Ben Whitesell

Creative Director

Atlanta, GA, USA
My path has taken me from using the basic principles of visual storytelling, which I studied in art history, to applying these principles in commercial art and graphic design. I work hard to bring stories to life using all the creative resources at my disposal whether personally creating the content or overseeing its creation and execution for a client.

Work Experience

Trust For Public Land

Creative Director

Conceptualize, design, manage, and implement creative campaigns and individualized graphic components to visually communicate the work and initiatives of The Trust for Public land as well as develop and refine brand systems and processes across the marketing organization.

Job Responsibilities:
- Mentor and encourage creative team members to foster a positive work environment.

- Work closely with marketing team leads to develop creative briefs and translate their objectives to creative executions that range from a print publication to photography and video production.

- Report progress of projects at major stages of their conception, creation, and execution.

- Maintain brand guidelines to ensure a consistency and cohesion among concepts and outputs across the organization.
October 2021 - Georgia, United States

The Trust For Public Land

Senior Graphic & Digital Designer

Provided smart, on-brand design for the organization across all mediums and multimedia channels. Focused on both design strategy and hands-on creative execution.

Job Responsibilities:

• Led digital-first design transition for owned social media accounts, video, and virtual marketing, as well as defined excellence in print, experiential and event marketing.

• Stewarded The Trust for Public Land visual identity system, kept brand guidelines current and advised other designers, staff partners, and outside vendors in its implementation.
October 2020 - October 2021 Georgia, United States

IHG

Content & Multimedia Manager - Brand PR

Worked on graphic design, video, and motion design projects to inspire and captivate key audiences. This helped public relations, employee communication, and franchise owner communication campaigns cut through the noise by increasing brand awareness of such iconic properties as Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, and InterContinental Hotels just name a few of IHG’s estate.

Job Highlights:

• Drove design thinking from ideation though concept development, refinement, and execution.

• Created infographics, animations, videos, GIFs and other design assets for owned social media accounts, internal communication channels, and to win new earned media opportunities.

Notable Achievements:

• Completed 66 multimedia projects which produced over 140 assets generating more than $160,000 in creative agency fee savings in the first 8 months at IHG.

April 2019 - September 2020 Georgia, United States

UPS

Global Brand & Content Manager

Led creative development and execution for the content marketing team by building an in-house creative resource group. Established the creative direction, style, workflow processes and methodology of that team. Also assigned ownership of global brand management and governance combining these responsibilities to deliver a more consistent brand experience for UPS in all visual communications for the company.

Job Highlights:

• Managed a team of writers, designers, producers, and vendors in creating compelling, brand-level creative campaigns for enterprise marketing strategy.

• Managed trademark searches and registrations for product and service names.

• Guided multiple agency partners’ SOWs, plans, and budgets by providing strategic and creative direction and approvals for deliverables.


Notable Achievements:

• Led creative planning and execution for #TaylorSwiftDelivery, with UPS as the Official Delivery Partner of Taylor Swift’s sixth studio album, reputation, including all digital elements, a sweepstakes, and package car design takeover. The campaign resulted in more than 2 billion impressions, an 86% increase in positive sentiment, and over $7 million in earned media value.

• Delivered successful metrics for the “UPS Wishes Delivered” campaign during all five years of its run across digital and social channels as the lead creative and campaign manager. Over 5 holiday seasons the “Wishes “campaign helped deliver over $500,000 to our charity partners, generated over 168 million video views, and in the final year of the campaign surpassed the social share benchmark by 188% exceeding the previous year’s goal by over 200,000 shares.
February 2016 - March 2019 Georgia, United States

UPS

Social Media & Content Supervisor

Assigned to develop and launch social campaigns that impacted millions of customers globally. Worked across internal teams including brand, human resources, and public relations, as well as partnered with external social and creative agencies. Collaborated closely with the advertising paid media team to inform and implement holistic strategies and creative. Owned all organic social efforts for series, specials, and initiatives. Worked with key social media and digital platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and YouTube.

Job Highlights:

• Developed social channel strategies to build content standards, targeting priorities, and KPIs for each platform, while providing transparency and education to internal stakeholders.

• Gathered learnings and insights from agency and internal reports to provide strategic recommendations for content optimizations for both organic and paid social media.

• Produced and managed design, photography, and video content for UPS social channels including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
July 2014 - January 2016 Atlanta, Georgia, United States

UPS Airlines

Senior Designer & Social Media

Senior designer and UPS Airlines’ first social media specialist. Honed skills in a variety of production techniques from design to illustration to photography, eventually becoming an accomplished videographer and video editor.

Job Highlights:

• Created both internal communications and social media strategies.

• Learned to develop content through illustration, photography, video production, and motion graphics, which was used across traditional communications channels and broader integrated marketing campaigns.

January 2006 - July 2014 Louisville, Kentucky, United States

Education

Hanover College

Bachelor of Arts

Hanover, Indiana, United States

Skills

3D Design, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Ilustrator, Adobe Indesign, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere, Blender, Graphic Design, Illustration, Motion Design, Video Production,