Brook Downton is a specialist in creative digitial production. Currently working with PXP Studios within the Publicis Groupe, following an 11-year engagement developing and establishing the New York team - as VP, Platforms - at Media.Monks.

I kicked off my production experience via a handful of London’s boutique and specialist digital shops - before moving to New York - to represent and build the production office and client services arm for dutch company Media.Monks in the Americas. This endeavor moved myself and my wife to Manhattan and then subsequently to the Catskills, where we currently live and work with our two young daughters. 

My career with Media.Monks (part of Sir Martin Sorrell’s S4 Capital Group) saw me travel the United States and beyond to help establish and grow the companies award-winning and unique craft-focussed approach to all things digital. Starting back in 2012, with a single-desk office in the world’s first WeWork - I helped grow the reputation and head-count across the Americas - and around the globe. I developed my own methodologies and standards along with the company's impressive growth, and a key part of my DNA will always be most comfortable working with colleagues across timezones and disciplines to create amazing digital experiences.

In my VP, Platforms role, the team consolidated around me, establishing a close and dedicated group which focussed on the development of our product offering within the Platforms pillar. This meant we created large brand .coms, e-comm experiences and/or native applications for national and global clients.

Some examples of brands we worked with, and have re-defined key aspects of their digital presence - would be Weber, US Airforce, Starbucks, Meta, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Intuit, Sanofi, GE Digital - most recently I was involve in winning transformational partnerships with Impossible Foods and Munchkin baby products.

Constantly striving to deliver best of breed UX and design work - much of our approach was research, data or insight-based. With key elements of discovery being undertaken in order to formulate the correct approach for the brief or challenge. We did this using key methodologies, approaches and specialists, but the formula and execution was always based on identifying the need, assessing the space, and creating transformational, measurable work.

Key clients

Impossible Foods, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, General Electric, Montefiore, Bose, PayPal, Ace Hardware.

Career Highlights

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Platform re-concepting, re-design and re-build

Latest Article - How Remixing Rock Hall’s Website Struck A Chord

Webby Awards Winner 2020 - People’s Choice Award in the Cultural Institutions Category.

The RRHOF Museum is a cultural institution that represents the most prestigious and outstanding icons and legends across the Rock and Roll genres. The museum is the focal point for Rock fans of all generations and its annual induction ceremony is a glorious, raucous, televised cornerstone of the musical calendar.

RRHOF invited MediaMonks to create a unique and immersive museum experience. Bringing to life and making real the unreal stories and artifacts related to the most prolific artists, bands, producers in history of music. With an unparalleled archive of instruments, clothing, posters and ephemera - the real world museum is an incredible mecca for fans. The website is now positioned to represent this as closely as possible. Allowing potential visitors to make their decision to travel there in person - and those who can’t make it can experience something of the experience. Through deep diving down rabbit-holes of artist stories and related inductees, to exploring various routes through the museum that will hit all of their favorite artists. 

Rare and exclusive content is viewable across the site - such as never before seen (by the public) unique and beautifully edited Induction Programs for every year the awards have been held - and of course, a beautiful and intuitive planning and purchase flow to ensure visitors buy the right tickets, get the right discounts, know where to go and what to do. As well as supporting and surfacing critical information such the overall museum Mission, Events, Exhibits, Donations etc. 

We rehauled and rewrote RockHall.com to become a wwworthy home to its iconic inductees and a gateway to the museum. We redesigned the site to showcase what visitors can expect from the real hall of fame. The user experience and visual design are built around the museum’s floors, taking inspiration from the Rock Hall’s unparalleled archive of instruments, posters and other music memorabilia. The events and exhibits pages now enable visitors to plan tours around their favorite artists. Drawing upon the Rock Hall’s exclusive media, we also edited and enhanced 300+ biographies to highlight the accolades of every inductee.

“It’s been an amazing task to help take the history and the unique legacy of rock & roll music into a future-proof digital world. This transformation journey is a real sign of times for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame now opening its digital doors for fans worldwide. We’re delighted to be working on making this happen and hope this new digital Hall of Fame will bring music to even more fans.”

