NILES
a 24-hour pitch turned into a very large crocodile
Featured in:
FAST COMPANY
WALL STREET JOURNAL
MARKETING DIVE
Description: character development & campaign
Role: Concept Development & pitch, Character design, creative production
Year: 2026
it all started with 24 hours
Niles started with a missed opportunity.
After an initial direction failed to land, I saw a chance to take another swing and asked for the project back. I was given 24 hours.
With some early brainstorming support from the team, I took the lead on developing the concept, built the pitch from the ground up, and presented it the following day to Crocs leadership and international partners.
That pitch became the foundation for Niles.
the idea
The opportunity was bigger than creating a mascot. It was about creating a character that could give Crocs a new kind of personality, something playful, recognizable, and flexible enough to live across content, physical experiences, and culture.
The concept centered on building a character people could actually form a relationship with, not just a graphic that appeared in a campaign.
Crocs is built around ideas of inclusivity, innovation, and self-expression. Niles became a way to embody those values through a character who could show up with a personality of his own, creating a kind of connection that a brand alone simply can’t.
So… who is this guy
Once the idea was there, the next challenge was to give him a personality.
Niles needed to feel playful, expressive, and immediately recognizable, but still unmistakably connected to Crocs. The goal was to create a character with enough personality to stand on his own while staying flexible enough to work across content, live experiences, and physical production.
That meant thinking beyond his appearance. His proportions, expressions, posture, and overall silhouette all had to communicate who he was before he ever said a word… which he never will… kinda part of the whole gag.
From Character to Creature
Then came the challenge of making Niles real.
I played a major role in translating the character into a physical mascot, helping shape the proportions, expression, silhouette, and details that would define how he felt at full scale.
You have no idea how much goes into making a mascot costume until you’ve had to evaluate a crocodile’s crotch at least four separate times.
Turns out, designing something that has to be worn, moved in, photographed, and filmed creates a completely different set of challenges than designing something that only needs to live on a screen. Every decision suddenly has a physical consequence.
The question became less about simply asking, does this look right? and more about asking, does this still feel like Niles when he moves?
They hatch so fast…
And then Niles was real.
Seeing a character that started as a 24-hour pitch make it all the way through design, fabrication, production, and finally out into the world has easily been one of the coolest experiences of my life. Niles taught me how much can happen between an idea and the final thing people see — and how important it is to protect the personality of an idea through every stage of that process.