Creative Director, Copywriter, Graphic Designer, Producer-Director

JAMES A. STEVENS

**** ******* ****** ***., **** Forest, NC 27587 C: 919-***-**** E: ********@*********.***

LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/1I9K73z

CREATIVE DIRECTOR SENIOR COPYWRITER PRODUCER-DIRECTOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Highly experienced, multi-skilled Creative Director: senior copywriter, film & video producer-director, graphic designer, jingle composer-lyricist, English-to-Spanish & Spanish-to-English translator/transcreator, actor, and voice-over artist. Capable of handling anything from writing and placing a simple press release to creating and executing a full multimedia advertising campaign, while meeting tight deadlines, coming in at or under budget, and delivering superior quality work. A highly motivated self-starter able to function effectively independently or as a team member. Native speaker of English and Spanish, equally at home speaking and writing in either language. Core competencies include:

Creating Impactful Advertising Messages for Traditional and Digital Media

Translating English-to-Spanish and Spanish-to-English

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

GENERAL MANAGER CREATIVE DIRECTOR

CREATIVE CONSULTANCY, Wake Forest, North Carolina. 2011-Present.

[a supplier of creative services to advertising agencies and direct clients]

Senior Copywriter Producer-Director Graphic Designer Translator-Transcreator

Clients have included: Banco Popular of Puerto Rico, Banamex USA, Citigroup, Citi Wealth Management, El Pueblo, Inc., EVERTEC, Inc., Mentor Technology Group, and World Compliance, among others.

VICE PRESIDENT DIRECTOR OF HISPANIC MARKETING

HOWARD, MERRELL & PARTNERS, INC., Raleigh, North Carolina. 2009-2011.

[a full-service advertising agency]

Clients included: BASF Plant Science, Butterball, Cisco, Georgia-Pacific, Precise Pet Products, and SQF Institute, among others.

Major Achievements

• Created, launched, and ran the agency’s Hispanic Marketing Department.

• Key role in editing and publishing WHY ADVERTISING [SOMETIMES] WORKS, by agency partner and Director of Research Dr. Bruce Hall, Ph.D., a 40,000-word book that mines the fascinating new findings of modern neuroscience and psychology to explore the psychological basis of effective advertising.

PRESIDENT CREATIVE DIRECTOR ACCOUNT MANAGER

STEVENS/PALMER CREATIVE SERVICES, INC., San Juan, Puerto Rico. 1990-2010.

[a supplier of creative services to advertising agencies and direct clients]

Clients included: Citibank Credit Cards, Citicorp Financial Services Corporation, Citicorp Portfolio, Columbia College, Pizza Hut, Play-by-Play Toys & Novelties, Inc., Playtex, Taco Bell, TIRI/Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate, Scotiabank, and Volvo, among others.

Major Achievements

• Successfully launched and kept Stevens/Palmer Creative Services, Inc., operating in the black for 20 years.

• Key role in creating and executing highly successful launch of Citibank’s Citicorp Portfolio Division.

• Key role in creating and executing highly successful launch of Citicorp Portfolio’s online portal.

• Key role in highly successful conversion of Citicorp Portfolio into Citicorp Financial Services Corporation (CFSC).

• Key role in CFSC’s highly successful expansion into South American markets.

• Key role in launch of Scotiabank’s Scotia Professional Plan account that increased market share by 13%.

• Key role in creating and executing Caguas Tower Campaign that helped sell all units within three weeks of launch.

• Selected to write, produce, and direct all Pizza Hut TV commercials for Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands.

• Selected to write, produce, and direct all Taco Bell TV commercials for Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands.

VICE PRESIDENT IN CHARGE OF CREATIVE SERVICES CREATIVE DIRECTOR ACCOUNT MANAGER

JIMMY STEVENS PRODUCTIONS, INC., San Juan, Puerto Rico. 1982-1990.

[an entertainment supplier and advertising consultancy]

Clients included: Banco Popular of Puerto Rico, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Puerto Rico, Citibank, Chrysler, Colgate, Dial Soap, Dr. Pepper, Honda, Mitsubishi, Nationwide Insurance, Palmolive, Puerto Rico Treasury Department, Rums of Puerto Rico, Telemundo Group, TIRI/Better Homes & Garden Real Estate, and Triple S Health Care, among others.

Major Achievements

• Selected to fulfill functions of creative director, senior copywriter, producer, and director for Citibank Puerto Rico.

• Key role in creating and executing Citibank’s Repositioning Campaign that resulted in a 28% increase in the bank’s share of the upscale market and on which subsequent campaigns were based for the next 15 years.

