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New Product Development Manager/Creative Director

Engineering & Production

Extensive experience in new product development, licensed product creation, art and design direction, people management and strategic planning in publishing, toy, giftware, and social expressions markets. Outstanding skills in leadership, team building, creative problem-solving and communications.

Specialties: 
• Creative department formation, management, training and development.
• Wide ranging licensing experience with properties like Disney, Coca-Cola, Warner Bros., Nickelodeon, Sesame Workshop, United Media, American Greetings.
• Excellent communication/relationships with all of the above.
• Experience in a wide range of 3-D substrates including injection molded plastics, poly-resins, die-cast metals, ceramics.
• Overseas experience working with Asian factories in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

Build and lead the product development department for the new owner of a Coastal Lifestyle giftware wholesaler with the goal of expanding upon the 70+ year history of success by launching new markets.
• Started new Home Décor division to produce high-end products with significantly higher retails of $50 to $400.
• Awarded additional management/leadership of the core giftware/souvenir division (1500 SKU’s) along with 
the building of the home décor business.
• Developed over 650 new SKU’s of giftware products and 200 SKU’s of home décor products in 5 months.
• Frequent travel to Asia (Hong Kong, China, Philippines, Indonesia) to source new vendors and develop 
original product concepts.


Head the product development department for a leading promotional consumer products company that develops, manufactures and distributes imprintable goods to the education (pre-school through college), health and wellness, nursing, safety, recognition and customer service markets. 
• Concept and develop all new products for company including office tools and desk accessories, flash drives, photo frames, key chains, lapel pins, mugs and tumblers, silk-screened and embroidered apparel and textile products, plush learning toys, books, greeting cards, posters, stationery sets, calendars, planners, bookmarks, and stickers.
• Create over 1,500 new SKU’s per year for this $100M+ privately held company.
• Responsible for the development and design of all packaging.
• Partner with Sourcing department for the transmission/review/approval of all products from initial concepts to 	production samples from domestic and Asian manufacturers.
• Lead a team of 8 in-house art directors, designers, editors

Creative Director

Hired by world-class companies, including Hasbro Toys, American Greetings, Somerset Entertainment, 
and Positive Promotions to supply creative consulting services, including:
• Product development
• Packaging and merchandising innovations
• Proprietary technology application and design 
Recruited by Designware, a $160M partyware consumer products division of American Greetings to: 
• Develop coordinated packaging ensembles for all primary licenses.
• Evaluate and update 1000+ packaging designs and revise for full CPSC/ASTM 4040 compliance. Achieved 
	100% compliance for all packaging safety testing within 3 months of instituting new processes and 
	procedures to assure the latest standards were met. Designed 400+ packaging SKU’s/year.

Creative Consulting

Led the new Learning Horizons in all aspects of traditional and digital creative development:
• Played a critical role in the sale of Learning Horizons by American Greetings to Evolution Partners, achieving 
	100% transfer of all licensing Agreements (Nickelodeon, Sesame Street, LeapFrog) and retaining entire creative 
	team and freelance resources. The staff consisted of an editorial manager, assistant art director and 3 designers. 
	Relationships with all independent design and editorial talent (40+ regular developers) were maintained as well.
• Achieved a 60% reduction in the development budget by sourcing and contracting new Indian graphic design studios.
• Successfully interpreted experiential learning trend to create dynamic new product and packaging formats 
	and updated educational teaching approach for existing product lines.
• Established an Educational Excellence Review Board comprised of a half dozen doctorate level 
	education professionals to review and endorse current and new product lines.

Director, New Product Development - Learning Horizons /American Greetings, Inc. (5/04 – 3/07)

Awarded responsibility for whole department management of cross-functional creative team and strategically restructured team and freelance talent pool to support and streamline the creative process.
• Increased product development volume by over 180% yielding 35% increase in revenue ($5M+).
• Played a leading role in securing LeapFrog license for 2006 and led team to deliver original content, formats, and
	packaging for LF product in less than 3 months time to meet 2006 BTS (Back-To-School) product demand.
• Developed an integrated 12 foot planogram of branded merchandise featuring the top 3 educational 
	properties in the country alongside Learning Horizon's proprietary brands.
• Spearheaded expansion into children’s book plan-o-grams with unique quality formats which yielded 
	incremental sales of $3M+.
• Anticipating demand for Spanish language product, initiated bilingual program with top educational licensed
	properties and created over 1,000 pages and corresponding digital audio product within 4 months to meet 
	2006 Back-To-School product demand. This yielded $2M+ in additional sales.
• Achieved a $500,000 cost savings by partnering with Global Sourcing department to develop new vendors.
• Product lines consistently won prestigious awards for excellence in educational product, with over 
	30 awards in 2006-2007. 
• Awarded patent #7080982 for novel flashcard format.

Additional: Product Development Leader - $160M Celebrate It! Group “Own the Occasion” Team 
(Designware partyware division of American Greetings)

Selected by division president to build a creative team to develop a unique retail concept for the Party Channel while still managing the Learning Horizons creative department. Management responsibilities included directing 2 product managers and a 16 person team of creative directors, art directors, graphic and packaging designers, and editors from American Greeting’s design studio.
• Formulated an experiential approach to merchandizing a 12-foot program by utilizing dimensional POP, floor 
	graphics, and sound to maximize shopping experience.
• Developed a unified, branded, packaging style to capture the essence of a “Princess” party.
• Led team to concept, develop, and source a 142-SKU program within a 6-month window.
• Expanded product category offerings by 600% with new SKU's priced from $1 - $100 at retail. 

			Art Director - Learning Horizons/American Greetings, Inc. (9/00 – 5/04) 
  
• Increased product development volume by over 250% (created over 2000 pages of original content). 
• Created new branded packaging look for LH 3-D manipulative product lines. 
• Developed all new branded signage for planograms and all temporary displayers.
• Successfully developed brand identity for Parents Magazine educational licensed product which 
	penetrated 87% of US educational mass market category. Sales exceeded $5M in the first year of introduction. 
• Played a key role in securing new licenses (Nickelodeon and Sesame Street).

Director, New Product Development

Director of creative department of $18M Mass Market division and of $8.5M Coca-Cola giftware lines:
• Managed 5 person teams responsible for creating over 500SKU’s for Mass retail and 200SKU’s for 
	the Coke gift line per year.
• Developed innovative packaging displayers that became the standard for the Mass Market and Christmas 
	Trim Industry.
• Created unique 4 sided palette and ¼ palette programs of holiday SKU's for Kmart, Walmart and Target.
• Selected by company president to serve on management planning committees for company-wide growth and
	promotions initiatives; commissioned to personally develop new merchandizing that strongly contributed to 
	the rebranding of the Precious Moments collectible line.
• Frequent overseas travel to Hong Kong/Asia to oversee production, concept and source new product 	opportunities, and oversee showroom set-up for Spring and Fall buyer trips.

Senior Art Director

Within first year, met company’s strategic goal of establishment within the Mass Market Channel.
• Expanded mass market line from $2M to $18M by developing 3 core Disney properties.
• Continuously achieved highest company sales in Mass Market category.

Project Manager, Licensed Properties

Find out detailed information about Frank Stinga, New Product Development Manager/Creative Director in Cape Coral, FL

Frank Stinga: New Product Development Manager/Creative Director in Cape Coral, FL

Frank Stinga

School of Visual Arts