Open to opportunities

Gari Cruze

@garicruze

Associate Creative Director and copywriter with 15+ years of experience at big agencies and client-side.

At Chewy, I work as a Sr. Copy Manager. Before that, I worked with brands including Google, Lyft, NPR, Slack, and The Home Depot through agency roles at Huge, redpepper, POSSIBLE, The Johnson Group, and St. John & Partners.

At iRobot, I helped create an in-house agency from the ground up. I built and managed the copywriting team, developed voice and tone guidelines, and helped develop creative strategy and concept integrated campaigns.

At Huge, I helped lead teams, concepted and wrote integrated campaigns, and developed voice and tone guidelines for clients including TikTok, Lyft, NPR, and Google. I pick particular words on purpose and try to bring marketing ideas together at the corner of cool and strategic.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

Sr. Copy Manager

Current

Chewy

Mar 2023 - Present (3 years 8 months)

Worked as Sr. Copy Manager at Chewy.

Associate Creative Director / Copywriter

SmileDirectClub

Sep 2022 - Mar 2023 (6 months)

Worked as Associate Creative Director / Copywriter at SmileDirectClub.

Associate Creative Director / Copywriter

iRobot

Feb 2022 - Sep 2022 (7 months)

Helped create an in-house agency from the ground up — built and managed the copywriting team, developed voice and tone guidelines, helped develop creative strategy, concepted integrated campaigns, and everything else it takes to get an internal ad agency up and running.

Associate Creative Director / Copywriter

Huge

Oct 2015 - Feb 2022 (6 years 4 months)

Helped lead teams, concepted and wrote integrated campaigns, developed voice and tone guidelines, directed team members, and more. CLIENTS: TikTok / Lyft / NPR / Google / The Home Depot / Sotheby’s International Realty / The United Nations / Impossible Burger / Consumer Electronics Show (CES) / Federal Student Aid / Period Movement / Blue Cross Blue Shield / Centura Health

Copy Director

redpepper

Aug 2014 - Oct 2015 (1 year 2 months)

Concepted integrated campaigns and helped lead creative teams. CLIENTS: Slack / Cracker Barrel

Copy Director

POSSIBLE

Apr 2012 - Aug 2014 (2 years 4 months)

Concepted and oversaw copy on integrated campaigns and managed three copywriters. CLIENTS: Folgers / Sunglass Hut / Dunkin’ Donuts / P&G / Microsoft / Reddi-wip / Orville Redenbacher’s / Millstone Coffee

Senior Copywriter

The Johnson Group

Jan 2006 - Jan 2012 (6 years)

Collaborated, concepted and wrote for campaigns across all media, oversaw two copywriters and two social media coordinators, plus created social media plans including content strategy. CLIENTS: Sunbelt Bakery / U.S. Xpress / HTH Pool Care / EPB Fiber Optics