Sargento
Consumer Promotions
& Shopper Marketing

Banana Boat
Consumer Promotions
& Shopper Marketing

Schick Razors
Women's & Men's Portfolio
Consumer Promotions
& Shopper Marketing

Hawaiian Tropic
Consumer Promotions
& Shopper Marketing

Playtex
Consumer Promotions
& Shopper Marketing

 AirWick
Shopper Marketing

Cigna
Experiential

PNC Bank
Experiential Banking
& New Business

People
Consumer Promotions
& Shopper Marketing

Entertainment Weekly
Shopper Marketing

InStyle
Shopper Marketing

Filippo Berio
Digital

NFL
Digital - Red Zone
& On Location

GSK
Shopper Marketing

Real Simple
Shopper Marketing

[Yellow Tail] Wines
Consumer Promotions
& Shopper Marketing

Josh Wines
Consumer Promotions
& Shopper Marketing

Layer Cake Wines
Consumer Promotions
& Shopper Marketing

Bacardi USA
Consumer Promotions
& Shopper Marketing

Finish
Shopper Marketing

CA
Digital

Consumer Reports
Digital

Amopé
Shopper Marketing

Mucinex
Shopper Marketing

Balmex
Brand

Lysol
Shopper Marketing

K-Y
Shopper Marketing

Coppertone
Shopper Marketing

Institute of
Culinary Education
Digital

Seagram’s Escapes
Experiential, Social & Consumer Promotions

L. Berger - BM
“Always delivers on, if not exceeds, expectations.” 

experience

MARKETING & Creative Director

MARKETING & CREATIVE CONSULTANT  | 2022 - Current

Marketing and creative contractor for emerging businesses and non-profits across the US.

• Developed and executed integrated marketing and brand strategies that strengthened audience engagement, increased brand visibility, and supported revenue growth through digital, social, experiential, and live-event marketing initiatives.

• Led 360° marketing, branding, and experiential campaigns for global brands and emerging organizations, overseeing every phase from strategic planning and business development through creative execution, production, and post-campaign analysis.

• Directed multidisciplinary creative teams while managing agency partners, vendors, and client stakeholders across branding, content strategy, digital marketing, social media, experiential activations, advertising, and production, ensuring projects aligned with organizational priorities, budgets, and timelines.

• Built and cultivated strategic relationships with executives, sponsors, agency partners, vendors, and clients to deliver innovative marketing solutions, maximize partnership value, and create memorable customer experiences that strengthened long-term brand loyalty.

• Drove marketing performance by leveraging consumer insights, campaign analytics, and evolving KPIs to refine strategy, optimize audience engagement, and continuously improve marketing effectiveness across multiple channels and customer touchpoints.

Co-founder/Executive Creative Director

MINIBOOM  | 2020 - 2022

The creative lead of a small agency with big ideas built on passion & purpose.

• Ground-up development of the agency's vision, branding, strategy, creativity, and processes.

• Ability to translate strategies and creative ideas into actionable projects for all clients, new business, and internal agency efforts.

• Collaborative partnership development of processes to ensure best-in-class execution across disciplines.

• Hands-on development of mood boards, campaign look and feel, and effectively translating the concepts for execution by videographers, photographers, developers, and freelance teams.

• Effectively setting long and short-term internal (agency) and external (client) timelines to achieve strategic, creative, and financial objectives.

• 360° development of creative strategy, branding, marketing, and experiential activations for various clients

• Manage creatives, vendors, and clients across a wide variety of integrated projects, including strategy, branding, concept, design, social, digital, OOH, content development, experiential, and production.

• Develop and maintain relationships with agencies, vendors, and customers.

• Ability to brainstorm and pivot creative experiences to meet KPIs.

• Creative lifecycle management of all visual experiences­—from new business pitch ideation through day-after event thank you collateral. Every touchpoint is curated throughout the process, including deck designs, promotions, collateral, digital, social content, experiences, in-person engagements, and follow-up interactions.

creative director

Eventive Marketing/Integer/TBWA  | 2019 - 2020

World Builder. Story Teller. Thread Weaver. Chess Player.

Creative leader of an award-winning boutique experiential agency in NYC.

• Development of agency creative vision and process.

• Leader of amazing talent - Love to excite excitable minds.

• Strategic conception and implementation - Smart, contextual, conceptual creative. Period.

• Integrated marketing & ideation - Complete 360° campaign ideation and implementation through IAT nirvana.

• KPI/Science Nerd - Metrics matter. Numerical and scientific proof that amazing concepts and creativity move the needle. SCIENCE!

• Accountability - The work and team are on brand, on brief, but beyond brilliant. That's the job to be done. Always.

• Growth of the gander - An agency is only as strong as its weakest member. Education, Training, Inspiration, and Development of a creative team is the single most important aspect of being a creative director.

• Adobe Creative Suite savant, PPT/Keynote guru, and Excel masta.

• Empathetic with a firm understanding of emotional intelligence in a leadership role.

Associate creative director

Integrated Marketing Services  | 2009 - 2019

• Deliver insight-led, strategy-based ideas and creatively bring them from ideation to fruition.

• Led creative teams in developing national campaigns for top-tier CPG clients.

• A strong understanding of the client’s business, objectives, competitors, and the latest trends in the industry.

• Present to and work closely with clients, contribute to IATs, and collaborate with all parties to deliver exceptional programs.

• Concept innovative solutions for digital (UX, UI), print, in-store, video, experiential, and social media platforms.

• Direct vendors, production, VO talent, studio, photographers, and videographers to bring creativity to life.

• Development of lookbooks, decks, storyboards, and mood boards
  (overall look and feel of campaign, program, etc...).

• Work closely with brand identity, typography, photography, and creative visual solutions that meet business and user needs.

• As a mentor, I help bring passion and inspiration to my creative and internal teams on a daily basis.

Art director

G-Funk Sports Marketing & The Voice Advertising | 2007 - 2009

• Ideate creative concepts and execute for sports entertainment, IT, and consumer brand accounts.

• Conceive and create experience-oriented design solutions that fulfill strategic business objectives.

• Communicate and present concepts and design rationale/specifics of innovative design strategies.

• Develop storyboards and video assets for internal client use.

Art director

Freelance | 2007 - 2007

• Worked with several agencies and in-house design departments in interactive design, print, display, and nontraditional media.

education

Master'S | Business- Communication/Art Direction

VCU Brandcenter | 2005 - 2007
An innovative, real-world approach to advertising education. An influential nucleus that brings new ideas to the world of brands, businesses, causes, and communities.

• NO. 1 GRADUATE ADVERTISING PROGRAM IN THE U.S.
  - Creative Magazine

• TOP 5 DIGITAL MEDIA AND MARKETING SCHOOL
  - Ad Age

• O'TOOLE AWARD FOR BEST PORTFOLIO SCHOOL
  - American Association for Advertising Agencies

B.A. MASS Communication / PR
MINOR - Multimedia studies

University of West Florida | 2002 - 2005

• Graduated top of class

• Alpha Beta Gamma (Advertising)

Business AssociateS

Pensacola State University | 1999 - 2002

CONTINUING EDUCATION

NYC Parsons School of Design - New School | 2018

• UX/UI Design - Certificate Program

contact

850.291.8385
steph@stephgrimmel.com

New York, NY