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I continue to help agencies and companies with advertising pitches various agencies, brand guidelines and proposals.
To see this work (pitch decks, unlaunched/cancelled work, guideline documents, concepts) please request a password.
Creative Director, Art Director, Director, Occasional Writer
for Advertising, Branding & SaaS since 2001
I am a Creative director & art director with 20 years in Advertising, Marketing, Design, SaaS, Tech Innovation and Animation (2D/3D) with experience working as a hands-on creative and as a department head and executive team creative lead. As well as 5+ years in performance marketing direction and planning.
My true passion is thinking of creative ideas and inspiring other creatives to think big responsibly. I am constantly curious about telling the next story. My curiosity has garnered 50+ awards national and international for marketing, branding, illustration and design. As well as multiple top 15 Best Art Directors rankings in Strategy Magazine’s Creative Report Card. I also have over a decade of experience streamlining and creating company and department creative pipelines and processes to make departments more accountable and efficient – giving more time for creative thinking and production.
Career highlights include transforming an agency into a SaaS company (Dashboard acquired by Vicimus), helping lead Grey Canada to win ADCC Agency Of The Year, creating a social tool that assisted in the rescue of missing children (Missing Children Society), filming commercials everywhere from my office floor (Bumper) to a forest in Argentina (Guinness) to a 10,000+ foot glacier (Post Grape-Nuts).
Awards & Accolades: 50+ awards national and international for marketing, branding, illustration and design.
Creative Skills: Creative Direction & Strategy, Art Direction, Concepting, Branding, Design, Illustration, Social, Digital & Traditional Marketing, Writing (short form, long form, scripting), Performance marketing
Business Skills: Executive team Experience, Team and Departmental Management, Client Management, New Business Development, Internal Planning, Budgeting, Resource Management, Project management, SOWs, Estimates, Process Development and deployment
Information Skills: UI/UX, Wires, Architecture, Prototypes, User Testing, Documentation, BRDs, Product Development, Roadmaps
Social Skills: Interpersonal Skills, Public Speaking, Storytelling, Mentoring, Teaching
Nice Things Other People Say…
Todd Lawson is a “Swiss-Army-Knife” of creativity. Physical or digital, no matter, he can do it fast and he can do it very, very well. He is a Jack of all trades and a Master of all. Hire him, quick, you won’t regret it.
Glen Hunt | Ex CCO/CTO, V7/Cossette
Todd is a true talent, equal part user experience and idea minded he’s fluent in multiple communication languages.
Patrick Scissons | Co-Founder & CEO, The Ostrich Algorithm / Ex CCO, KBS/Grey/Syncapse/BBDO
He embodied all of his creative works characteristics while also being one of the most calm, cool and collected creatives that I’ve had the pleasure of working with.
Barry Hillier / Co-Founder & CIO At EquoShift / Former Owner/Founder At Dashboard
Todd is a talented senior creative that has incredible dedication and passion. His ability to understand the objectives and deliver relevant, exciting creative is outstanding.
Brian Steinhauser / Co-CEO / Discovery Loft
Todd is one of those rare creative professionals who not only produces beautiful and inspired design, but actively leads the process around it. He understands the sweet spot where business objectives and creative innovation intersect and is extremely adept at bringing fresh insights to the projects he works on.
Gayle Lunn / Partner / Rebelles Research
Todd’s strong leadership, communication and customer service skills were the reason this project was such a huge success for the AutoShow. It didn’t matter what the task or request was, he made it happen for us. We cannot thank him enough as he was a true pleasure to work with!
Stephanie Thompson | Manager, Marketing & Operations | Canadian International AutoShow
Snapshot of 18+ years of experience (since 2001)
- Executive Creative Director | Blink 2021-Present
- Chief Creative Officer | Vicimus 2019-2021
- VP, Creative Strategy | Vicimus 2017-2019
- Creative Director | Strategy Mob 2015-2017
- Chief Creative Officer | Dashboard 2015-2017
- Associate Creative Director | Grey 2012-2015
- Senior Art Director | Grey 2010-2012
- Senior Art Director | Dashboard 2007-2010
- Art Director, Designer, Illustrator, 3d Artist &
- More | Various Firms 2001-2006
Clients/Brands I’ve helped: Abreva, AXE, Acura on Brant, AIDS Committee of Toronto, ATI, Atlanta Magazine, BlackBerry (RIM), Blu-Kote, Blue Ivy, Bombay Sapphire, Breathe Right, Bumper, Burlington Ribfest, Canadian AutoShow, Canadian Online Gamers Network, CDRS Hamilton, Corus, CosmoTV, Cruzan Rum, CCSC, Diageo, Dofasco, Débaufré, Eli Lilly Cymbalta (Pharama-depression), Elm Street Magazine, Enroute, Euroglass, Exclaim, Fortune Magazine, GSK, GloveboxCMS, Grape-Nuts, Great Grains, Guinness, Hellmann’s, H&R Block, Home Hardware, InBurlington, Independent School Association of Ontario, LCBO, Lexus of Oakville, Milk, Nissan Canada, Ontario Toyota Dealers Association, Ovarian Cancer Canada, Phaeton Automotive Group (6 Store Automotive Retail), Playtex (Health/Product – FemCare and InfantCare brands), POST Cereals, Pronamel, Sagicor General Insurance, Sensodyne, Scotiabank, SevenStar Sports, Shreddies Cereal, Sunlight Laundry, Suburban Ford (Retail Automotive), Sunveil Sunwear, St. George Apple Festival, Swiss Herbal (Pharma-vitamins), Target Canada, Toyota Canada, the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, Vaseline, Wrigely’s Juicy Fruit and W-Network (partial list)
Latest Written Articles
- 5 points from 5 years of managing Creative Teams in a SaaS Tech Firm.When I started to lead a creative team as Chief Creative Officer in Tech (SaaS) I had a LOT of preconceived notions about what my job was. I was mostly wrong most of the time. But I also learned a LOT over these past 5 years.
- When a creative director puts out a job opening out for a copywriter…and gets a LOT of ‘other’ resumes.After the last few days of combing through initial applications for our latest job posting for a copywriter It was necessary to provide some key pointers to any applicants before you consider applying. This may also help other creatives understand how a Creative Director or an HR may treat your application.
- One Eye Open: Creative directing without being an overlord.With this article I wanted to specifically focus on examples and tips for ways to give direction without micromanaging the processes.