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craig woodgate
Branding, United States California San Francisco
 
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Brand Naming | Verbal Identity
Brief Summary
Over 20 years experience (in Europe and the US) of developing brand strategy, verbal identity and marketing communications has yielded successful solutions for a variety of organizations – from B2B to FMCG, lifestyle and luxury, retail to real estate.
Clients
Absolut Vodka
Aegis Communications Group
Asian Art Museum
Ask.com
AT&T
AuPairCare
Avisent Management Group
AYUSA International
Banana Republic
BAVC
Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society
Blaze Software
Boston Beer Company
Burr Pilger Mayer
California Bank & Trust
Carmel Partners
Catellus
Cathay Pacific
Center for Asian American Media
Coors Brewing Co
Creative Sector Forum
Doritos
Even Lifestyles
Exxon
FedEx
Firebrand Venture Partners
Friends of the San Francisco
Public Library
Frito-Lay
General Atlantic
Gerber Foods
Getty Trust
Helene Curtis
Hewlett-Packard
IDS Real Estate
Igo Foods
Inovus
International Center for the Arts
International Museum of Women
Intrax
Invesco
Kudo Communications
Liftech
L'Oréal
Macromedia
mb2c
McKinsey & Company
MGM
Microsoft
Montage
Montalvo Arts Center
Nagano Winter Olympics
NAMAC
Nestlé
Neutrogena
NOKIA
Noon
ODC/Dance Company
Oracle
Patrick Robinson
PCTEL
Pepsi
Pete's Wicked Ale
Philips Electronics
Pinpoint Real Estate Partners
Piperade Restaurant
San Francisco Arts Commission
San Francisco Ballet
San Francisco International Asian
American Film Festival
San Francisco School Alliance
San Francisco Symphony
San Jose Museum of Art
Seibu
Sekani Kayaks
Solitude Fly Fishing Co
Susan Dell
Swan Systems
Tangleblue
The Girl Scouts of USA
Telling Pictures/HBO
Vodafone/ Eircell
Wecker Associates
WHSmith
Williams Sonoma
Xerox
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Professional Experience
Brand Strategy & Positioning
• Blaze Software Inc
• Carmel Partners Inc
• International Center for the Arts
• McKinsey & Co
• National Alliance for Media Arts + Culture
• Nokia
• Paragraph/Seibu
• Patrick Robinson
• PCTEL Inc
• Susan Dell Inc
• Swan Systems Inc
• Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Brand Naming
• Avisent Management Group (McKinsey/General Atlantic’s joint venture)
• Even (skateboarding/lifestyle brand)
• Firebrand Venture Partners (investment company)
• Hyphen (software-as-a-service)
• Igo Foods (specialty spices)
• Kudo Communications (PR company - UK)
• mb2c (management consultancy)
• McKinsey Silicon Valley / @McKinsey (nomenclature system)
• MGM (Pink Panther color nomenclature system)
• Paragraph (specialty retailer - Japan)

Brand Communications
• Asian Art Museum (exhibition copy)
• Banana Republic (direct mail, loyalty card copy)
• Catellus (ad concepts)
• Eircell/Vodafone (signage messaging system)
• Hewlett-Packard (printer copy)
• Macromedia (marketing copy)
• San Francisco Arts Commission (tagline, brochure copy)
• San Francisco Ballet (tagline)
• WHSmith (marketing taglines)
• Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (tagline)


Employment History
• NOON, Brand & Marketing Director (2004 - present)
• Culturebrand, Brand Strategy & Verbal Identity Consultant (1999 - present)
• Citigate Corporate Branding, New Business Director (1997 - 1999)
• Landor San Francisco, Marketing Manager (1995 - 1997)
• Landor London, Marketing & PR Manager (1993 - 1995)
• British Council, International Relations Officer (1992 - 1993)


Education
• University of Southampton (UK)
MA — Culture and Social Change (1991 - 1992)
BA Honors — English and Philosophy (1988 - 1991)


Accomplishments
• Published “Designs on Greatness” (European Communications)
• Winner of The Daily Telegraph limerick competition
• Selected for Rutgers University Exchange Program
• Selected by Project Trust for teaching English in Egypt

