, create operating discipline around social media, translate policies into useful public information, make platform decisions based on capacity, support fundraising and community engagement, and connect reputation to tangible opportunity.

The portfolio continues below with a larger, enterprise-scale transformation connecting brand strategy, Guest experience, marketing operations, project management, digital systems, and phased implementation.

Continue to Incredible Food & Fun
Case Study 02 · Flagship Transformation

Family Entertainment · Brand Strategy · Guest Experience · Operations

From Incredible Pizza to Incredible Food & Fun

Director of Marketing Operations · January–July 2025
Vice President of Brand Strategy & Guest Experience · July 2025–July 2026

Leading the strategy, Guest-experience transformation, communications, and operational rollout behind the next chapter of a 25-year family-entertainment brand.

OrganizationIncredible Food & Fun, formerly America’s Incredible Pizza Company
Project periodJanuary 2025–July 2026
Transformation scopeResearch · Positioning · Identity · Guest Experience · Digital · PR · Operations
Rollout modelFlagship-first, phased, resource-conscious implementation
Incredible Food and Fun team members celebrating with a young guest inside the Springfield location
A legacy brand, reimagined around food, attractions, celebration, and family connection.

The central challenge

Modernize the brand without erasing the memories that made it matter.

America’s Incredible Pizza Company had spent 25 years building emotional equity around birthday parties, family traditions, buffet dining, attractions, arcade games, and multigenerational memories. But the name increasingly described only one part of the experience.

Ryan helped lead a company-wide transformation into Incredible Food & Fun—a name and brand system designed to represent the full Guest journey while protecting the nostalgia, family values, and recognizable history longtime Guests already loved.

This was not a cosmetic logo project. The work connected research, positioning, naming, visual identity, Guest-experience design, website operations, public relations, social media, marketing systems, partner onboarding, community impact, and a phased rollout across active operating locations.

A 25-year legacy, rearticulated

The transformation made the complete experience easier to understand.

The strategy preserved visual and emotional cues from the original company while broadening the promise beyond pizza. Ryan led positioning, naming alignment, executive and cross-functional planning, rollout governance, communications, and the connection between brand decisions and operating reality.

Before
Former America’s Incredible Pizza Company logo

America’s Incredible Pizza Company

A beloved legacy identity strongly associated with pizza, buffet dining, and nostalgic family entertainment.

After
New Incredible Food and Fun logo

Incredible Food & Fun

A broader identity built to represent food, attractions, celebrations, storytelling, and the full family experience.

Research before rollout

The new direction was built around Guests, teams, and stakeholders—not internal assumptions.

Ryan partnered closely with Kristy Chase Tozer and the RumbleBuzz team throughout the research and strategy process. The year-long work incorporated social and email surveys, in-store feedback, social listening, leadership interviews, stakeholder conversations, and frontline team-member input.

Those insights shaped positioning, naming, messaging, Guest-experience priorities, visual direction, and implementation decisions.

Listen broadlyGuest surveys, in-store feedback, social listening, stakeholder interviews, and frontline insight.
Translate insightTurn research into clear decisions about identity, Guest promise, offers, messaging, and rollout.
Test against realityBalance Guest expectations with operational capability, budget limitations, and long-term sustainability.
Align the organizationConnect executive leadership, location teams, operations, marketing, technology, sales, vendors, and partners.

Visual identity with operational purpose

Recognizable history became a flexible system for the next era.

Ryan provided strategic direction, context, feedback, approvals, and operational considerations as RumbleBuzz and lead identity designer Charles Davis translated the strategy into a cohesive visual system. The identity had to work across signage, wayfinding, websites, social media, food service, merchandise, attractions, internal communication, and active locations transitioning at different speeds.

Logo breakdown showing the checker pattern inspired by legacy locations
Checker patternA direct link to the recognizable flooring and décor seen throughout legacy locations.
Logo breakdown showing the buffet plate foundation
Buffet plateFood remained foundational even as the brand promise expanded.
Logo breakdown showing the Infinity Bow
Infinity BowA modernized reference to pizza slices, playfulness, connection, and continuous fun.
Logo breakdown showing the Americana banner
Americana bannerRetro-diner influences helped preserve the company’s nostalgic roots.
Logo breakdown showing the script typography
Script typographyMotion, personality, and an upbeat promise of elevated fun.
Logo breakdown showing the badge silhouette
Badge architectureA stamp-of-approval form communicating trust, heritage, and establishment.
Incredible Food and Fun color palette with red, blue, gold, white, and black

The color system

Energy, trust, warmth, and celebration.

