Senior Strategic Marketing & Creative Director

“Jeff is the perfect mix of creativity, marketing, and application knowledge. He not only knows how to create graphics that draw the viewer in, but he also has the background and experience in market studies and consumer research to build branding into each project he is involved in.”

Jayne McGrath, Director Marketing & Communications

Bright Hope International,

As an established marketing and creative executive, I have transformed the growth trajectories of Fortune 500, New York Times bestselling books, national retailers, leading consumer brands, universities, healthcare networks, global non-profit aid and ministries with progressive campaigns consistently attracting engaging and retaining key audience interest.

What I Deliver

Areas of Expertise

Branding & Corporate Identity

Business Expansion

College Admissions

Competitive Leadership

Consumer Products

Consumer Retail & Ecommerce

Content Development

Corporate Communications

Creative Direction

College/University Marketing

Customer Retention

Customer Engagement Storytelling

Data Visualization

Display & POP Design

Direct Response Campaigns

Graphic Design

Growth Hacking

Healthcare Marketing

Market Research

Packaging Design

Presentations and Tutorials

Product Development

Publishing

Strategic Marketing

Social Media and SEO

UX/UI Research & Design

Website Design & Development

Writing-Blogs, Articles, Advertising

My extensive 25+ years’ experience has been in leading marketing and creative teams to strategically brand, position and launch organizations and products in both the consumer and the business to business marketplace. My expertise is in the holistic integration of marketing, creative design and technology to create the right message that connects with the right audience, resulting in increased customer conversions, greater brand awareness and expanded sustainable market dominance.

A Depth of Experience Working for Dozens of Leading Brands

Professional Experience

ELAH STRATEGIC MARKETING GROUP

President and Owner, September 2007 – Present

Established a forward-thinking marketing agency positioning clients to achieve internal business operations improvement goals and aggressive revenue generation objectives for noteworthy brands, organizations, books and individuals including: The United States Army, Coca-Cola, Diageo, Visa, Pier 1, Office Max, FTD, The Chicago Tribune, Family Christian Bookstores, American Academy of Pediatrics, The Moody Bible Institute, World Vision and a more than 10 New York Times bestselling books totaling over 100 copies sold.

Accomplishments:

Multi-channel segmented communications campaigns for New York Times Bestseller “The Five Love Languages” leading to over 8 million copies sold

Creation of an internationally-recognized profile for Dr. Gary Chapman Message saving at-risk military families.

Elevated the importance of health by educating patients regarding participating in Bariatric and Medical Weight Loss programs leading to best patient volumes in the health category within the entire state of Illinois.

Increased Chicago Tribune subscriptions by 15% while also reducing 70% of program operational costs.

Integrated digital marketing and POS technology innovations to increase FTD franchisee purchases by 23%.

Transformed university with a strategic marketing program resulting in a 65% boost in enrollment.

Developed global website and brand messaging that effectively increased billion-dollar organization’s ability to provide an one source integrated vertical solution to their clients, expanding overall sales and scope of projects.

“Jeff Whetstone’s refreshing insight helped us to move to a new approach to marketing that was badly needed. His experience with the end consumer gives us the ability to build integrated, targeted programs that really communicate the value of our network o to the right potential patients providing results like Alexian Brothers Hospital Network’s Bariatric program being ranked first in volumes in the state of Illinois.”

Dean Grant, CEO

Alexian Brothers Hospital Network

HEALTHCARE MARKETING PLUS

President, September 2007 - Present

Created a strategic research, marketing, communications and editorial model to position healthcare innovations and services as must-have resources to improve the health of city, regional and national populations.

Accomplishments:

Created a campaign to articulate the health and business value of the new Atrial Fibrillation Mini Maze Procedure that saved clients from exposure to a potential detrimental blood thinner drug and saved surgeons valuable time while improving heart procedure safety.

Developed community outreach for early detection cancer and heart disease testing and creation of program for screening for family health histories with patient’s personal physician, community early detection events, media campaign and collection of family health history profiles of hospital patients and all clients of hospital network specialized clinics and remote 24-hour care facilities.

Created co-op physician/hospital partnership marketing program Included research and identification of physician practices located in geographic areas populated by segmented population with highest occurrences of heart, cancer and age-related illnesses.

Created community awareness for sleep centers in partnership with family physician practices, schools, employers and community groups concerning the wide spread amount of those suffering from sleep disorders including sleep apnea.

Developed wellness and early prevention programs resulting in major employers providing saving in claims and employee sick time. Increased volumes for my client a hospital network with multiple family, pediatric and internists and geriatric practices.