• Key role in creating and executing highly successful launch of Citibank’s Money Market Passbook Savings Account Campaign that succeeded in doubling the bank’s share of the Puerto Rico passbook savings account market.

• Created the slogan Honda: clase… y más (Honda: Class… and More) for Honda de Puerto Rico, still in use today.

• Key role in executing Banco Popular’s highly successful Caminos que recorrimos (Roads We’ve Traveled) Campaign that resulted in a 12% increase in Banco Popular’s share of the Puerto Rican market.

VICE PRESIDENT IN CHARGE OF CREATIVE SERVICES CREATIVE DIRECTOR

FCB/CARIBBEAN, INC., San Juan, Puerto Rico. 1976-1982.

[Puerto Rico branch of Foote, Cone & Belding Advertising/International]

Career Path: Hired as Director of Broadcast Production. Promoted to Associate Creative Director within six months. Within another six months, promoted to Creative Director Vice President in Charge of Creative Services and made responsible for Agency’s entire creative output.

Clients included: Ballantine’s Scotch, Arroz Cinta Azul (Blue Ribbon Rice), Bristol-Myers, Clairol, ConAgra Foods, Glidden Paints, International Charter Mortgage, Lestoil, Max Factor, Mazda, Mennen, Sears, and Selsun Blue Shampoo, among others.

Major Achievements

• During the year preceding my arrival at FCB, the Creative Department registered a loss of $20,000. During the first 12 months of my tenure, the department showed a profit of $60,000. This +$80,000 turn-around enabled the company to show a profit for the first time since beginning operations in Puerto Rico.

• Key role in creating and executing highly successful launch of Arroz Cinta Azul first year’s sales goals were achieved within only six months of launch and in the subsequent development and filming of Cintia Azul, the brand’s stop-motion animated Pillsbury Doughboy-type character.

• Key role in creating and executing highly successful Arroz Cinta Azul follow-up campaign that resulted in a more than 300% increase in its share of the Puerto Rican market.

• Key role in creating and executing highly successful mid-year launch of the Mazda GLC initial inventory sold out within three months of launch necessitating shipping in additional inventory throughout the rest of the model year.

• Key role in creating and executing the original Pinta con Glidden (Paint It with Glidden) Campaign that resulted in a surge in Glidden’s sales and market share and on which subsequent campaigns were based for the next ten years.

• Key role in creating and executing highly successful launch of Extra-Strength Bufferin first TV commercial using computer animation produced in Puerto Rico.

EDUCATION

B.A. IN CREATIVE WRITING AND M.A. IN THEATRE ARTS

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, Champaign, Illinois

SPECIAL SKILLS

Read, write, and speak English and Spanish fluently (native speaker of both).

Highly experienced in Macintosh environment:

Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Photoshop, Acrobat) Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

Apple iWork (Keynote, Pages, Numbers) Apple iWeb QuarkXPress Movie Magic Screenwriting Final Draft.

Some experience with Windows.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

Advertising

• Grand Jury Award for Best Commercial – U.S.V.I. International Film Festival

• Clio Finalist (2)

• Regional Commercial Emmy (2)

• Telly Awards (3)

• New York Commercial Film Festival (2)

• Cúspide Awards – Puerto Rico Advertising Agency Association (2)

• Agüeybaná de Oro Awards (3)

Filmmaking

• Best Documentary Award – Champaign-Urbana Film Festival

• Best Teleplay Gold Camera Award – U.S. Industrial Film Festival

• Best Documentary Nomination – Directors Guild of America

Writing

• Novel: SOULSAVER (Harcourt: 2000)

– “Best First Novel 2000” – The Denver Rocky Mountain News

– “Best Books of 2000” – The San Francisco Chronicle

– “New & Notable Novel” and “Best First Novels 2000” – Locus Magazine

– Recommended – The New York Review of Books' Readers' Catalog

– Winner – UPC Prize (awarded annually by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain)

ACCOUNT CATEGORY EXPERIENCE

• Airlines

• Appliances

• Automotive

• Banking & Finance

• Beauty Products

• Beverages

• Candy

• Cleaning Products

• Educational Institutions

• Electronics

• Fashion

• Food Products

• Hotels

• Insurance

• Intimate Apparel

• Jewelry

• Personal Hygiene

• Pharmaceuticals

• Public Service Ads

• Radio & Television Stations

• Real Estate

• Restaurants

• Retail

• Telecommunications

• Theater

• Toys

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