Arcade Blue, Incredible Red, and Party Gold created a bright and recognizable foundation supported by black and white applications. Governance standards protected consistency while the system expanded across markets and formats.

Rusty the Cat character developed as the Incredible Food and Fun host of fun

Character and brand-world development

Rusty became a host, storyteller, and flexible bridge into the brand.

Ryan helped guide the development of Rusty the Cat as a welcoming, slightly nostalgic, energetic, and family-friendly brand ambassador. Working with illustrator Aliaksei Zhuro, he provided structured creative direction and feedback across poses, expressions, environments, and applications.

The character system expanded beyond a single mascot image into food, birthday, attraction, seasonal, social, delivery, and storytelling contexts—creating a brand world that could grow with future friends and experiences.

  • Creative direction and character personality
  • Pose, expression, and environmental applications
  • Birthday, food, attraction, seasonal, and delivery uses
  • A scalable foundation for Rusty and Friends storytelling

The brand promise in real life

The transformation connected marketing to the complete Guest journey.

Ryan evaluated how Guests discovered, planned, purchased, arrived, navigated, celebrated, ate, played, and remembered the experience. Every public promise had to be realistic for location teams to deliver.

01

Offers and products

Daily offers, birthday packages, group products, and promotional messages were updated to better reflect contemporary Guest needs.

02

Information and wayfinding

Website journeys, in-store communications, signage, and wayfinding were treated as part of the experience—not administrative afterthoughts.

03

Operational readiness

Marketing, operations, technology, sales, vendors, and location leadership were aligned so teams understood what changed and why.

04

Sustainable implementation

The phased approach reduced waste and financial pressure while maintaining continuity as legacy and new materials temporarily coexisted.

Website, social, and brand expression

The transformation needed to live beyond the logo.

Ryan managed website operations, brand storytelling, Guest information, promotions, location content, birthdays, groups, community-impact stories, news content, social strategy, creative approvals, and cross-market execution.

Brand guide examples showing Incredible Food and Fun social media advertising
Social storytellingThe content model shifted toward authentic Guest experiences, food, attractions, family memories, and team culture.
Brand guide examples showing Incredible Food and Fun outdoor advertising
Advertising systemThe identity was designed to remain recognizable across digital, outdoor, and location-level applications.
Brand guide showing shapes, gradients, and repeating patterns
Scalable visual toolkitShapes, gradients, patterns, and logo architecture gave teams reusable tools rather than one-off designs.
Collaborative content production

Ryan partnered with Christine Morton and Morton Marketing 417 on organic social strategy and with Tiffany Enowski of TENOWSKI Branding Photography & Video on professional visual storytelling. His role centered on strategic direction, approvals, market coordination, content priorities, and brand alignment.

Project management and partner onboarding

A new digital Guest journey moved from proof of concept to multi-market rollout.

Ryan led the expansion of third-party delivery through phased testing and implementation, coordinating vendor onboarding, platform setup, menu configuration, pricing, operational planning, team readiness, troubleshooting, and market rollout.

The initiative began with a Springfield proof of concept and created a repeatable process for expanding convenience without disrupting the in-location operation.

  • Vendor and platform onboarding
  • Menu, pricing, and testing coordination
  • Operational workflows and team readiness
  • Troubleshooting and phased market implementation
Read the launch coverage
Springfield Business Journal coverage of Incredible Pizza testing third-party delivery
Springfield Business Journal documented the initial third-party delivery test in March 2025.

Fun with purpose

Brand purpose became measurable community impact.

Ryan designed and coordinated multi-market charitable campaigns connecting Guest participation, location materials, digital promotion, public relations, partner communication, and family-centered purpose.

$22,982.52Folds of Honor

Educational scholarships benefiting military and first-responder families.

$19,028Make-A-Wish

Support for children with critical illnesses and their families.

$3,822Convoy of Hope

Texas flood-relief support through participating locations.

These results represent collaborative campaigns made possible by Guests, location teams, nonprofit partners, company leadership, and community participation.

IAAPA Expo 2025

The global attractions industry became the stage for the next chapter.

