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Contact Me | Resume (PDF) |
The Creative Finder | KROP | Behance/AIGA | Creative Hotlist
Escalating retail product rankings, cultivating new business alliances, and broadening visibility for clients and products through a skillful mix of brand management, comprehensive marketing, and public relations skills are all examples of my contributions to the growth of previous employers. As a highly analytical executive leader excelling in creative and administrative functions encompassing project management, interactive website design, product development/placement, budgeting, and personnel management, I am confident that I can generate superior results for your company as the Creative & Marketing Lead.
- Inventive creative strategist versed in originating
and executing profitable corporate and product branding, entertainment
marketing designs, and comprehensive marketing campaigns across multiple
industries.
- Exceptional public relations and marketing skills used
to capture national exposure through traditional and non-traditional venues
like Public Radio, Cable and Web 2.0.
- Published writer experienced in interactive media,
website design, public speaking, media appearances, and environmental
collateral (signage and wayfinding).
- Mentor thriving on maximizing the talents of personnel
to yield high-caliber results competitive with larger, more well-financed
rivals.
- Skilled project manager excelling in estimating, and
budget, client relations, and vendor management.
Creative Services · Public Relations · Strategic
Planning · Product Development • Market Research · Competitive Analysis,
Market Intelligence · Campaign Management •
Project Management · Revenue Growth · Staff Management,
Motivation · Client Relations · Vendor Management
Gaiam, Inc. | NY and LA 2008-Present
Sustainable health and lifestyle company with diverse line of products including the largest independent home entertainment library with distribution to all retail markets.
Art Director
Recruited to create eye-catching key art, advertising, POP and marketing materials for the newly acquired line of products by Discovery Communications. Creating successful campaigns for their full line of content airing on all their networks — Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Science Channel, Military Channel and Planet Green. Successfully positioned the titles into all levels of retail using specialty packaging, displays and retail plan-o-grams. Also developed highly visible and successful packaging for GT Media's catalog titles resulting in high profitability with mass market retailers.
Product Development/Launch:
- Worked hand-in-hand with the marketing teams on the launch of over 80 new and existing product lines
for placement in Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Costco and a host of other large and small retail chains.
Branding/Marketing Achievements:
- Created and reintroduced numerous brand lines — such as Dirty Jobs, Man Vs Wild and MythBusters — successfully from product development to creative to manufacturing for Gaiam and Discovery Networks.
Allumination FilmWorks LLC | Woodland Hills, CA 2004-2008
Independent Home Entertainment DVD distributor of non-theatrical and theatrical content through all major distribution and retail channels.
Director of Marketing &
Creative Services
Revitalized DVD sales by steadfastly championing the use of such marketing strategies as the use of online sales, focusing on profitable target markets, and cost-effective product repackaging to senior leaders and staff. Motivated and led a 5-person team comprised of a highly skilled Creative Manager, Marketing Manager and 3 Graphic Designers (2 worked remotely in South Carolina). Mapped and advanced the creative process from initial conceptualizations to final execution for key art, trailer production, DVD packaging, screener artwork, copywriting, sales promotions, point of purchase displays, and consumer/retail advertising. Crafted individual project budgets and schedules for each DVD title, skillfully collaborating with all internal departments to drive accurate, efficient project completion. Performed hands-on design work. Infused market briefs with market research, competitive analysis, competitive market intelligence to facilitate product positioning and revive marketplace offerings. Handled department staff recruitment, termination, promotions, reviews, and salary adjustments as a direct report to the company EO and Chairman. Assigned and managed work to contractors, including design
studios, freelance artists, copywriters, and printers.
Branding/Marketing Achievements:
- Originated numerous home entertainment brand lines successfully from product development to marketing and manufacturing for such film production companies as Slamdance and Moonstone Entertainment.
- Created single product lines for Sports/Fitness or TV outlets such as Discovery Kid's Hip Hop Harry and CBS' Judge Judy.
- Outpaced competitor's campaigns for theatrical, home entertainment, and global releases from initial ideas to marketplace implementation.
- Directed product positioning, packaging development, marketing collateral creation, global sales information, key art, posters, and one-sheets.
- Cemented recognition of the company's new nameindustry-wide after sparking the positioning, launch, and execution of a new corporate identity.
- Produced ad campaigns, direct mail, and movie trailers. Designed POP displays for use at Target, Wal-Mart and other major retailers.
Product Development/Launch:
- Spurred the launch of 100 new products,
ultimately hiking rankings with Wal-Mart to the highest ever for 2008 fourth
quarter sales. Placed products in companies like Best Buy, Netflix,
Blockbuster, and Redbox.
- Revamped website to include an online
store for direct customer sales. Promoted products, including the horror and
art house genres, through well-crafted online ad campaigns.
