Gina Manola Email & Phone Number

Champaign, Illinois, Us

Provide leadership, strategic vision, oversight, and accountability for college-wide marketing, communication, and design services to ensure that the Office of Marketing and Communications serves the instructional and service missions of the College of Education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Champaign, Il, Us

Recruited as Assistant Director of Marketing and Design in 2013 and promoted to Director of MarCom in 2016. Serve in key leadership role managing the day to day design, editorial, marketing and communication needs. Responsible for hiring, developing, and managing staff as well as business and budgetary oversight to ensure excellence and continued programatic and enrollment growth. • Transformed marketing with comprehensive ground-up branding, content strategies, and campaigns. Created new identity package and defined messaging guidelines. Designed, wrote, and edited annual report, student recruitment, and fundraising collateral creating a suite of impactful print and digital communications. Oversaw design and launch of new website. Developed messaging and audience personas and directed creative and content efforts. • Led growth-focused content and digital marketing campaigns increasing applicants and enrollment. Worked with program leaders to define audience, create messaging, and led the content and design of email, search, social, and OTT campaigns. Increased undergraduate applications by 55% from 2015 to 2019 and yield by 17% from 2018-2022 at a time when enrollment in colleges of education was down nationwide. Drove growth in online program applications between 2017 and 2021 yielding a 77% enrollment increase in our master’s degree programs.• Secured 30K in new funding in grants to make aesthetic enhancements to the education building improving the student experience and reinforcing brand pillars.

Calico provided design, branding, product development, and consulting to toy, game, gift, and educational publishing clients in the U.S. and Europe.• Invented and licensed six games for kids, two are evergreen best sellers including Feed the Woozle and Race to the Treasure sold worldwide. Created the private-label game How Does Your Garden Grow? for Target and the collaborative playPlay line previously sold in Toys R Us nationwide. • Consulted on cooperative AR game Kody Kapow to coincide with launch of the Kody Kapow children’s series for Universal.• Created new visual identity for Peaceable Kingdom (acquired by MindWare in 2017) in advance of new product category launch establishing them as the leading cooperative game brand.• Directed and managed the Young Inventor Challenge showcasing kids’ toy and game inventions leading to licensing opportunities with Hasbro, Spin Master, etc.• Frequent expert panelist at the annual Toy & Game Inventor Conference on branding, inventing, designing, and manufacturing games.

Champaign, Illinois, Us

• Managed a team of designers in the production of catalogues, print and digital advertisements, and direct mail. Collaborated with copywriters, web developers, photographers, and videographers to ensure consistency across all channels. • Translated B2B business model to B2C as company shifted away from a focus on retailers to consumers by overhauling their direct mail efforts, incorporating content marketing, and incentivizing consumers to make web purchases.• Overhauled the editorial approach to make catalogs more lifestyle-focused to inspire consumer aspirations and develop brand loyalty. Art directed photo shoots and managed copywriters and design staff.

Chicago, Us

QuoraCORE, formerly Quarasan was a full-service, turn-key editorial/design studio serving K-12 educational publishers with a reputation for delivering under tight deadlines and budgets. Recruited to direct and manage in-house design team by establishing the design direction of content-rich, complex educational products and managing output and quality of work. • Oversaw design, quality, and consistency across multiple projects concurrently. • Created and maintained project workflows, schedules, and budgets. • Recruited and developed full-time and freelance staff.

Master Of Fine Arts - Mfa

Bfa, Fine Art

Mfa, Fine Art