¦
NOON, Brand Strategy & Marketing Director
• Managing the NOON brand (online and off-line) from strategy to positioning, sub-branding, architecture, awareness, voice, messaging, copy and guidelines
• Inspiring teams (internal and external) and clients to push boundaries and effect positive change with innovative communication solutions - Blaze Software
• Providing counsel to senior leadership and developing brand strategy for multiple projects - Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
• Managing the strategic and creative process; turning marketing objectives into brand platforms and compelling brand narratives that engage consumers, motivate action and increase revenues - Patrick Robinson
• Leading and collaborating with high performance, cross-functional project teams and external partners - Avisent Management Group
• Developing consumer analytics, research methodology, discussion guides, conducting senior management / board of directors interviews and quantitative research - National Alliance for Media Arts + Culture
• Brand equity analysis and evaluation using primary and secondary research sources to draw key intelligence, recommendations and conclusions - Nokia
• Establishing brand architecture, nomenclature systems and information hierarchies - McKinsey & Co
• Defining target audience segmentation, developing brand essence, positioning, story, communications and value propositions using ethnography, semiotics and cultural insights - International Museum of Women
• A track-record of new business development and initiating opportunities with existing clients - Banana Republic
• Content strategy and development for social media channels (blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.)
• Instigating and executing marketing planning strategy



Culturebrand, Brand Strategy & Verbal Identity Consultant
• Launched own brand strategy, positioning, naming and writing business. 
Clients include: Banana Republic, Center for Asian American Media, General Atlantic, HP, Inovus, Intrax Cultural Exchange, Liftec Inc, McKinsey, MGM, NOON, San Francisco Arts Commission, Seibu, Solitude Fly Fishing Co, Vodafone, WHSmith
• Developed relationships with disparate national and international creative partners and vendors
• Project management
• Writing proposals, creating presentations, pitching new business, developing creative briefs, delivering speaking engagements


Citigate Corporate Branding, New Business Director
• New Business wins included: Aegis Communications Group (naming), AT&T (phone packaging), California Bank & Trust (corporate identity), Caesars Palace (brand review), Exxon (retail concept), Getty Trust (museum signage), Invesco (corporate identity), Pacific Life (corporate identity), Shorebank (corporate identity)
• Instigated repositioning and developed new corporate name (from Bass Yager Citigate to Citigate Corporate Branding)
• Created the proprietary ‘CCB: Spark’ offering; a branding service aimed at start-ups and pre-IPO companies. Targets included, VCs, investment companies, incubators
• Developed relationships within Citigate and Incepta global network; Dewe Rogerson, Lloyd Northover, Citigate Albert Frank
• Developed marketing plans, biannual tracking, assessment and evaluation reports and presented to Chairman


Landor San Francisco, Marketing Manager
• Conducted and evaluated market research, competitive analysis, brand audits, audience segmentation and profiling to draw key brand insights, conclusions and recommendations. Clients included: Coors Brewing Company, Frito Lay, Gatorade, Microsoft, Neutrogena, Panasonic (Matsushita), Pete’s Wicked Ale, Rice-a-Roni
• Brand portfolio strategy consulting for Coors, Neutrogena
• Initiated and executed the writing of ethnographic brand stories to aid creative development. Clients included: Gerber Foods, Absolut Vodka
• Collaborated with cross-functional teams on naming, structural packaging and innovation ideation. Clients included: Philips Electronics (Velo), AT&T (Lucent)
• Partnered with research department in fielding qualitative research focus groups. Clients included: Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams), Frito-Lay (Lays)
• Partnered with public relations to brainstorm sector-specific marketing initiatives: Valentine’s Day ‘Red Hots’, GE, Airline branding
• Instigated, coordinated and executed marketing and new business initiatives

Landor London, Marketing & PR Manager
• Wrote press releases and pitched stories to national and international newspapers as well as trade publications. Clients included: Cathay Pacific, Doritos, FedEx, L’Oréal, Nagano Winter Olympics, Nestlé, Pepsi, Xerox
• Wrote articles and opinion pieces for topical issues including telecom branding, private label brand strategy and naming children
• Instigated and executed marketing, new business initiatives and follow-up for all brand practices; FMCG, Corporate Identity and Retail Environment Branding
• Project management
• Managed marketing and new business database

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