Resume

Experience

Creative Director, Senior Copywriter

Present

Bar Chord Marketing, Inc

Buffalo, New York

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Freelance Copywriting & Creative Consulting.

20+ years creative direction, copywriting, execution and consulting, working with a vast-variety of clients all over the country.
Pitching and sustaining business, expanding companies into new markets, customer segments, and product launches.
Brand positioning, voice and marketing strategy.
Client sampling: Alcoholic Beverages, Non-Alcoholic Beverages, Community Projects, Legal Firm, Childcare, Food Tech and Innovations, Supplements, Health Tech, Restaurants, Industrial, Education

Co-Founder, BBQ Recipe Creator

April 2021 - Present

Que 42 BBQ

Buffalo, New York

We craft authentic BBQ sauces and rubs in seriously small batches, using Western New York ingredients and partners.

From the 42nd parallel, a completely original brand my partner and I developed, from the literal ground-up.
Grew from our backyard to being hand-bottled in a Cornell kitchen, to working with local co-packers and on the shelves at numerous retailers and online sales.
Award-winning recipes, used at world-renowned BBQ competitions.
Co-host and ability to run BBQ competitions and events in the WNY area.
Available online at www.que42bbq.com and in select stores.

Creative Director, Writer

July 2018 - April 2022

Caleres, Inc.

St. Louis, Missouri

Directly managed in-house creative team for the Famous Footwear brand, including art directors, digital designers and writers.

Record growth in revenue for the brand and company during my tenure, with increased sales 38.4%, year over year.
Led the creative team through the successful execution of a rebrand, re-igniting the brand to compete and continue increasing sales and relevancy in an extremely competitive market.
Pivoted through a pandemic, remotely managing the team. Maintained business through the worst of it, increased business as we worked out of it.
Created efficiencies for the team by developing new and effective presentation strategies that moved projects through internal and external review faster and cleaner than ever before.
Empowered my team to grow and transition from spectators to participants, to directors on photoshoots and leaders in presentations. 100% creative staff retention.
Assisted in the development and implementation of an ideal team structure to maximize the efficiencies between talent and time.

Senior Creative Director

Sept. 2016 - July 2018

We Are Alexander

St. Louis, Missouri

We Are Alexander is a global agency that focuses in retail, experiential, digital, production, and brand marketing.

Directly managed and mentored the creative team, elevating each team member from behind-the-scenes execution to client-facing creative partners.
Retained business, and doubled the number of new and emerging brands assigned to my team within two years, including highly exclusive invites to large-scale RFPs competing and scoring business against the biggest agencies in the world.
Assisted in the creation and establishment of the agency's experiential department, expanding agency opportunities and revenue streams.
Led the strategy and messaging for national beverage brands, resulting in increased sales and more brands assigned to our team.

Creative Director

Feb. 2012 - Aug. 2016

Fusion Marketing

St. Louis, Missouri

Fusion is a full-service marketing agency that specializes in experiential, digital and retail brand marketing.

Evolved from senior level writer to middle manager, to managing the entire creative staff, with double-digit direct reports.
Increased our core retainer client base from two to more than ten brands in three years.
Competed and won business, going up against some of the largest agencies in the world.
Sustained business by defending our position during transitions and RFP challenges.
Played an essential strategic role in successfully rebranding and reenergizing Wild Turkey bourbon and Cabo Wabo tequila.
Performed as a strategic partner and lead writer on projects as large as the Bud Light Hotel during Super Bowl week and Budweiser World Cup activations.
Storyboarded and directed video shoots and content creation, showcased by examples of successful programs in my portfolio.
Created and managed the original social media accounts for American Honey and Anheuser-Busch.
Attended numerous experiential activations as the creative lead along side clients to supervise, participate, and ensure a quality execution.

Senior Copywriter

Nov. 2010 - Jan. 2012

Infuz Digital

St. Louis, Missouri

Infuz was a 100% digital advertising agency that had a talented team of developers and programmers who brought creative digital experiences to life.

