Mike Zulla Email & Phone Number

Fort Worth, Texas, United States

Served as an external consultant, providing brand strategy and direction for the Creative, Digital and Content teams. Led development of brand marketing campaign guidelines and final in-market executions alongside agency of record and internal production teams, and in partnership with Communications and Sponsorship departments. Improved efficiency and productivity through implementation of project management systems and expanded usage of external freelance resources to support 20% year-over-year increase in workload.

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Oversaw brand direction across the global Wilson Sport ecosystem, delivering brand-enhancing creative for the unique demands of each sport category and the brand as a wholeServed as the guardian of the visual and verbal expression for the Wilson global brand across all sport categories, providing direction and guidelines to ensure every communication and marketing touchpoint consistently met brand standardsProvided strategic leadership and guidance to teammates and stakeholders across Marketing, Product/R&D and Commercial to ensure all touchpoints and expressions are aligned with brand direction pillars and business objectivesOwned the conception, development and execution of key brand initiatives, campaigns and cross-category communicationsManaged and mentored content creators to ensure high levels of channel-right engagement and platform-specific performance while guiding internal teams to develop mastery of a range of content and strategic methodologies and creative tools

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Lead the in-house creative direction for Wilson's family of baseball and softball brands, including Louisville Slugger, EvoShield, DeMarini, ATEC and Wilson Team Shop.Develop and implement art and photo direction for brand and consumer marketing campaigns across digital, print, experiential and video, as well as product designs, retail packaging and sales/promotional materials in collaboration with internal marketing and product design teams and external agencies.Inspire, mentor and guide an in-house creative team of graphic designers and freelance staff, while introducing new software and solutions to streamline the creative process.

Greater Chicago Area

Led the art direction for football, basketball, volleyball and soccer product lines, and helped to launch Wilson's connected products – the Wilson X football and basketball and Wilson LiveProduced multichannel brand experiences for product launches and partnerships, including the NFL, MLB, NCAA, Disney, Pixar and LucasFilms.Responsible for creative development for product designs and packaging, sales and promotional materials as well as all brand and consumer marketing and social media.Established and executed brand strategy for each product line. Planned, concepted and implemented creative direction across all media – traditional, digital and social – as well as experiential and retail.

Flushing, Ny

Serve as the organization's creative engine and brand steward, delivering consistent creative solutions across all team-controlled assets. Manage the design and creation of photographic and promotional materials for all internal departments, including ticket sales, advertising, social media, corporate sales, community outreach, venue services, baseball operations and ownership.Develop and implement the art direction for each season, driving revenue generation by effectively and creatively communicating the team’s business objectives and brand messaging in digital, print and video. Plan and execute data-driven promotional marketing and advertising campaigns through direct collaboration with business analytics and digital marketing teams.Increase customer engagement through unique presentation and delivery of exclusive content that builds new customer relationships, enhances relationships within existing customer base and ultimately drives consumers to make purchases.Lead and develop a multidisciplinary in-house team of graphic designers, photographers, a marketing assistant and freelance staff, all dedicated to creative excellence and innovation, customer engagement, brand stewardship and revenue generation. Regularly analyze and streamline workflow by implementing processes to maximize efficiency of time and resource management.

Greater New York City Area

Developed and implemented a digital marketing strategy to drive donor participation among and increase engagement with young alumni in support of the Columbia College Fund and the Core to Commencement campaign. Consulted on the digital strategy and creative development of fundraising web sites for the Core to Commencement campaign and the Columbia Campaign for Athletics.Worked with the Office of Development on fundraising efforts for several departments throughout the university, including Athletics, Engineering and the Schools of International & Public Affairs, Journalism and Social Work. Created promotional materials for a digital campaign in support of the university's 2015 Giving Day.

Managed a team of full-time and freelance designers, developing and implementing multimedia creative strategies for national promotions and marketing campaigns. Served as creative lead for projects across various media (direct mail, web, signage, print & online advertising), providing photo, art and copy direction while collaborating with marketing, project management and production staff. Established, executed and delivered brand identity and marketing packages for the Toys“R”Us and Babies“R”Us loyalty program, Rewards“R”Us.

Led all aspects of the creative development process, including page layout and design, art and photo direction, market research, strategic planning, copywriting, editing and pre-press. Successfully recruited, motivated and supervised a staff of in-house and freelance graphic designers and copywriters and managed a timeline and budget for third-party service providers for photography, printing and professional video production. Established an external creative services product line and generated more than $200,000 in revenue over three years.

Created and implemented internal and external marketing, publicity and public relations strategies. Designed, edited and developed feature and photo content for publications, advertisements, web sites and promotional items. Established and managed internal print media production schedule and coordinated third-party printing services. Supervised and trained a staff of communications assistants, and managed photography services and archives.