Group Creative Director at AKQA
Greater New York City Area
- Current
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- Group Creative Director at AKQA
- Past
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- Senior Art Director at Blueberry.net
- Creative Director at Singleton Ogilvy Interactive
- Senior Multimedia Designer at Leo Burnett
- Web Designer at SAI Media
- Graphic Designer at Nuts About Design
- Education
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- University of Canberra
- Recommended
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17 people have recommended Damian - Connections
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489
connections
- Industry
- Online Media
Damian Claassens’s Summary
Damian Claassens’s Specialties:
Concept development, branding and identity, graphic design, illustration, print, film, motion graphics, animation, interactive- Web sites, intranets, extranets, mobile
Damian Claassens’s Experience
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Group Creative Director
AKQA
(Privately Held; Marketing and Advertising industry)
January 2008 — Present (2 years 1 month)
Providing overall Creative Direction for New York office
- Creative Direction on Smirnoff Global account
- Creative Direction on Motorola Global account
- Creative Direction on Sprite Global Account
Clients: Smirnoff, Sprite, Motorola, Nike, Coca-Cola, Kraft, Google
AKQA Agency:
Digital Agency of the Year, Adweek, 2008
Digital Agency of the Year, Advertising Age, 2008
Digital Agency of the Year, OMMA Magazine, 2008
Digital Agency of the Decade, Revolution Magazine, 2007 -
Creative Director
AKQA
(Privately Held; Marketing and Advertising industry)
July 2006 — January 2008 (1 year 7 months)
- Providing Creative Direction for New York agency
- Creative Direction on Coca-Cola Global account
- Creative Direction on Diageo Global Account, Smirnoff & Captain Morgan
AKQA Agency:
Digital Agency of the Decade, Revolution Magazine, 2007
Digital Agency of the Year, OMMA Magazine, 2007
Best Web Design & Site Development, OMMA Magazine, 2006 -
Associate Creative Director
AKQA
(Privately Held; Marketing and Advertising industry)
January 2005 — June 2006 (1 year 6 months)
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Senior Art Director
Framfab
(Public Company; 51-200 employees; Online Media industry)
March 2002 — March 2005 (3 years 1 month)
As a Senior Art Director at Framfab Copenhagen it was my chief responsibility to conceive, define, and manage the visual development of digital projects for our existing clients and new business projects.
Being an adept visual juggler I had to manage the balance of design, production and technical issues before they took place. Working on a number of clients at the same time, I managed different creative teams from varying competencies including art direction, graphics production and flash/interface development providing leadership and creative vision while maintaining tight deadlines.
I was instrumental in a number of new business projects including Electrolux Worldwide, Volvo Trucks Corporation Worldwide, and Coca-Cola Company Nordics with their Sprite and Fanta brands.
A number of the projects I have worked on at Framfab won high profile awards, namely 2 Cyber Lions, 1 Clio and 1 LIAA Angel. -
Senior Art Director
Blueberry.net
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Online Media industry)
August 2000 — April 2001 (9 months)
Completed creative concepts for our major clients including lead creative for pitches and new business acquisitions, working closely with the Creative Director.
Responsibilities included working with the Creative Director in the management of the creative department, the development and enforcement of quality standards for creative work, mentoring and directing designers and junior designers.
Since commencing my employment at Blueberry I spent much of my time working on my major client oneswoop.com, an online car retailer and on pitches for:
Elle Macpherson, HealthXChange, Levis, Nike, Renault, Sony Aibo, Subaru and Wrangler -
Creative Director
Singleton Ogilvy Interactive
(Online Media industry)
January 2000 — June 2000 (6 months)
I was the manager of the Interactive creative department and custodian of its creative output. It was important to ensure that the interactive work closed the loop on the 360° brand perspective of each client.
Responsibilities included management of the creative department, control and oversight of all creative work, the development and enforcement of quality standards, and participation in the management of the business, this also included the allocation of time and resources to specific projects.
The overall directive on joining SOI was to build an interactive team that could deliver new media solutions to the existing client base of the parent agency, Singleton Ogilvy&Mather. Upon joining SOI I expanded the existing team of two to 15 employees.
While at Ogilvy I worked for clients 3com, Commonwealth Bank, HomePath, IBM eBusiness, IBM Global Services, IBM, Kemenys’ Wines, KFC, Nokia, Pizza Hut, QANTAS, Taco Bell and Telstra. -
Senior Multimedia Designer
Leo Burnett
(Public Company; 51-200 employees; Online Media industry)
June 1998 — December 1999 (1 year 7 months)
The role of Senior Multimedia Designer focused on completing the lead creative on the large Internet projects for agency ‘above the line’ clients.
