The most creative thing I do is win.

That may sound simplistic. But the path to highly performing creative requires the careful alignment of many moving parts. For the past 13 years, I've helped dozens of clients develop smart strategy, craft focused content and pair it with thoughtful design – all with the goal of building creative that's designed to win.

Right now I'm Creative Director at Merkle Chicago. I lead an amazingly talented team of writers, designers and producers working for brands like Visa, Southwest Airlines, Chase, Hyatt, PNC, MetLife and Lowe's, among others.

Some things I've done:

• Concepted and written copy for thousands of communications across email, website, video, display, direct mail, social, whitepaper, retail, out-of-home and radio

• Led hundreds of creative presentations and pitches for a range of clients and initiatives

• Driven loyalty for major brands through meaningful online and social experiences

• Implemented over one hundred 'Champion' executions across email, direct mail, display and landing page

Some thoughts:

• In low-funnel communications, the best creative identifies the single most important response driver and hammers it home repeatedly
• As you move up the funnel, your audience is either not convinced or needs education ... don't be pushy
• Clear beats clever when clever isn't clear
• In direct mail, your piece should either be official or promotional (no in-between)
• You don't know what you don't test - so isolate the things you want to learn about and test them agressively
• Increased targeting and measurement capabilities in digital channels like search, display and paid social provide unlimited testing potential ... and near real-time results