- Secured new sales prices points by generating
various catalogs and slates to extend lifecycles through all windows of
release.
- Capitalized on unique opportunities by repackaging and
marketing titles, such as an unknown actor achieving widespread fame after a
product’s initial release.
- Attracted numerous new third-party distribution
companies after redesigning and placing new and existing DVD products at
Wal-Mart.
Operational/Financial Achievements:
- Introduced a new archiving and asset management system for a relatively small investment.
- Escalated productivity two-fold within the Creative Services Department while slashing expenditures in half through reorganization and small but powerful computer upgrades.
- Refined product package using inexpensive, simple solutions such as using O-rings to wrap boxes, attaching stickers, foil printing, or holographic papers, and redoing key art.
Gregory Thomas Associates (aka GTA) | Santa Monica, CA 1997-2004
A boutique design firm specializing in branding, marketing and advertising design.
Senior Design Director
Transformed the company from a small family-owned
operation into a highly professional entity recognized as a key industry
player. Innovated identity designs, graphics guidelines, style guides, user
interface designs, packaging designs, copywriting, brand positioning, renaming,
and product launches for major clients in the food and beverage, travel,
education, healthcare, and Internet industries. Extensive client base included
companies such as Kahlúa, Baskin-Robbins, Tia Maria, Qantas Vacations, Austrian
National Tourist Office, UCLA, USC, Cal Arts, Accent Care and Edmunds.com.
Heightened company's overall professionalism by securing viable,
attorney-approved client contracts. Orchestrated art direction, presentations,
public relations, traffic management, new business development, and client and
vendor relations. Performed budgeting, estimating, scheduling, billing, and
purchase order functions using the Clients & Profits systems. Supervised 2
full-time staff and 1-3 freelance designers as dictated by business needs.
Accomplishments:
- Showcased the company's 15-year history by designing and managing its website, expanding its presence industry-wide and drawing more affluent clients.
- Used client managment skills to salvage a key client relationship despite uncovering unpaid bills for projects done previous to joining the firm to refute the customer's claim that GTA owed it money resulting in a net profit from that client billing.
- Decreased outstanding account payables by implementing new billing practices such as 10%-20% agency fee on print jobs.
- Publicized company services and sparked PR buzz by booking the company's principal on National Public Radio as a branding and marketing design expert. Other appearances included The Larry Mantle Show and the Food Network's Memorabilia Unwrapped.
- Created style guides for Kahlua and Baskin-Robbins products, both of which won Summit International Awards. Gained subsequent media exposure in Step-By-Step Graphics and other major design publications and books.
- Drew talented graduates from top universities, yielding high-caliber work for a fraction of the rates demanded by more experienced designers.
Additional work history includes work as a Freelancer performing such tasks as Art Direction/Design from concept to completion, client/vendor relations, budgeting, and AR/AP for clients encompassing Gaiam, Inc., Ardustry Home Entertainment, Peripheral Resources, Inc., Mustang Marketing, Fledgling Productions, The Lillian Theatres, Wayne Enterprises and Perception DVD. Full details upon request.
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design
California State University, Northridge, California
Web Design, Otis College Of Art And Design
Los Angeles, California
- How to Design Logos, Symbols and Icons (Ed. 1-3)
by Gregory Thomas
(Cover & Book Design, Work Featured)
- Best of Brochure Design 6
by Cheryl Cullen
(Work Featured)
- Color Graphics: The Power of Color in Graphic Design
by Karen Triedman and Cheryl Cullen
(Work Featured)
- Information Graphics & Visual Clues
by Ronnie Lipton
(Work Featured)
- Food Network's Memorabilia Unwrapped (Aired 2003-2004)
- Guest Lecturer, USC School of Fine Arts and the Annenberg School For Communication
- American Institute of Graphic Arts
(Member AIGA/LA)
- Design Management Institute
(Member)
- Graphic Arts Guild
(Member)
- Freelancers Union
(Member)
- John Wayne Cancer Foundation
(Benefactor)
- John Wayne Cancer Institute
(Benefactor)
- Team Duke (LV Marathon 2005, OC Marathon 2009)
(Member/Athlete)
- Leukemia Lymphoma Society
(Fundraiser)
- Team In Training (Honolulu Marathon 2003, SD Marathon 2004, Anchorage Marathon 2004)
(Member/Athlete)
- MAC/WIN OS
- Adobe Creative Suite 6
- Adobe Creative Cloud
- Adobe Muse
- Adobe Edge Preview
- QuarkXpress 9
- Intermediate to advanced level of knowledge of the processes & programming behind HTML, CSS, Flash, Wordpress and Javascript
- Microsoft Office 2011 Suite
- Clients & Profits
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