CREATIVE & BRAND LEADER | CREATIVE DIRECTION | BRAND STRATEGY | CREATIVE SERVICES
Dallas–Fort Worth, TX | (254) 548-1693 | JamesCarrollBrown@gmail.com
LinkedIn.com/in/jamescarrollbrown | JamesBrownCreative.com
Award-winning creative and brand leader with 20 years of experience building brands, leading multidisciplinary teams, and translating business objectives into compelling visual communications and integrated advertising. Deep expertise in creative direction, art direction, brand identity, design systems, and advertising, complemented by experience in marketing strategy, digital media, web, UX/UI, and creative operations. Proven leader across in-house creative organizations, agencies, franchise systems, multi-location brands, entertainment, senior living, consumer products, and service industries.
Creative Direction • Creative Leadership • Art Direction • Brand Strategy • Brand Identity • Brand Development • Creative Services • Creative Operations • Visual Communications • Design Systems • Integrated Campaigns • Team Leadership & Development • Concept Development • Digital & Web Creative • UX/UI • Environmental & Experiential Design • Marketing Strategy • Multi-Location & Franchise Brands • Budget Management • Vendor & Agency Management • AI Integration
Magnetar Advertising | Dallas–Fort Worth, TX | Oct 2023–Present
Lead creative direction, brand strategy, visual identity, campaign development, and integrated creative for an independent advertising and creative agency specializing in multi-location organizations and professional service brands. Develop and evolve brand systems across websites, digital advertising, social media, email, print, and other brand touchpoints. Partner with owners, executives, and marketing leaders to translate business objectives into effective brand, creative, advertising, and marketing strategies. Direct specialized contract talent across graphic design, web development, and UX/UI, along with production partners in print, photography, video, and other creative disciplines. Remain hands-on in creative direction, art direction, design, concept development, and quality control while leading agency operations, client relationships, and business development.
Bravo Results Marketing | Dallas–Fort Worth, TX | Aug 2022–Oct 2023
Joined Bravo following its acquisition of Brown Shark Advertising, a boutique creative agency I founded and operated from 2020–2022. Managed a six-person sales and marketing team while providing leadership across agency operations, client strategy, creative, media, and production. Aligned brand, creative, advertising, and media strategies with client objectives across local markets. Managed multi-million-dollar budget, contracts, vendor relationships, and production.
Turnstile Inc. | Dallas, TX | Jul 2019–Jul 2022
Provided art direction and hands-on creative development for brands including Six Flags, Palace Entertainment, Apex Parks Group, H2OBX, and SpeedPro North America. Developed campaign concepts and creative across advertising, logos, print, in-park signage, outdoor, digital, social, packaging, and branded environments. Translated concepts into cohesive visual systems adaptable across media, markets, and physical environments.
Sagora Senior Living | Fort Worth, TX | May 2018–Jul 2019
Promoted from Marketing Art Director to lead corporate marketing and brand initiatives for approximately 40 senior living communities nationwide. Led a seven-person multidisciplinary team spanning digital marketing, social media, art direction, media buying, public relations, graphic design, and web development. Directed creative and marketing across digital, SEO/SEM, television, radio, print, PR, web, social media, advertising, and community collateral. Managed $1M+ in annual advertising and marketing budgets and developed strategies supporting existing communities, acquisitions, and new construction. Partnered with executive leadership, operations, sales, community teams, agencies, and vendors to align brand standards with market needs.
Sagora Senior Living | Fort Worth, TX | Jan 2018–May 2018
Managed visual standards, brand assets, and creative for approximately 40 communities across web, digital, social, print, and collateral. Promoted to Corporate Director of Marketing within five months.
Personal Trainer Food | Fort Worth, TX | Oct 2015–Jan 2018
Directed creative and brand standards for Personal Trainer Food and sister brand Fudoozie across advertising, digital, packaging, web, and customer experiences. Managed an internal graphic designer, social media manager, and web developer while remaining hands-on in creative direction, art direction, design, and UX/UI. Spearheaded a comprehensive website redesign focused on user experience, conversion, SEO, and consumer perception. Developed brand guidelines and partnered with sales and marketing leadership on digital and traditional advertising initiatives.
Neighborly® / The Dwyer Group | Waco, TX | Oct 2012–Sep 2015
Led creative services for the corporate organization, national franchise brands, franchisees, and a 60-person in-house agency. Managed and mentored a nine-person creative and video team producing approximately 2,000–3,000 projects annually across 6–12 brands. Directed creative strategy, art direction, brand standards, and integrated advertising across local, national, and international initiatives. Managed a $750K+ departmental budget and creative across video, print, digital, outdoor, fleet, web, environmental, and experiential applications. Improved creative processes and managed a multi-channel platform providing franchisees with creative assets and marketing automation capabilities. Directed event creative for the organization's annual system-wide conference attended by 2,000+ participants.
Neighborly® / The Dwyer Group | Waco, TX | Jun 2006–Oct 2012
Progressed from Graphic Designer to Senior Graphic Designer and team leadership. Developed brand identities and integrated creative across print, digital, outdoor, web, and environmental channels, including the visual identity for The Grounds Guys and a cross-media campaign supporting CEO Dina Dwyer-Owens' appearance on Undercover Boss.
McLennan Community College | Multimedia Advisory Board — Chairperson, 2026 | Member, 2025–Present
Texas State Technical College | Digital Media Design Advisory Committee — Chairperson, 2026 | Member, 2008–Present
Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) — B.A., Visual Communications, Concentration in Advertising | Cum Laude
Texas State Technical College — A.A.S., Advertising, Design & Print Technology
20+ American Advertising Federation (AAF) Awards — Gold, Silver, and Bronze ADDY Awards, including a Judge's Award and recognition for creative direction, advertising, and design excellence.
Adobe Photoshop • Illustrator • InDesign • Acrobat • Express • Firefly • Figma • Generative AI • Graphic Design • Typography • Brand Guidelines • Web Design • UX/UI • Digital Advertising • Email Marketing • Basic HTML/CSS • Project Management • Media Planning & Buying • Microsoft Office