Tina Karelson
Executive Vice President/Group Creative Director
Hired: November 1986
Overview:
Tina actively participates in new business efforts, creative troubleshooting and agency self-promotion, while continuing in her copywriting role. Specializing in distilling complex information into elegant print advertising and collateral for B2B clients, Tina serves a variety of clients using a mix of media, including the Internet.
Education:
University of Minnesota; M.A., English Language and Literature
University of Minnesota; B.A., English
and Journalism (advertising emphasis), graduated
magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa
Before Risdall Advertising:
Tina has been getting paid to write and edit since the age of 19. She began her advertising career at the Minnesota Daily, where she worked as a copywriter and as Advertising Creative Director. She also worked as Advertising Director for the Minnesota Shakespeare Company. More recently, she has done freelance editing of non-fiction manuscripts.
Notable Achievements at Risdall:
For the 3M Opticom Priority Control System, Tina and her team conceived, photographed, wrote and produced an entire print campaign aimed at four different audiences during the three weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Later, landing pages and direct mail pieces were also created. The ads ran in trade journals for more than a year, generating awareness and sales leads and defending 3M's position as the high-quality, reputable brand in the traffic control market.
The LifeRx® brand of eyeglass lenses, despite its superior photochromic properties, is often overshadowed by the big-budget marketing of its main competitor, the Transitions brand. Tina worked on the LifeRx relaunch, involving a new descriptive line and mascot development, among many other elements. The relaunch created a more memorable LifeRx brand presence in the corporate identity, collateral, online and print spaces.
Client Experience:
AGA Medical, CoreSpine Technologies, Devicix, Innovative Office Solutions, Magnum Research, Northwest Youth & Family Services, Novologix, OptumHealth Financial Services, She Creates Actors Studio, TravelMaps, Vertebral Technologies, Inc. (VTI), Vision-Ease Lens.
Professional Recognition:
Tina's work at RMG has been recognized by the WebAwards, the Business Marketing Association, the Medical Marketing Association, the Telly Awards, ReBrand 100, and others.
The Last Word:
Tina competed successfully on Jeopardy! and was a member of the national champion University of Minnesota College Bowl team in 1984. She is also a published poet.