[Hero film: 20 second loop]

Everything you believe in was once a story.

Malek Asfeer · Creative director and filmmaker

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The money in your pocket.

The borders on a map.

The brands that became verbs.

Each one began as an idea in a single person's head.

A story told well enough that others could feel it too.

My job is telling yours that well.

I look after your brand's story so it can take root, reach everyone it's meant for, and become as common as the air we breathe.

About

I started as an artist. I still think like one.

I was on the founding teams at Charlotte's Web and AJNA BioSciences, I serve as interim VP Creative at Igniton, and I run my own studio, 35 FILM.

At Charlotte's Web, I was there before there was a brand to market. Before there was a category. I helped shape its story, its message and its look from the ground up. I was the entire marketing department until 2016, then built and led the team as the company grew from $15M to $96M and went public. 13 Clio awards later, I still start every project the same way: with the story.

See the work Get in touch

What it added up to

Stories that people felt. Numbers that moved.

750M+

Earned media impressions for Trust the Earth, Charlotte's Web

+326%

Order fulfillments year over year at Igniton

$3.1M+

Raised for AJNA BioSciences at under 1% marketing spend

Clio awards, including a Grand Clio

$15M → $96M

Annual revenue at Charlotte's Web while I built and led its creative and marketing team

C$115M

IPO in 2018, the largest in hemp industry history

The work

Selected work.

By company By campaign

Charlotte's Web

Founding team

The story →

Trust the Earth

Grand Clio 2020 · 750M+ impressions

Adweek Best Cannabis Marketing Campaign

2019

Brand films

Founding brand story

Building the team

From a department of one to a public company

Largest ecommerce business in CBD

67% of revenue from DTC in 2020

Charlotte's Web products on a retail shelf

#1 in food, drug and mass retail

Market share leader, per Nielsen

Igniton

Interim VP Creative

The story →

[Identity]

Brand identity

A new visual system

[Website]

Website

Designed and launched

[Creator content]

Creator program

Zero to 40+ creators

[System]

AI prompt library

A framework for the whole team

AJNA BioSciences

Head of Creative and Communications

The story →

[Campaign]

Retail investor campaigns

$3.1M+ raised at under 1% spend

[Deck]

Investor presentations

Supported $30M in growth funding

[Brand work]

Brand and communications

Founding team

Realm of Caring

Patient stories and advocacy

The story →

[Testimonial still]

Patient testimonials

Video stories told with care

[Advocacy]

Advocacy

Helped advance CBD legalization in 22 states

[Research]

Johns Hopkins partnership

$1M+ raised for research

Oswego Creative

Senior Producer

The story →

[Conference stage]

IBEW Annual Conference

Washington, DC, 2024

[Campaign]

National campaigns

50+ campaigns · 15% lower production costs

35 FILM

Independent studio, est. 2014

The story →

[Film still]

Documentary trilogy

God's Plant and more

[Project image]

[Client project]

[Client name]

[Project image]

[Client project]

[Client name]

Trust the Earth

Charlotte's Web · Grand Clio 2020

The story →

[Film still]

Hero film

Brand campaign

[Print]

Campaign system

[Social]

Social

Launch assets

[OOH]

Out of home

Campaign placements

Igniton relaunch

Igniton · +326% fulfillments

The story →

[Identity]

Identity

New brand system

[Website]

Website

Launch

[Creator content]

Creator content

40+ creators

Retail investor raise

AJNA BioSciences · $3.1M+

The story →

[Video still]

Investor video

Campaign film

[Graphics]

Campaign graphics

Paid and social

[Deck]

Pitch deck

Investor presentation

IBEW Annual Conference

Oswego Creative · 2024

The story →

[Stage]

Main stage

Washington, DC

[Film still]

Opening film

Conference open

[Graphics]

Event graphics

Environment and screens

Patient stories

Realm of Caring

The story →

[Testimonial still]

Testimonial films

Patients and families

[Advocacy]

Advocacy

22 states

Strengths

Most people are either creative or analytical. The work I'm proudest of needed both.

Brand storytelling and film

Campaigns and documentaries that make people feel something first. Trust the Earth won a Grand Clio, and my documentary trilogy screened at Mountainfilm.

Performance creative

Creator programs, UGC and ad variants built to be tested, so the budget goes to learning what works.

Creative systems and AI

Prompt libraries, agency workflows and an AI production stack that let a small team ship like a big one.

Leadership

Teams of 12 to 45, four agencies directed as one, and investor storytelling from the founding team up.

Claude · ChatGPT · Midjourney · Firefly · Runway · ElevenLabs · Higgsfield

How I work

Story is the seed.

Every brand begins as something small and invisible: a belief about why it should exist. Before a single ad, I look for that seed, the human truth everything else will grow from. Plant the wrong seed and no amount of spend will grow the right tree.

Systems are the roots.

Roots are the part no one sees, and the reason a tree survives the storm. Creator programs, agency workflows and production systems let a story keep drawing nourishment long after launch day.

Strategy is the trunk.

Strategy carries the story upward. It decides which branches to grow, which people to reach and which channels bear the weight. A strong trunk is why a tree grows tall instead of wide and weak.

Results are the fruit.

Fruit is the part everyone sees, and the last thing to arrive. Awareness, growth, loyalty and capital raised only ripen when the seed, the roots and the trunk beneath them are healthy. That's why I never start with the fruit.

In motion