Brian Kelley // Account Strategist
How could you possibly persuade tourists and conventioneers to consider New Orleans after the unimaginable disaster that was Hurricane Katrina? Brian Kelley figured out a way in the form of the award winning, “Forever New Orleans” communications plan, which helped put needed dollars and life back into the devastated city. And this coming from a guy who grew up in Michigan. His level of insight and accomplishment really isn’t surprising. Every brand that Brian has produced strategy for has experienced a tremendous increase in sales volume through impactful channel marketing, promotions, sponsorships, traditional and online advertising and social media. Since graduating from Central Michigan University, Brian has used his considerable strategic skills to boost the fortunes of iconic brands such as Clorox, Nestle, Timex, Nokia, SmithKline Beecham and Chevrolet. Needless to say, we’re very happy that we were able to pry Brian away from New Orleans’s charms to join us, as we build brands in a better way at AREA203. Huge increase in sales, anyone?
Jason Wilson // Pay-Per-Click Manager
Analytics helps us to refine our messaging here at AREA203, so our clients are getting the biggest bang for their buck. It takes someone with a very keen eye for detail. A knack for juggling multiple, time sensitive projects and the ability to make sense out of mountains of data. Oh, and someone who won’t go cross-eyed looking at a monitor all day long. It takes Jason Wilson. Jason does double duty at AREA203 as a pay-per-click analytics specialist and manager. When he’s not busy being really, really good with the numbers, he maintains close working relationships with interactive industry giants like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Efficient Frontier — relationships that help us to effectively stretch the media dollars of our clients and boost their ROIs. Jason’s so focused on getting us the numbers we need that most of the time we hardly know he’s here. That is, until he helps to dramatically drive down a client’s acquisition costs and boost conversions.
Tavis Salazar // Creative Director
We don’t have the beautiful weather, white sand beaches or glitzy nightlife of Miami. But we do have something that makes Miami jealous: we have Tavis Salazar. When he left Florida, Tavis brought with him a degree from Miami International University of Art and Design, and more than 15 years of expertise. Plus mentoring skills that he puts to very good use, as he guides the work of the also very talented art directors and designers here at AREA203. As our Creative Director, Tavis helps manage the creative department while producing head turning, whiplash inducing, skyrocketing sales producing work for all of our clients. So, if you see us getting a little jumpy whenever we see a car with Florida tags drive by, please understand, we’re surprised the City of Miami hasn’t sent a posse up here to kidnap Tavis and bring him back.
Brian M. McGee // Analytics Manager
You know those people who seem to be good at everything and don’t have a mean bone in their bodies? Well, that’s Brian McGee. A native of the Windy City, he blew us away with his charm and his analytics expertise. With a B.S. in advertising, an M.B.A. in marketing and over 17 years of experience, we knew he was the right man for the job.
Brian brings with him a diverse business background ranging from startup companies to Fortune 500 corporations–including IBM, the State of Georgia, Accenture, IHG, and WebSideStory (now Omniture). He’s experienced both sides, client and web vendor analytics, giving him an unfair advantage that helps him to turn all of these metrics into proven results.
When he’s not busy busting his chops to make your brand better, he enjoys exercising and finds time to give back by mentoring underprivileged inner city youth. See, we told you he’s good at everything.
Elizabeth Ross // SEO Manager
With years of experience and education under her belt, Elizabeth Ross is one tough SEO cookie. She’s achieved top 10 rankings for 17 major lines in the three leading search engines for over five years, created successful email marketing systems, and designed organic SEO strategies for a number of companies. If that’s not enough, she’s able to effectively lead, educate, and motivate her team and those around her. She’s the perfect person to keep our SEO department in tiptop shape.
So how did she get to be such a big search engine hotshot? After receiving a Bachelor’s degree in English from FIU Miami, she gained extensive knowledge by attending many SEO/SEM conferences. She has taken on roles such as SEO/SEM Manager and Marketing Manager at Paladin Enterprises and Victoria’s Mall in South Carolina. She’s also successfully led focus groups to develop a Web 2.0 social networking strategy, created and managed annual budgets for paid search purchases, and designed an original website in hand coded HTML. She’s a seriously motivated do-it-all go-getter, which gets us pretty excited. And you'll be, too, once you see how she can flood your site with new customers.
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