Creation of specialized surgical and medical weight loss solutions program. Development of regional awareness campaign targeting physicians, employers and populated displaying co- morbidities related to morbid obesity. Program included development of consumer oriented call center, multi-media online patient education program meeting insurance requirements, patient/customer relationship process and cross marketing of related conditions including joint replacement, sleep disorders, heart and liver organ damage and onset of diabetes type 2.

Develop and Execution, Management and reporting for association member recruitment, renewal and reactivation for American Academy of Pediatrics and American Society for Nutrition. We also manage integrated multi-media campaigns for national Association educational and professional conferences and workshops. We also managed monthly email news updates and innovations in the fields of Pediatrics and Nutrition.

We have created and managed nationwide integrated consumer media programs for Bel-tone hearing aid centers. Including: print advertising, direct mail, email and customized landing pages for individual practices.

Continues to successfully secure new business from hospitals, healthcare systems, physician practices and specialized clinics by being able to change how organizations approach patient experiences and communication tactics to create greater trust and partnerships regarding treatment.

“Jeff Whetstone is an extraordinary marketing professional. He is that rare hybrid of analyst and creative who is able to look at your marketing challenges from a variety of perspectives and help create the best solution for you. I highly recommend Jeff to you for marketing analysis, web design and e-strategies, branding and identity development, and any other marketing communication need you may have.”

Kerry Park

President/Creative Director

The Park Group

MARKS & WHETSTONE

President, April 1995 – September 2007

When I joined Marks & Associates it was a small 3person design firm focused on newspaper inserts and direct mail campaigns for regional retailers. Over the span of 12 years I transformed Marks & Associates to Marks & Whetstone, a full service strategic marketing agency with 25 staff and billings of over $4,000,000.00 annually not including media or printing costs.

My roles included development of new clients including all pitches. Provided consulting services for various organizations for strategic marketing and business growth receiving as high as $10,000 a month a single client for my individual input.

I migrated our core client base from newspaper insert layout and design to comprehensive agency offering:

• Strategic marketing & business consulting • Branding & Communications • Business development

• Product development and design • Website design & development • Web marketing campaigns

• Media purchasing and campaign management • Conducting market research • Video development and editing

• Customer loyalty programs • Affiliate programs • Packaging and display design

• Customer relationship management • National multi media campaign • Client Relations

• Public Relations and event planning • Direct response programs • Social media and community

Our local client base expanded to nationwide, with clients as far south as Dallas and Miami Beach

to Minneapolis St. Paul.

Through my leadership we were able to land major accounts worth well over $1,000,000.00 annually.

Our ability to develop strategic comprehensive programs for clients translated into complete control and decision-

making power for a majority of our clients.

Our business grew from the Chicagoland area to clients in a variety of industries nationwide including Diageo, Pier One, Office Max First National Bank, United States Army and Air Force and a variety of publishers and music labels including 10 New York times best sellers with combined book sales of 115 million copies.

I expanded our agency's focus from single project emphasis to managing comprehensive multiple media campaigns. and led the transition from traditional print media and collateral to digital/interactive media and website design services.

MONTGOMERY, ZUCKERMAN AND DAVIS AGENCY

Creative Director, January 1993 – April 1995

Revitalized Coca-Cola’s print, POS, event marketing and sales strategies in the Northeast Illinois, Chicagoland and Northeast Indiana markets by leading the charge to create a new voice for the company brand.

Accomplishments:

Cultivated positive relationships with the Chicago Bears, Chicago Bulls, Chicago Blackhawks and Great American to develop new sponsorships to create additional high-profile customer exposure.

Played an influential role in enabling Coca-Cola to create a brand that extended sales into Hispanic

and African American communities.

MOODY BIBLE INSTITUTE

Director of Marketing and Communications, December 1990 – January 1993

Serving as the Director of Marketing and Communications for the Moody Bible Institute my responsibilities were to run an internal agency which provided all marketing, media planning, public relations, school internal and external communications, branding and corporate identity standards. I was also responsible for all student admissions resources and recruiting strategy and campaigns for undergraduate school, graduate degree programs and network of remote satellite programs across the country including a pilot’s and airplane mechanics training school located outside of Portland, Oregon.

I also was the creative director and responsible for the development of content, publishing and distribution of the alumni news magazine and all fundraising campaign resource materials.

