Michael Rupertus

Experience

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  Image Designers Inc.

  Aug 1996 - Aug 2000

  Web Designer/Graphic Designer

  Instrumental in changing entire business model by proposing and implementing web development and site hosting, expanding breadth of services Image Designers had to offer clients.• Coordinated, developed, designed and maintained client web sites. Trained and supervised graphic designers and web designers.

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  Capital One

  Aug 2000 - Jan 2010

  Expert knowledge of direct mail and marketing, resulted in strategic and targeted marketing solutions. Stayed current on market research and testing to develop fresh and impactful messages and concepts. Collaborated with creative team and client producing well thought out marketing communications, as well as building a strong team environment. Acted as Creative Director demonstrating strong leadership, influence, communication and decision-making. Strong presenter—has a great way of including everyone in the room—clients felt informed and at ease. Acted as the liaison to outside agencies and production services maintaining creative intent and a high standard of quality.• Proposed and developed innovative e-newsletter to be an effective content marketing tactic that earned customers trust and loyalty.• Successfully developed a point-of-sale campaign for 17 different medical loan products. Client was “blown away” by the level of understanding of audience and business needs (Award winner for 2009 American Inhouse Design Awards—Graphic Design USA).• Re-branded a non-profit financial organization “changing the future of the organization.”• Facilitator of change—developed an online survey, on behalf of entire team, collecting feedback from business partners on building better working relationships and finished products.• Pro-actively owned self development—wrote a proposal for How Design Conference attendance. Attended conference and reported out to creative teams—bringing latest creative insights and inspiration to the larger creative group. Show less Evaluated business teams goals and objectives to establish an on-target, creative direction. Collaborated with internal marketing manager, business team, art director and copywriter to formulate marketing strategy. Led and supervised work of freelance designers, photographers and illustrators. Monitored projects for creative intent.• Brainstormed, concepted and designed visual layouts that persuasively communicated marketing objectives to the end consumer. Worked with production artists and print services to ensure proposed packages could be produced successfully.• Facilitator of change—proposed an update to current process to accommodate additional market testing and reduce the number of creative resources needed. A calculator was developed to access capacity and to attach a man-hour value to specific tasks. The process redesign added more flexibility into the process allowing more testing slots. Managed the allocation of creative resources for each job going forward.• Innovator—Identified a process inefficiency and initiated a test. Presented successes and potential risks to the management team. Performed all job responsibilities during pilot, adhering to time lines with a high degree of accuracy.• Trained in, and utilized Six-Sigma methodologies and the Lean process from the art direction perspective. Managed the process flawlessly and on time. Show less

  • Senior Art Director: National Direct Bank

    Jan 2006 - Jan 2010

  • Senior Graphic Designer

    May 2002 - Dec 2005

  • Senior Graphic Artist

    Aug 2000 - May 2002
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  Design & Conquer

  Jan 2010 - now

  Creative Director/Video Producer, Shooter and Editor

  • Manages all parts of the creative process, including client relations and external vendors. Collaborates with clients and creative partners to clarify objectives, develop creative strategy and build brands.• Offers clients an additional marketing channel with professional experience in shooting, directing, editing and producing video. Experience with direction and production of corporate promotional video, all aspects of producing documentary video, as well as all aspects of producing special events video. • Branded, developed and executed a long-term marketing plan for a local IT company, which has resulted in their increased revenue.• Redesigned launch site and creative material for a pharmaceutical management corporation to better serve their clients and clearly state the organizations’ tenets. Show less

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  Virginia Association of REALTORS

  May 2012 - Oct 2016

  Creative Director/Video Producer, Shooter and Editor

  • Managed all parts of the creative process, including internal client relations, external vendors and contractors. • Collaborated with Chief Marketing Officer to develop marketing strategies for the organization. • Developed and maintained a cohesive look and feel for the VAR Brand that was clearly executed in all marketing material, from print and web to video.• Directed, shot and edited over 125 informational and promotional videos each year.Developed video marketing stream where there had previously been none.• Researched, proposed, built and ran video green screen studio — vastly improving videoproduction, speed and quality.• Implemented cost-saving measures to reduce the cost of all printed materials by 60%. Show less