Kat Downend
CREATIVE DIRECTOR/PRINCIPAL
Kat began her creative life at age six, upon feeding yellow clay into a Play-Doh Fun Factory and churning out a polychrome platypus. She has since become a successful copywriter, designer, creative strategist and fan of big fuzzy dogs.
In her 25-year career, Kat’s led the creative charge on countless blue chip brands, including Pepsi and Clorox. She has served as Creative Director at TracyLocke and DDB, and her ability to weave strategy into stellar ideas also prompted two global agencies to appoint her as their chief idea driver, aka Concept Director.
Today, Kat’s multi-disciplined expertise in traditional advertising, branding, retail, shopper and digital gives her clients the virtuoso know-how they need in today’s omni-channel arena. Her work has earned the industry’s highest creative accolades and has appeared in Print and CA magazines.
Ginger Smithwick
STRATEGIST/ANALYST/STORYTELLER
Ginger has over 12 years experience exploring the “why” behind specific behaviors and crafting strategies to change them for some of the biggest brands in the world. What sets Ginger apart is her knack for uncovering insights that cause people to think about and engage with brands in new ways.
Ginger has led the strategic development for Coca-Cola shopper and customer marketing initiatives across channels and brands globally for Arc Worldwide. Prior to that, she managed a 300-person research community at Jockey International. As a Senior Consumerologist (her favorite title ever), she informed the development of new products, design direction and marketing programs. Ginger holds an M.S. in Marketing Communications from Northwestern University.
Dawn Dubinka
HUMAN-FIRST DIGITAL
Dawn has been exploring digital engagement since the prime of the dot-com boom. She spent the last 16 years working on omni-channel campaigns from retail to vice brands to financial services.
A self-described change agent, she looks forward to plotting brands' and customers’ experience with proven, human-centered strategies and technologies. She is always searching for the ultimate answer of how a singular idea can be extended across the incessantly expanding touch points throughout customers’ lives. She believes there is a curatorial word of mouth narrative that drives communities, brand adoption and conversation.