Writing Archive | Oliver Ames

This Monday I had the honor and privilege to photograph the 47th New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers Conference (NEG-ECP) at Shelburne Farms. Check out a few of my favorite shots from the day. 👇

In addition to the esteemed Heads of Delegation, special guests included Kyle Clark of BETA TECHNOLOGIES, U.S. Representative Becca Balint, and U.S. Senator Peter Welch.

Energy and affordability came up in nearly every conversation we had, and it was remarkable to hear people actually discuss ideas. It was far from how I'd imagined conversations like this would go, and what I heard instead was real warmth between them, and real respect for their constituents. It's how I grew up hoping politics would work, like I'd wandered into an episode of The West Wing.

Governor Phil Scott put the day in a sentence at the press conference: "Our relationships are our most critical infrastructure."

Thanks to Amanda Wheeler for the introduction that put me in the room, and to Alex Demoly and everyone at GBIC: Greater Burlington Industrial Corporation for trusting me with the day.

I spend a lot of my free time thinking about how the brands I love in Vermont could push their digital experiences further. I can’t help it! I see a brand doing something great and I immediately start thinking about what else they could build.

I’ll give you an example.

Lawson’s Finest Liquids is one of Vermont’s most beloved craft breweries, and they’re in the middle of expanding into new markets along the East Coast. Their brand is incredible, their community impact is real, and their commitment to freshness is central to everything they do. But that story is mostly told through a traditional website. I kept thinking: what if you could experience that expansion as a journey?

So I built The Sunshine Trail, an interactive map that connects Lawson’s home in Waitsfield, Vermont to Asheville, North Carolina. 791 miles of mountain communities, outdoor adventures, and cold beer.

The map shows every Lawson’s location I could identify (breweries, retailers, bars, restaurants) alongside hiking trails, river put-ins, community partners, and DC fast chargers along a scenic road trip route through the Blue Ridge Parkway, Skyline Drive, and Vermont Route 100. Every design element pulls directly from Lawson’s brand: their colors, their fonts, their custom SVGs, even the signature wave animation from their website. It should feel like something Lawson’s built themselves.

But the details are where it gets fun. Hover over “Sunshine” in the header and god rays shoot across the page. On HDR displays, the sun pushes brightness beyond standard range. Hover over “Cold Beer” and it starts snowing, a nod to their chain of freshness promise. The Sip of Sunshine logo spins with real momentum physics, and clicking it launches emoji bursts. None of these get in the way if you’re just there for the map. That’s the whole point of them being Easter eggs.

The live impact widget projects real historical data forward, showing dollars raised and solar energy generated ticking up in real time. Community partner popups tell actual impact stories with donate buttons linking directly to each organization. An email capture modal triggers after 30 seconds on the route view, creating a natural top-of-funnel opportunity with genuine value exchange: a curated road trip itinerary.

I built the whole thing with Claude as a coding partner, tested it across 15 screen sizes, and added full accessibility support throughout. On mobile, tilting your phone creates wind that blows the snowflakes. The map expands when you tap a marker so you have room to actually read the popup. Every interaction is designed to teach you how to use the site without having to explain anything.

If you want to explore it, the site is live at thesunshinetrail.com. It's password protected, so use "linkedin" to get in. Let me know what you think in the comments! 👇

#DigitalMarketing #CraftBeer #Vermont #AI #WebDevelopment #BrandStrategy

Our October social media performance just peaked. One post. One event sponsorship. Our most shared post of the year. (Keep reading for the link!)

EastRise Credit Union sponsored Wheels for Warmth—a tire donation drive supporting heating assistance for Vermonters heading into winter. But here's what made the difference:

We didn't post "proud sponsor" graphics. We made a practical guide. "Here's exactly what you need to know before Saturday's tire sale." 🛞

The result? More shares than we've seen on any post this year. Most of the people who engaged weren't even following us yet. They found it worth passing along.

🔗 https://lnkd.in/eAjuZYbJ

Here's what we learned: People don't engage with institutions. They engage with their neighbors.

Instead of corporate speak about "community commitment," we leaned into Vermont culture—the real stuff. Halloween content with local humor. Employee spotlights featuring actual team members like Macey in our branches. Instagram Stories that performed because they felt like they came from a friend, not a financial brand.

The ROI? Our Thunder Road racing partnership with Taylor Hoar didn't just put our logo on a car—it brought her racing audience directly to our channels. That's athlete amplification working as it should.

But the real metric: heating assistance for Vermonters heading into winter.
The social media lesson?

"Vermont life meets internet culture" works because it's specific. Generic "community-focused" content dies in the feed. Content that shows you actually understand the place you're in—that gets shared.

Financial institutions have an authenticity problem. The fix isn't better branding. It's actually being part of your community and proving it through every post.

What's your take—are you seeing authentic local content outperform corporate messaging in your feeds? Let me know in the comments. 👇

#SocialMediaStrategy #CommunityBanking #VermontBusiness #ContentStrategy #CreditUnion Filene Research Institute Global Alliance for Banking on Values #Vermont #DigitalContent

This is everything I’ve published, newest first.

Blog posts

Blog posts

How I used AI to find what two service calls missed

The Sunshine Trail: A Speculative Brand Campaign for Lawson's Finest Liquids

Original public posts