The new name and identity were officially announced on November 18, 2025, during IAAPA Expo in Orlando. Ryan helped coordinate the strategic narrative, release timing, executive messaging, brand imagery, website content, social communication, partner outreach, and industry positioning.

He was listed as Vice President of Brand Strategy & Guest Experience and media contact on the official announcement.

“We listened to our Guests, we empowered our teams, and we built a brand that reflects where our company is today and where it is going.”
Official Incredible Food and Fun rebrand press release preview
The announcement framed the new identity as a measured, sustainable transformation—not an overnight flip.

Industry visibility and recognition

The transformation earned attention across family entertainment, attractions, and hospitality media.

Pizza Marketplace 2026 Top 100 Movers and Shakers recognition
Pizza Marketplace

2026 Top 100 Movers & Shakers

The company was recognized for its broader transformation, operational evolution, and focus on a modern Guest-driven entertainment model. The recognition belongs to the collaborative team behind the work.

InterGame December 2025 coverage of the Incredible Food and Fun rebrand
Attractions industry media

InterGame and InterFun

The December 2025 issue reported the new name, IAAPA reveal, phased rollout, Guest-informed strategy, and Ryan’s leadership perspective.

Open the issue excerpt
PR
National distribution

Rebrand and 25th-anniversary storytelling

Major company announcements received national press-release distribution and syndication, including placements through Yahoo Finance. The portfolio identifies these accurately as distributed releases rather than independent Yahoo editorial coverage.

Leadership across the transformation

Strategy mattered because it could be translated into action.

Ryan’s contribution centered on connecting vision to execution across active locations, multiple markets, specialized partners, and cross-functional teams.

01

Brand strategy and governance

Positioning, naming alignment, Guest promise, rollout standards, approvals, and consistency across physical and digital touchpoints.

02

Cross-functional project management

Executive alignment, operational planning, vendor coordination, technology, location needs, campaign calendars, and phased implementation.

03

Guest-experience integration

Connecting offers, birthday and group products, websites, signage, communications, delivery, and service expectations to the brand promise.

04

Communications and reputation

Press releases, executive messaging, media contact responsibilities, newsroom content, partner communication, and public storytelling.

05

Marketing operations

Campaign execution, creative approvals, paid and organic channels, website updates, budgets, reporting, and multi-market asset distribution.

06

Data, CRM, and future planning

Segmentation, database strategy, reporting, retention thinking, and loyalty-program development—presented as strategy where full public launch is not documented.

A collaborative transformation

Executive leadership without erasing the specialists and teams who made it possible.

This project should never be represented as one person’s work. Ryan led strategy, alignment, implementation, communications, Guest-experience integration, and governance while specialized partners and internal teams brought essential expertise to the transformation.

Ashley McGuireExecutive partnership, strategic planning, company alignment, Guest-experience direction, and implementation.
Rick and Cheryl BarsnessFounders and stewards of the company’s 25-year family legacy.
Kristy Chase Tozer & RumbleBuzzResearch, surveys, social listening, stakeholder interviews, insight development, and strategic brand collaboration.
Charles DavisLead identity designer responsible for translating the strategy into the visual logo system.
Aliaksei ZhuroIllustrator responsible for Rusty the Cat’s character artwork, poses, expressions, and visual applications.
Christine Morton & Morton Marketing 417Organic social-media strategy, storytelling, and audience-facing content partnership.
Tiffany Enowski & TENOWSKIPhotography and video supporting the new visual story.
Internal and location teamsExecutive leaders, general managers, operations, marketing, technology, sales, events, frontline teams, franchise partners, vendors, and community partners.
“Our goal was simple: take a beloved, legendary brand and give it new life for the next generation of families.”

— Ryan Tiffin, official Incredible Food & Fun rebrand announcement

Project source materials

Explore the visual system, official announcement, and documented media coverage.

The public portfolio uses selected materials that communicate the work without exposing confidential financial, employee, vendor, Guest, or proprietary information.

What this project demonstrates

Transformation succeeds when research, brand, operations, and people move together.

This case study demonstrates Ryan’s ability to lead a complex, multi-market initiative from strategic ambiguity through public launch and phased implementation—while protecting legacy equity, crediting collaborators, managing operational realities, and keeping the Guest experience at the center.

As additional photography and rollout documentation are added to the connected Drive folder, the visual story can continue to grow without changing the case-study architecture.

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