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Digital Design Director
Ad2Pro Media Solutions Private Limited
Apr 2013 - Present (11 years 1 month)
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Senior Manager - Creative Services
Ad2Pro Media Solutions Private Limited
Apr 2010 - Mar 2013 (2 years 11 months)
• Manage creative deliveries of 2adpro (two locations, Chennai and Bangalore) with 50 member high-end creative team (18 in Bangalore and 32 in Chennai)
• Oversee and maintain creative standards of a 500+ member high volume design & production team
• Provide direction and guidance for a team of Project Managers, Client Managers, Art Directors, Visualizers, Designers and Developers to ensure that the final product meets client expectations
• Drive improvement in quality, productivity and efficiency of the team
• Recruit/mentor and manage creative talent
• Manage a diverse product portfolio which includes print, digital and social media with a special focus on designs for Tablet and Mobiles
• Custodian of corporate (2adpro.com) and Retail Design Service (inkzoo.com) website
• Operational management of online graphic design business model for SMB (inkzoo.com)
• High level liaison with potential customers and facilitating relationships with new customers and have them transitioned slowly to Account Management.
• Handle client escalations and provide immediate resolutions
• Plan annual budgets & manage P&L of Creative Services
SELECT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• Strategy to innovate and focus on digital services led to the team acquiring new expertise like iPad, iPhone interactive design and Social media Face book design and development, which led to increased profitability of 20-25%
• Facilitate ramp up of facebook design projects from 0-25/month in 3 months including delivering complex app requests
• Revamped the corporate (www.2adpro.com) and Online design service portal (www.inkzoo.com) in less than 8 months since I took over which was received very well both by internal and external customers. INKZOO saw a dramatic increase in user visit rates after launch of the new site.
• Designed an Exclusive Pricing Model for the Online graphic design service (which includes more than 40 products, both print and Digital).
• Built a complete training program aimed at continuous improvement
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Manager-Creative & MarCom
CSS Corp
Oct 2008 - Apr 2010 (1 year 6 months)
• Manage all creative & marketing & communications activities of CSS.
• Digital/Web development & management
• Internal & External Communication
• Balance multiple priorities and projects with creative conceptual thinking
• Directs project creativity, consistency, and quality
• Set deadline, assign and schedule resources
• Provide oversight to deliver quality, cost-effective solutions based on business goals
• Demonstrate accountability and leadership to consistently achieve high client service standards and enhance productivity levels. Ensure the right resources are stacked against the right deliverables.
• Be a key advocate for the brand: Work closely with internal/external agency partners to ensure creative consistency of all creative deliverables
Achievements include
• Successfully established the in-house creative services and graphic resources department of CSS
• Redesigned websites like SupportMinds.com, TechChoice.com, TechLink911.com to drive more traffic
• Responsible for turning around a weak and underperforming team to a strong and super productive, motivated team
• Raised the bar of the creative quality at CSS
• Improved the success ratio of the B2B proposals with success rate of 70:30
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Creative Supervisor
CCI Sourcing Pvt Ltd
Aug 2007 - Sep 2008 (1 year 1 month)
• Lead and mentor Art Directors/Visualisers
• Develop creative themes and designs, including circular identity and other print media, to support businesses and marketing objectives of client’s brand strategy
• Lead and actively participate in the ongoing process of new pitches
• Direct design staff to translate visual/verbal concepts and creative strategy into print advertising.
• Responsible for all phases of the creative process from concept through execution
• Controls the design, layout, typography and visual ideas for all aspects of the project
• Attend client meetings, conference calls and makes creative presentations
• Keep the Production team abreast of all changes during the preplanning stage of production that will affect production milestones and deliverables
• Primary owner of creative execution based on client’s direction/strategy/messaging during preplanning and execution through to final completion of the project
• Responsible for the design, development, deployment, and maintenance of a high quality, consistent and technically effective graphic or visual interface for both print and online
• Work in close coordination with the operations team to ensure optimum utilization, thereby increasing productivity
• Recruiting new work force during expansion and training them
Client's Feedback:
“We have been quite impressed with the overall quality of the ad designs for both print and online. CCI's capabilities are considerable, they are consistent, and provide excellent turnaround and flexibility”
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Senior Design Professional-Creative Services
RR Donnelley
Oct 2006 - Sep 2007 (11 months)
• Lead and mentor Senior Designers/Graphic Designers
• Develop junior members of the creative team
• Drive creativity and innovation for the Company
• Ensure that work is delivered to scope, time and budget
• Develop and signs-off on all digital creative estimates and ensures high quality, profitable execution of creative deliverables
• Facilitate and orchestrates contact between account creative team and client.
• Contribute to the evolution and maintenance of each creative discipline workflow.
Achievements include
• Handled the design requirements of a UK based client. Created a benchmark of design standards for the client which is been adhered to till now
• Some of the creatives done by me has been selected and showcased by the client as the “Best Creative Work”
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Art Director
Accurate Advertising
Aug 2003 - Jul 2006 (2 years 11 months)
• Lead the studio and spearhead the creative efforts of the entire team
• Work closely with the copywriter to generate creative ideas and concepts to fulfill the client's brief
• Ideate and extend the idea across various conventional and non-conventional mediums
• Commission photographers, artists or film-makers to work on projects
• Participate in pitching ideas to clients
Achievements include
• Handled the complete communication for a leading bank in Abu dhabi
• Had a success ratio of 70:30 in the pitches.
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Senior Designer
Fortune Promoseven
Jun 2001 - Aug 2003 (2 years 2 months)
In association with the Art Director, lead the studio and spearhead the creative efforts of the entire team
Work closely with the Art Director/Copywriter to generate creative ideas and concepts to fulfill the client's brief
Participate in Brain storming sessions to generate new ideas for Campaigns
Ensure that work is delivered to scope, time and budget