*ABOUT ME
Who am I & What I do
Ellen Szot
SENIOR CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Throughout my career—including my current role with Publishers Clearing House as Senior Creative Director—my focus has been on driving bottom-line profitability. Strongly self-directed, with a drive to continuously improve performance, I am able to select, train, motivate, and grow exceptional teams. With a record of engaging diverse audiences with groundbreaking creative campaigns, I believe I can offer great value to your organization.
Below are some examples of the value I can bring:
- Drove prototyping and design for four PCH apps and garnered $6M revenue in Q1 of 2022 – $1M+ over plan.
- Strategized and delivered critical improvements to the first 30 days of the customer journey that achieved a 670% lift in path completions for new users, and an 18% increase in lifetime value.
- Launched seven eCommerce sites at Accoona Corp. that grew revenues from $70M to $120M in one year.
It would be a pleasure to provide further details about my background and I would welcome the chance to learn more about your current and future needs. Drawing on my hands-on leadership style, I believe that I will positively contribute to your vision and objectives.
*EXPERIENCE
Professional Life
Orchestrate multi-disciplinary team of 35 creatives & IT subject matter experts (SMEs) in execution of all UI, UX, and creative development across PCH websites, ecommerce, and iOS/Android applications. Generate innovative concepts and engage executives to win buy-in for new projects. Own digital strategy implementation, visual design patterns, and style guides. Create omni-channel campaigns that engage new audiences. Align products with brand identity encompassing both entertainment and information. Leverage network to forge partnerships with celebrities and events. Coach and mentor managers to provide pathways towards career development and increase morale. Manage $MM creative budgets.
- Spearheaded prototyping and design for Wordmania, Quizmania, Slots, Lotto, and white-label apps – generated nearly $6M – $23M+ annualized run rate, >$4M over plan.
- Directed first design evolution of PCH subscription and auto-ship eCommerce business, targeting $10-15M margin annual run rate in next three years.
- Delivered a new saga map approach for PCH app iOS that increased user retention 50% and generated 15% higher average revenue per daily active users – exceeding plan by 35% with $1.2M revenue.
- Created a new PCH app poised to deliver $5M in first year.
- Partnered with NASCAR driver Kyle Busch to reach PCH's new core customer and won +54% opt-ins.
- Conceptualized and led design for new co-branded sweepstakes that doubled sweepstakes revenue from 2019-2020; doubled again in 2022.
- Prototyped and launched new incentivized vertical-driven survey lead generation, ROKT streaming media, influencer rewards, and PCH/Lucid survey programs to enhance lead quality and quantity.
Previous Experience
Senior Creative Director, Accoona Corp. (Startup), Jersey City, NJ
Art Director, Gruner & Jahr, USA Publishing, New York, NY
Ecommerce Media Consultant / Interactive Designer, Novartis, MasterCard, Target, Procter & Gamble, New York, NY
*EDUCATION
Formal Training
Master of Arts, Computer Design and Interactive Multimedia,
Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
Bachelor of Arts, Computer Graphic Design,
University of New Haven, West Haven, CT
*ACHIEVEMENTS
Achievements
*SKILLS
Areas of Expertise
*CREDENTIALS
Always Learning