Kellogg’s Coco Pops project gained a finalist nomination in AWARD (Australian Writers and Art Directors Association) Australia and Outstanding Merit in the OneShow Interactive Awards in New York. Banner advertising developed in conjunction with the site won the ‘Ultimate Media Mix Award’ at Yahoo Awwwards in Australia. Awarded a Leo Burnett ‘Eight Ball’ award from the Chicago head office for the work that I completed on this project.
This position involved in offline work also. Press ads and packaging for Optus eGame Multiplay, POS, posters and packaging for Stolichnya Lemon Ruski Vodka RTD and an in-house project to develop 142 A0 sized prints for the Leo Burnett office interior. -
Web Designer
SAI Media
(Public Company; 11-50 employees; Online Media industry)
May 1997 — June 1998 (1 year 2 months)
I worked for SAI Media, a division of Show-Ads Omega and PMP Communications, as a Web Designer. My responsibilities included lead creative and page generation for client websites such as ABC Shop Online, Collette Dinnigan, FOXTEL Weather Channel, FOXTEL, Property.com.au, SOCOG Olympic Club, Telstra, Fairfax Network, Professionals Real Estate Group, Seven Network, Village (part of Village Roadshow) and Velvet MSN channel,
This role mainly involved taking briefs for work and then developing concepts for approval Furthermore, I was often required to design and then code the site as a whole. -
Graphic Designer
Nuts About Design
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Printing industry)
May 1996 — May 1997 (1 year 1 month)
NAD was a small design company that developed print media design solutions for clients such as Antony Whittaker Hair Design, Austrabelle, Cleanaway, Cougar Bourbon, McGuigan Brothers Wines, Pepper Tree Wines and Wolsely Castle.
NAD also developed two magazines in house. ‘Highlights’ magazine is a quarterly publication that centres on the hairdressing industry covering topics such as hair design, interior design of salons and lifestyles. My role on the magazine was the lead designer, conceptualising covers and layouts and taking them through to final print production. During issue production I was required to liase with printers, output facilities, photographers and copywriters. I completed the design on four issues of the magazine.
NAD released a second monthly newsstand release magazine called Noise. This magazine had a broader focus on the fashion and lifestyle industry as a whole. I developed and designed the main banner and overall layout style for the first three issues.
Additional Information
Damian Claassens’s Groups:
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Interaction Design Association -
Advertising Professional -
UX Professionals -
Apple Professionals -
Communication Arts -
INTERACTIVE GROUP -
Ogilvy: Past, Present & Future -
FWA -
Miami Ad School -
Creative Social -
brandhackers -
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ADVERTISING AGENCIES Group -
Mobile Social Network -
University of Canberra -
framfab -
Digital Media Group - Australia and New Zealand -
Society of Digital Agencies -
The Executive Club -
Leagas Delaney Shanghai
Damian Claassens’s Honors:
Awards
- OneShow Interactive, Silver, 2005, Sprite ‘The Instinct’
- Eyeblaster North American Judges Choice Award, 2005 - ESPN Fantasy Football
- Cannes Lions 2004, Bronze, Sprite ‘The Instinct’
- La Fiesta de la Interactivdad 2004, Mejor Accion de Publicidad Online, Silver, Nikefreestyle.com
- OneShow Interactive Finalist 2004, Business to Consumer, Carlsberg.com
- LIAA 2003, Corporate Image, Nikefreestyle.com
- Clio Awards 2003, Bronze, Nikefreestyle.com
- Cannes Lions 2002, Grand Prix, Nikefootball.com
- Macromedia WWWhat? Awards 2000, Best Government Site, NSWTourism
- Macromedia WWWhat? Awards 2000, Entertainment Site, Kellogg’s Coco Pops
- Australian Direct Marketing Association, 1999 Silver, Commonwealth Bank
- Australian Writers and Art Directors 1999, Kellogg’s Coco Pops
- Yahoo Awwwards 1999, Ultimate Media Mix Award, Kellogg’s Coco Pops
- OneShow Interactive 1999, Merit Award, Kellogg’s Coco Pops
- Leo Burnett Eight Ball 1999, Kellogg’s Coco Pops
Damian Claassens’s Contact Settings
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