HIRT & ASSOCIATES

Art Director, December 1988 – December 1990

BLACK DOT GROUP

Assistant Art Director, August 1986 – December 1988

Education & Training

UNIVERSITY OF AKRON 1981-1995

Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts,

Major Fields of Study Marketing & Visual Design,

Minoring in Illustration, History and Music Performance

Graduating Cum Laude

National Academic and Leadership Society Member

Member of Kappa Kappa Psi Honor Fraternity

University of Akron Marching and Pep Bands, Concert Band

Software Proficiency

Adobe Creative Suite – Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Muse, Adobe Bridge, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Bridge

Apple Software– Pages, Numbers, Keynote, iMovie

Microsoft Office – Microsoft Word, Microsoft Power Point, Microsoft Excel

Web Design – Word Press CMS, Joomla CMS, CSS, HTML, Google Analytics, Site Builder, Weebly, Adobe Muse, Adobe Dreamweaver, Firebug, Form site, RS Forms, Next end, Joom shaper

Email Marketing– iContact.com, Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, Campaigner, Sales Force, Get Response, Benchmark Email, Mail Designer, HTML, CSS, Landing Page Developer

Video & Audio–Apple Final Cut Pro, Vox Audio Editor, Vimeo, YouTube, Adobe After Effects

Social Media – Facebook Business, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, Pinterest, Twitter

E book Publishing -Amazon Create Space Direct Publishing, iBook Publishing, Nook Press

Automotive Aftermarket

Beverages & Spirits

Book Publishing

Broadcast Media

Consumer Electronics

Consumer Packaged Goods

Education

E-commerce

Entertainment

Financial Services

Food Packaging

Food Supplements and Vitamins

Fundraising

Healthcare

Home Furnishings

Magazine Publications

Manufacturing B to B Sales

Manufacturing

–Printing

–Thermoform Plastics

–Fragrances/Skin

Medical

–Cancer

–Cardiovascular

–Medical & Surgical Weight loss

–Pain Management

–Sleep Disorders

–Sports Medicine

Military

Mobile Devices

Music

Non-Government Agencies

Non-for-Profit

Pharmaceuticals

Professional Associations

Retail Store

Secondary Packaging

Subscriber Recruitment

Transportation & Logistics

Technology

Media Video

– Radio, TV &

.. Web Broadcast Advertising

– Business Training

– Children’s Entertainment

– Educational

– Medical-Patient Education

– Web-Marketing

National Brands

Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Cherry Coke

Sprite, Powerade, Fanta

Diageo International

Captain Morgan, Smirnoff, Crown Royal

Johnnie Walker, Ketel One, Sterling

Bailey’s, BV Coastal Estates,

Jose Cue Cuervo, Crown Royal

Motorola

Visa

Chicago Tribune

United States Army

United States Air Force

First National Bank of Omaha

New York Times Best sellers–

The Five Love Languages-Series

The Left Behind Series

The Prayer of Jabez

Nonprofit Organizations

Inner City Impact-Chicago

World Relief- Africa

Bright Hope International

Haiti, Bolivia, Uganda

Kenya and Zambia

Little Lambs Ministry-Ukraine

Wycliffe Bible Translators

Papua New Guinea

Youth for Christ

Orphan Voice –Vietnam

Bethesda Women’s Addiction Recovery

National Retailers

Pier 1

FTD

Best Buy

Barnes & Noble

Binneys

OfficeMax

Sears

Hobby Lobby

Binney’s Beverage Depots

Party City

B to B and Manufacturing

Visual Pak

Darwill Communications

Design Craft

Zebra Technologies

Tukaiz Marketing & Production

Fellowes

Enesco

Shur Fine Products

American Blending and Filling

Cosmetic Laborites of America

Visual Pak Secondary Packaging

VP Plastics & Engineering

Norka Paperboard Solutions

BMC Secondary Food Packaging

VP Logistics

McCormick & Company, Inc.

Clover Technologies

Broadcast Media

Gary Chapman 5 Love Languages

Radio Show

Moody Broadcasting Network

TLN-Total Living Network

D. James Kennedy Ministries

Healthcare

Alexian Brothers Hospital Network

Alexian Brothers Heart & Vascular Institute

American Academy of Pediatrics

American Society for Nutrition

AIM Dental Marketing Services

Beltone Hearing

Bonaventure Medical Group

Cancer Institute at Amita Health

Kane Center--Suburban Surgical Care

Sleep Health Center at Amita Health

Education

Assemblies of God Theological Seminary

Creator’s University

Elmhurst College

Knox Theological Seminary

Moody Bible Institute

Mid-America Christian University

Oral Roberts University

Summer Institute of Linguistics

Mansiligan Academy

Bacolod, Philippines

Publishers & Music Distributors

Broadman Holdman

David C. Cook

Focus on the Family

Moody Publishing

Provident Music & Chordant Music

Thomas Nelson Publishers

Harper Collins Publishers

Tyndale House Publishers

Sony-BMG Music

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