Shannon Carrus

Experience

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  The University of Texas at Austin

  Jan 2001 - Jan 2004

  Student Assistant In Athletic Dept. Fund Development

  Assisted the Longhorn Foundation in greeting donors, collecting and logging athletics department donations and setting up and hosting game day tent for Longhorn Foundation members.

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  MightyStudio

  Jan 2004 - Jan 2005

  Senior Copywriter / Editor

  Created clever and engaging copy for print and interactive projects. I also managed content for the agency’s city guide, B1604.

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  Visionworks

  Nov 2005 - May 2006

  Graphic Designer

  Creative concepting and graphic design for ad agency clients like WWE and The Magic

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  Rasmussen College, Inc.

  Jul 2006 - Dec 2011

  Creative Director / Art Director

  Provided creative direction for 23 campuses across 5 states. Day-to-day responsibilities included overseeing:- TV/Video Production- Photography- Print design for viewbooks, catalogs, brochures, print ads and more- Outdoor design- Communication and direction of agency partners

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  How Design

  Jan 2011 - Jan 2014

  Guest Blogger

  Due to my experience managing both ad agency and in-house teams, I was invited to serve as a guest contributor to HOW Design's InHOWse blog. I began my column when I was the Creative Director at Rasmussen College and extended it for 3 years after I joined my ad agency, WHOISCARRUS. Over the years, I wrote numerous thought leadership articles about issues facing in-house marketing teams, such as: building a strong internal team, how to manage the ad agency/in-house relationship, tips on staying inspired and more. Show less

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  WHOISCARRUS

  Nov 2011 - May 2016

  Interactive Creative Director / Partner

  As Creative Director at WHOISCARRUS, I pitched creative to clients, led brand development and provided creative direction and copy for digital, print, TV and more.Typical day-to-day activities included:• Brand-building with new clients• Overseeing interactive projects throughout their entire process, which typically entailed creative briefs, information architecture (IA), wireframes, mood boards, design, content development, content management (Wordpress/Umbraco/Drupal) and creative QA• Manage a team consisting of an art director, senior designer, developer and intern. Freelancers were brought in on an as-needed basis.When I wasn't providing creative direction, I also served as the agency's copywriter. Long and short form copy projects included: • Campaign concepts• Headlines and taglines• Website copy• TV and radio scripts• Thought leadership articles• Whitepapers• Media pitches resulting in coverage from Forbes, Entrepreneur, CIO, Fortune, Ragan, HOW Show less

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  Nestlé Purina North America

  May 2016 - now

  I write about dogs and cats all day and it rocks!What I do:• Serve as a copy lead for Purina's flagship brand, Purina Pro Plan. This includes print, packaging, interactive, shopper display, and video copywriting, as well as creative concepting for campaigns. • Assist in new product development by brainstorming products/form, creating copy stim for various qualitative research methods like focus groups and BASES testing• Support the digital team and provide UX copy strategy, SEO best practices, and copywriting for various global special projects and direct-to-consumer initiatives across Purina• I also piloted Pro Plan's eCommerce intitiative to create globally approved content for Amazon, Chewy, and other online retailers Show less

  • Creative Director (Copy)

    May 2024 - now

  • Associate Creative Director (Copy)

    Aug 2021 - May 2024

  • Senior Copywriter

    May 2016 - Aug 2021