Brook Downton, February 2020

READ MORE - STORY BEHIND THE BUILD - Crafted with Code showcase

READ MORE - PRESS RELEASE (April 27, 2020)

READ MORE - BLOG POST (May 1, 2020)

VISIT ROCKHALL.COM SITE

Blog Post: Our Prescription for the Future of Digital Healthcare Platforms

May 2019

Due to the complexity of the healthcare industry, it can be easy for patients to feel confused or intimidated when engaging with medical organizations or touchpoints along the patient journey. In fact, a Forrester report focused on customer experience in the healthcare industry maps out ten different parties with which patients commonly interact across the healthcare ecosystem, including their primary physician, insurance company, labs, pharmacies and several more in-between.

Such effective, actionable storytelling isn’t just about creativity and production chops; it requires a backend that supports the rich media you wish to include. MediaMonks worked with Montefiore to optimize its web platform to allow for more dynamic, modular forms of content creation that can empower each department to tell their unique stories while remaining consistent with the overall Montefiore brand.

“Every department has different treatments and different stories to tell,” says Brook Downton, Executive Producer at MediaMonks. “There needs to be some consistency in the way stories are told, but enough dynamism for how different departments can stand out.” An empathetic storytelling approach is a great way to enhance a top-of-funnel medical platform that puts patients at ease while connecting them to the physician they need.

READ MORE AT THE MEDIAMONKS.COM

MMNY Minecraft build

April 2020

FROM MEDIAMONKS ON TWITTER:

MMinecraft. @brookdownton

— our first Monk to move to New York (#tbt 2012) — is missing our Little Temple in the Big Apple so much he recreated the entire office in Minecraft. Up next: voicebots for every Monk?

Beastie Boys: The House That Yauch Built

Interactive, multi-media tour of late musician’s recording studio, film production company

For Oscilloscope Labs & Red Bull Music

We honored the musical, cinematic and philanthropic work of late Beastie Boys member Adam Yauch with “The House That Yauch Built,” an interactive, multi-media tour of his recording studio and film production headquarters.

The website – which launched three days before what would have been the musician’s 54th birthday – allows fans to explore every room of the facility, including the main room, art department, distribution area, edit room, hallway, conference room, office, front office, kitchen, bathrooms, studio control room and live recording room.

This digital time capsule enshrines Oscilloscope music, film, and art memorabilia, amplifying the studio experiences, events, and celebrity stories that made them cultural icons.

READ MORE ON ROLLING STONE

VISIT 360 EXPERIENCE

General Electric: Minds & Machines

Installation visuals, Interactive exhibits, digital brand + product platforms

From 2016 onwards, MediaMonks has partnered with GE to create brand and product stories across the spectrum of digital execution. From digital installations, to .com builds, VR experiences and live event interactive. Explaining and elevating GE’s products, platforms and services through seamless and immersive storytelling that delivers clarity, fosters engagement, and provides an optimized and memorable engagement.

Here are some highlights:

FEDEX BEATBOX

For Fedex w/ BBDO NY

Turn your tracking number into a SoundTrack and see the incredible infrastructure behind your delivery. SoundTrack visualizes the steps and stats of your delivery and generates a custom piece of music based on these variables — acoustically accounting for anything from routing to weather conditions.

AWARDS & PR HIGHLIGHTS

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - View Project

Beastie Boys: The House That Yauch Built - View Project

Autism Speaks / MSSNG Project (w/ BBDO NY) - View Project

Prudential ‘Outsmart The Market’ Game (w/ Droga5) - View Project

DXM Labworks App (w/ Tribal DDB) - View Project

Google Tango: Out of box - AR/VR Experience - View Project

Rio Olympics “All of Brazil plays” campaign site + games (w/ Google Zoo) - View Project

FedEx - Soundtrack - dynamic webgl experience (w/ BBDO NY) - View Project

BOSE - Dream & Reach - exploratory content site - View Project

Pedigree - “Transformation” campaign site

GMC - Incredible Thinking - highly interactive product site (w/ DigitasLBI) - View Project

Outside of MediaMonks

Since 2019, co-founded and acts as advisor to Ritual Powders, his wife Esther’s functional mushroom supplement company.

Brook is a multi-instrumental musician and producer, both under his own name and also the production moniker Superterranea.

Most importantly, father of two incredible little future trailblazers, Wylder and Eliza.