Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Affiliations
Timeline
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STEVE CHAMBERLAIN

Chicago,IL

Summary

PRODUCT MARKETING & INNOVATION LEAD with 20+ years experience leading human-centered design and marketing teams. As a director-level leader working with some of the world's most recognized service, automotive, CPG and technology brands, I've led marketing, product positioning, go-to-market strategy, researched and ideated breakthrough user experiences as a practitioner of agile methods, experimentation and design-thinking, and currently pursuing my Masters in Product Development and Design (MPD2) through the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University as a full-time student. | IDEO Alumnus

Overview

29
29
years of professional experience

Work History

Freelance Design Strategist

Neol
01.2024 - Current
  • Project-based workflow to research and identify current SaaS process choke points for foodservice operators, create journey maps of the current experience with prioritized problem areas and ideate service experience improvements to 'back of house' business operations

Management Consulting Principal Director of Innovation

What If! Innovation Accenture
01.2021 - 01.2023
  • Pitched, won, and led a $1.3 million ownership experience design project for Ford's next generation of eMobility vehicles that included research, user experience wireframe concepts, in-vehicle technology demos, and business implications for next-stage product development
  • Led groundbreaking research and conceptual design of the 'Future of EV Public Charging' thought-leadership for Accenture that my team presented to global energy, OEM, and retail corporate leaders in 2023.

Vice President, Director of Strategy

DDB Worldwide
01.2018 - 01.2020
  • Led brand and messaging strategy for all of State Farm's advertising overseeing an $800 million media account across all channels including broadcast, display, programmatic and social content
  • State Farm consistently achieved the highest level of brand consideration in the industry during its time in-market
  • Helped lead UX design strategy with State Farm digital team and go-to-market launch messaging for 'Drive Safe & Save,' State Farm's usage-based insurance product
  • Crafted a new brand foundation to reimagine Jiffy Lube in 2021 that included ethnographic user research, concept testing, customer mindset definition, and brand narrative development
  • Presented on-stage at the national sales meeting in Las Vegas with the CMO in 2020.

Director of Brand Strategy

VSA Partners
01.2016 - 01.2018
  • Lead strategist for a significant brand transformation project for Marvin Windows - helping turn a product manufacturer into a human-centered design company - from design research, executive leadership workshop facilitation and brand purpose work completed in mid-2016 to activating a new vision across the company
  • My work included new product innovation and creation of a design lab, a new brand positioning, new portfolio naming and brand identity, inspiring new corporate values and communications, designing a trade show experience and a launching new go-to-market messaging and UX for Marvin.com
  • Executive and board member leadership has called this brand evolution the most significant corporate effort of the past 50 years
  • Worked with Google client teams to craft positioning, messaging and campaign strategy for Google Cloud product launch, Google for Education to attract educators to the technology platform, and Google Retail (Pixel & Home) branding and in-store kiosk design at Target with messaging strategy.

Senior Design & Innovation Lead

IDEO
01.2012 - 01.2015
  • Co-led IDEO's innovation relationship with ConAgra Foods, worked daily with their R&D and brand teams onsite in Omaha and in our studios to design new products, conduct user empathy sessions, lead workshops and ideation, prototype, and craft brand identity and story
  • We designed together as an integrated team alongside senior executive Conagra leadership and used our deep expertise in the latest food trends, consumer behavior, and manufacturing constraints to research insights, shape ideas and bring those concepts into retail experiences, often presenting new ideas at annual planning summits with national retail customers such as Costco, Kroger, and Walmart.

VP Group Strategy Director

Mullen
01.2010 - 01.2012
  • Crafted strategy and helped launch a new Effie award-winning advertising campaign, messaging strategy, and tagline for JetBlue to attract a more profitable business traveler to the airline across all paid, earned, and owned media channels
  • By demonstrating the value of a better flying experience over legacy airlines that make flying miserable, we changed perspective that an airline seat was more than a low priced ticket
  • Wrote the product launch messaging and brand strategy for the Google Galaxy Nexus smartphone launch alongside product marketing and engineering leadership teams based at Google's HQ.

Associate Director

Digitas
01.1996 - 01.2010
  • Working with digital marketing teams at Saturn, Norwegian Cruise Lines, and General Motors.

Senior Brand Planner

Arnold Worldwide
01.1996 - 01.2010
  • Leading the original messaging and advertising strategy for Progressive Insurance that led to the creation of 'Flo' - now in its 17th year as one of advertising's most recognizable brand icons.

Dealership Zone Manager

Ford Motor Company
01.1996 - 01.2010
  • Working as a Dealership Zone Manager at Ford Motor Company and Account Services at J Walter Thompson leading Regional Ford Advertising in Baltimore and Washington DC.

Education

Masters of Product Development and Design (MPD2) -

Northwestern University, McCormick School of Engineering
Evanston, IL

Bachelor of Science in Business, Major in Marketing -

Miami University, Richard T. Farmer School of Business Administration
Oxford, OH
01.1996

Skills

  • Integrated marketing strategy
  • Go-to-market product messaging architecture
  • Leading design and UX qualitative and quantitative research
  • Insight synthesis and product experience ideation
  • Customer journey mapping
  • Workshop facilitation
  • Positioning
  • Business strategy and strategic storytelling for executive leadership
  • Leading complex inter-disciplinary technology, marketing and design teams

Affiliations

  • Segal Center for Design, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
  • New Trier High School Guest Lecturer, Department of Applied Arts, Winnetka, IL
  • UX Design Bootcamp | General Assembly | Nov 2020
  • Selected by DDB Executive Leadership to be an Omnicom Emerging Stars Instructor | New York | 2019
  • American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As), Strategic Planning Instructor | Boston | 2008 - 2012
  • Effies Judge | 2008 + 2012
  • Attended the TEDGlobal conference and an active member of the TED community | Edinburgh, Scotland | 2011 - Present

Timeline

Freelance Design Strategist

Neol
01.2024 - Current

Management Consulting Principal Director of Innovation

What If! Innovation Accenture
01.2021 - 01.2023

Vice President, Director of Strategy

DDB Worldwide
01.2018 - 01.2020

Director of Brand Strategy

VSA Partners
01.2016 - 01.2018

Senior Design & Innovation Lead

IDEO
01.2012 - 01.2015

VP Group Strategy Director

Mullen
01.2010 - 01.2012

Associate Director

Digitas
01.1996 - 01.2010

Senior Brand Planner

Arnold Worldwide
01.1996 - 01.2010

Dealership Zone Manager

Ford Motor Company
01.1996 - 01.2010

Masters of Product Development and Design (MPD2) -

Northwestern University, McCormick School of Engineering

Bachelor of Science in Business, Major in Marketing -

Miami University, Richard T. Farmer School of Business Administration

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