Performed as the senior writer for white papers, presentations, ads, blogs, press releases, social media, emails, banner ads, websites, web tools and event materials.
Played an essential role in launching Purina's first Facebook and social media presence.
Wrote numerous websites, including large-scale form submissions, dictated by user experience and flow.
Saw projects through from ideation to white paper, to development and final digital product.
Mentored creative internship staff.

Senior Copywriter

April 2008 - Nov. 2010

4ORCE Digital

St. Louis, Missouri

4ORCE is a digital advertising agency that blends usability, SEO and marketing science with creative execution. 4ORCE calls it, “Empirical Marketing.” An agency focused on branding, digital executions and the use of emerging media and tools.

Performed as lead writer for decks, white papers, presentations, ads, brochures, newsletters, events, outdoor, experiential marketing, radio, video, sales kits, branding, direct mail, press releases, social media, digital/web copy and internal branding.
Worked closely with user experience team, mastering the then emerging skill of how to write for the web.
Sustained core clients, earning more and more business during RFP cycles.

Copywriter

Feb. 2004 - April 2008

Momentum Worldwide

St. Louis, Missouri

Momentum is a large, diverse worldwide promotions and advertising agency that’s a McCann-Erickson partner. While the company spans the globe, the creative hub of Momentum has traditionally been in St. Louis. Momentum is best known for the Pontiac giveaway on the Oprah show, Buick sponsored PGA events and Coke Olympic promotions.

Wrote copy for decks, white papers, presentations, ads, brochures, newsletters, events, outdoor, experiential marketing, sales kits, radio, video, direct mail, press releases, web copy.
Performed as lead writer through Wendy's successful rebrand from "Dave" to the "Red Wig."
Within this large agency, was regularly called upon to participate in the largest and most important pitches.
Worked on a variety of teams – as large as 20 and as small as three.
Assisted in the development of interns and junior copywriters.
Saw projects through from white paper, to development to final product, website or event.

Copywriter

July 2003 - Jan. 2004

Foot Levelers

Roanoke, Virginia

A leader in developing high-tech chiropractic products, Foot Levelers plays the role of a partner for doctors and chiropractic institutions, worldwide.

Wrote copy for ads, brochures, direct mail, web copy, press releases.
Lead writer on internal marketing team. Six total on team.
Learned about and wrote in-depth marketing materials focused on complicated and proprietary medical information.

Copywriter

July 2001 - Jan. 2003

O'Connor Group Advertising

Roanoke, Virginia

A small, 12-person agency that’s focused on print and identity work. Most clients were local and industrial. This was my first full-time copywriting job out of college.

Wrote copy for ads, brochures, direct mail, web copy, radio, sales kits, press releases, decks and internal branding.
Discovered my writer's intuition by taking on the challenge of writing 14 ads per day for The Roanoke Times, sustaining the agency's largest client.
Assisted in the development of the agency featuring a Retirement Community focused branch.

Education

1997 - 2001

MARSHALL UNIVERISTY

Huntington, West Virginia

Bachelor of Arts, Journalism & Mass Communication, with a Focus on Advertising.

Minor: Sociology

Fun College Time Facts:

Enjoyed Theatre Appreciation class with Hall of Fame NFL player Randy Moss.
Hosted a radio show on WMUL with future NFL Quarterback Chad Pennington.
My first published article was about the 1970 "We Are Marshall" plane crash for an online magazine, in 1998.

JUDD DEMALINE

MANAGER OF CONTENT CREATION, FAMOUS FOOTWEAR

"I worked with Eammon closely for over two years. In that time I watched him lead with his heart and his ethics. He has this ability to get right to the core of what is being advertised and how to promote it. The man is truly an idea generator. He delivers in brainstorms by making everyone in the room feel like they were heard and seen. In advertising, there’s no greater gift than that. Eammon is a Creative’s creative."