Bios

Amy Joseph
With a unique start at Reader’s Digest, Amy is the one to call if you’re looking for all kinds of nerdy facts about direct response. She’s a real believer in brand-savvy direct and has put her work to the test with big and small brands alike, including LifeScan, HSBC, FEMA, Prospera & BuildDirect.com—picking up ECHO, RSVP and Microsoft Partner awards along the way.

Kelly Brooks
Kelly is design. Pure. Breakthrough. Clean design. She got her start in the architectural arena and it still shows. She’s a master of creating simple visual spaces readers and prospects want to spend time with. No wonder Kelly is everyone’s favorite art director from MTS, TELUS and LifeScan to print and web design.

Leanne Asante
Leanne is a writer extraordinaire. There is no subject you can throw at her that she can’t master in an afternoon! (No pressure, Leanne). Her client list has included everything from software for tugboats to all the biggies like TELUS, LifeScan, HSBC, Western Union, FEMA and Vancouver Hospital & Health Sciences Centre.

Tim McNicoll
Tim’s all business—the business of direct, that is. Co-author of a Guide to DM for Intrawest, Tim has pioneered the visually acceptable starburst. Working with clients in publishing, healthcare and leisure, Tim has won a variety of awards including the Canadian RSVP as well as having won over a variety of clients to the power of direct response writing.

Kai Clemen
Kai. Rhymes with Brand Guy. And that’s what Kai is, as well as being someone who brings a multi-disciplinary approach to his work that includes design, advertising, photography and strategy. His work has been recognized by the Art Directors Show, The Clio Awards, The New York Festivals, Creativity U.K., and Communication Arts. Not bad for a nice guy, huh?

Derek Barnett
There literally isn’t enough space on the page for all of Derek’s international design awards and mouthwatering multinational experience (including a stint at New York’s MOMA). Here’s a taste anyway: Williams-Sonoma, Moet & Chandon, Harvard. Awards: I.D. for web design, AIGA for print, branding and book design & DX, Packaging, Best in Show, among others (lots of others).

Tracey Chapple
From Senior Account Director at the groundbreaking Rethink Communications in Vancouver to General Manager of Blitz Direct, Tracey has mastered marketing in all its forms and delivers the best of her own and her team’s ideas with style. Tracey has worked with every major account in this city including Bell, TELUS, MTS, Intrawest, LifeScan Canada, the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and Tourism British Columbia.

Belinda Wagner
Belinda is a Mercedes kinda gal. With over a decade in advertising and direct, Madame B got her start with Daimler Chrysler for BBDO in Toronto before moving onto the Ford Motor Company account for Maritz Canada. She then headed for the coast and to Cossette West where she worked on Tourism & Hydro before moving onto Shell, LifeScan and Vancouver General Hospital for JWT.

Deborah Pound
What makes Deb’s work look so good? Is it her sensitivity to the Classics and ability with the crosswords, or is it the fact that whenever a challenge arises a solution is never too far off. It’s a fact—Deb has 8 arms. How else can you explain someone who can produce 1,000,000 PediKits for LifeScan all by herself or be a purchasing agent for 17 different governmental departments and manage over 400 suppliers?

Rebecca Marks
Ms. Marks’ name for everyone is chick’n. Not because she likes to challenge authority but because she lives with a vegetarian and meat, apparently, is always on her mind. When she’s not chowing down on something tasty, Rebecca is usually Photoshopping and InDesigning to her heart’s content. There’s no one who understands production software like Rebecca and no project she can’t make look better.

Brooke Baxter
Brooke Baxter is a studio executive. OK. Not a Hollywood studio executive but a studio executive nonetheless. She’s the person that executes all the pre-press and file formatting that’s a must for every well-executed job that’s ever gone to print. Without someone like Brooke working on your files, you’re really chancing your arm. (You’ll have to Google that if you don’t know what it means).

Debbie Collins
After a decade at some of Canada’s leading agencies, including National PR, JWT and McMillan, Deb now appliies her web communications wizardry to create Facebook campaign strategies. If you think there isn’t a creative way to get people talking about your brand on the web—you’re wrong. Just ask Deb. She’s already got 3 ideas for you.

Davina Haisell
What’s wrong with this sentence? I’ve no clue but all I know is that I’m not comfortable going to print until Davina has eyeballed it. With over a decade of proofreading experience that includes double-checking lots of 1-800 numbers and 8-point legal mumbo-jumbo, there’s nothing that escapes her eye.