Steven Forbes: Associate Art Director l Sr. Art Director in Corona, CA

Remote contractor specializing in medical/pharmaceutical, corporate identity, refreshing brands & repositioning organizations. Contract assignment as an Associate Creative Director at Concentric Health Experience - design and concepting for the Regeneron healthcare account, as well as working on new business. Brands include: Eukeeza, Zealand and Medtel. Advised and assisted in meeting seed-round capital for startups of up to $4M+ and the successful selling of the enterprises to leading global venture capital investor companies. Includes branding & logo design. Served as Creative Director for a major annual philanthropic integrated/interactive Zoom convention during the height of the pandemic. This very successful virtual event was attended by thousands nationwide - resulting in an increase of over 160% in registrations and data base leads. Responsibilities included: brand and theme creation, website direction and design, program and content development, social media ad creation (Facebook and Instagram).

Marketing and advertising agency required a proven creative leader to spearhead new business development, strategic marketing/branding, and B2B and B2C integrated branding for all areas of the digital and online world plus broadcast, social media, print, and outdoor. Clients included: Novartis Pharmaceutical, Conagra Foods, and Merrick Pet Foods. Clearly defined a lasting personality for the AMCA rebrand initiative leading to expanded corporate guidelines, integrating key video elements, and providing a seamless evolution of growth for the brand identity. Instrumental in shaping the Activate branding evolution, developing comprehensive materials including a website, support collateral, brand guidelines, and presentation tools for rebranding for the Agency. Created multiple Novartis micro websites, videos, logos, and digital/app interactive design solutions for a range of clients. Conceptualized the Novartis Promacta presentation, lockup, and sizzle video for the 2017 1H National Sales Meeting. The new creative direction quickly sold, leading to increased budgets and agency revenue. Upsold an exhibit graphics project for Perfetti Candies into a complete event experience, which netted additional projects for the agency.

Integrated advertising and event agency looked to grow a fledgling market department in the trade shows and experiential arenas. Oversaw in-house and Agency of Record (AOR) accounts. Spearheaded new business development. Continued enrichment and application of new technologies in-app, digital, and web solutions. Heavily involved in new business development as well as managing in-house and AOR accounts. Established and managed ongoing internship program. Partnered with other departments as well as outside vendor relationships to ensure the alignment of company strategies, while also enabling departmental business goals to be met. Responsible to achieve Sales target of $2M to $4M annually. Clients included Tripwire, D-Link, SkinMedica, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Alpine Stereo, MAVTV, CareFusion, and Master Meter. Conceptualized and produced interactive tradeshow campaign for third-tier WiFi software client (D-Link), including introducing an innovative traffic building program to build sales leads by creating a memorable character adventure with a storyline that tracked through social media and produced a 55% jump in leads over the previous year, a six-page write-up in Exhibitor Magazine, and a Sizzle award for best integrated campaign of the year. Concepted and developed engaging four-day product launch for Tripwire, Inc at VH World. Supported by an aggressive email and gorilla street style tactics, the program brought huge traffic attendance to the exhibit, contributing to a 19% revenue increase while collecting over 2,400 leads, a 300% increase over the company’s previous event show high. Concepted and executed a major integrated rebrand campaign for second-tier utility client (Master Meter). Repositioned their existing top product by matching compelling claims and messaging with outstanding photography. Product sales increased by 20% and we were recognized as their 'Agency of Record'.

Creative Campaign Concept & Development for Print & direct mail for B2B Pharmaceutical/Optical Accounts • Art Direction • Photo Supervision • Concept & Design • Focus Group Testing • Production Supervision • Mentoring Younger Art Directors and Designers.

Creative Campaign Development for National Franchise and Retail Clients • Photo Direction • Radio • TV, Print • Point of Purchase. Client list: American Racing, In-N-Out Burger, Fantastic Sams, Sempra Energy, Phillips 66 Car Wash, National Association of Realtors, Seniors Real Estate Specialists.

Promotional, hi-tech B-to-B channel advertising: Supervision over a staff of two creative teams, two traffic persons and one Designer • Extensive Photo Shoot Direction • Creative Campaign Strategy • Concepting • Production Supervision • Departmental Budgeting & Staff Reviews • Show Event Producer Client list: IBM, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Western Digital, Canon, Toshiba, Kodak, Hitachi, 3Com, Epson and countless others.