ACD / ART
RESORTS WORLD
Feat. Nas
In 2024, Resorts World New York City was preparing to unveil a $5.5 billion expansion plan for its Queens property, creating new jobs, investment, and a path toward a full-scale integrated casino resort. The catch: we had roughly 10 days to build the story and bring the entire public reveal to life. With Queens legend Nas, we created Queens Dreams Are Made of These, a launch campaign and film celebrating where Queens has been and where it could go next. Fast-forward to 2025: Resorts World won the bid, unlocking the next chapter of its Queens expansion.
MY ROLE:
As AD I helped shape the campaign world across film and live experience. I developed the event identity, contributed to the anthem film’s story, selected shoot locations, helped curate talent and programming, and guided designers across the rollout.
POINT OF VIEW
This couldn’t feel like a casino announcement that happened to take place in Queens.
It had to feel like a story about Queens itself. Resorts World was already part of the borough. Nas was born and raised there. And the expansion was being positioned as an investment in the community through new jobs, economic opportunity, and new possibilities for the neighborhood. So we built the creative around that shared sense of place. Rather than leading with scale, architecture, or gaming, we focused on evolution: the idea that Queens has always grown through the people, cultures, and ambition that shape it. Nas became the bridge between the borough’s history and Resorts World’s future, grounding a massive development story in something personal, local, and culturally credible.
EXECUTION
The Evolution anthem film became a love letter from Nas to Queens, using local businesses, neighborhood faces, and familiar streets to tell the story of the borough through the people who make it what it is. The film looked at where Queens has been, while pointing toward where it could go next. Queens Dreams Are Made of These brought that same story into a live launch event, extending the campaign through event branding, environmental graphics, programming, performances, and press moments designed to make the announcement feel rooted in the community. Together, the film and event turned a major development reveal into something that felt local, cultural, and unmistakably Queens.
Credits
Client: Resorts World
Role: Art Director / Designer
Agency: Mass Appeal