Susan Quakkelaar, PMP
3744 20th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55407
612-462-0806
squakk@gmail.com
LinkedIn
Resume.pdf (47kb)
Resume.doc (52kb)
Interactive Marketing Manager / Strategist / Project Manager
My eight years of experience in the interactive industry has exposed me to nearly every type of project and nearly every goal/objective a brand might desire to achieve.
A good strategy for each situation will depend on the unique needs of the brand and the business, as well as the users and the technology. Regardless of the tactic, a successful leader will have experience building solutions, an investigative approach to seeking appropriate goals/objectives, honed client and team management skills, and technical and industry savviness to feed a creative problem solving process.
My previous and current experience gives me all of these skills. I seek and enjoy everyday challenges that not only stretch my own abilities, but help inspire those around me to do the same.
Project Work Examples
Professional Experience- Minneapolis, MN
| Cambria (December 2008 to Present) | |
Interactive Marketing Manager |
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- Established and developed interactive group from the ground up. Expanding understanding of the media within the company. |
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| Minneapolis College of Art and Design (Fall Semester 2007 to Present) | |
| Adjunct Faculty- Project Tracking | |
- Responsible for curriculum design, class lecturing, speaker coordination, grading and student mentoring. |
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| Allen Interactions (December 2006 to October 2008) | |
| Senior Interactivity Producer | |
- Led teams of instructional designers, writers, developers, and QA to design and produce eLearning courses for the following clients: Fidelity, Cargill, University of Minnesota. |
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| RMG Connect (June 2006 to December 2006) | |
| Interactive Project Manager | |
- Led a team (information architect, writer, designer, production artist, developer, QA and associate pm) to create a Spanish version of the Evercare website for United Health Group. Additional work included updates to the English version of the Evercare website. |
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| Ham in the Fridge Design (September 2005 to May 2006) | |
| Account Director / Interactive Project Manager | |
- Led all projects from inception through completion. |
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| Carmichael Lynch (June 2002 to August 2005) | |
| Interactive Project Manager | |
- Began agency career as an intern, hired at graduation as a Project Coordinator, and promoted to Project Manager quickly to lead top agency interactive account- Porsche Cars North America. Responsible for $1.2 million yearly budget and completion of all interactive projects for Porsche (microsites, promotional CD/DVD’s, widgets, email campaign, online ads). |
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Education
Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, MN
B.S., Visualization, 2003
Certifications / Honors / Volunteer
PMI- Certified as a Project Management Professional in 2008
AAAA - Completed the Institute of Advanced Advertising Studies (IAAS); member of winning team 2004
MCAD - 2003 Received the Vanderlip Award for exceptional learning achievement
Crisis Connection (Phone Counselor) - 2002 to 2007
| Interactive Project Types |
Computer Proficiency |
Websites (promotional, commerce, intranet) |
Microsoft Office Programs (especially proficient with Excel, Project and Visio) Macromedia Dreamweaver Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator DFA (DART for Advertisers) Rich Media Ad Serving Software (Motif, Pointroll, Eyeblaster) Website Analytical Software |
Personal Social Media Experience
From a personal perspective, I have participated in the social media landscape for many years. These early experiences set the foundation for my participation from a professional perspective, giving me the general understanding to recommend solutions that are specific to each network and that take advantage of the unique offerings and audiences of those networks.
Personal Network (length on network)
http://twitter.com/squakk (Since March 2007)
http://www.facebook.com/squakk (Since 2005)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/squakk (Since 2006)
http://www.youtube.com/user/squakk (Since 2007)
http://delicious.com/squakk (Since 2009, recently ported from Evernote)
http://quakk.blogspot.com/ (2005 to 2008, migrated to Twitter)
http://www.linkedin.com/in/squakk (Since 2004)
Project Work Examples
Cambria
At Cambria, I manage the small team (designer, developer, intern) responsible for all interactive work for the company. This is the first concentrated interactive marketing effort the company has made in its history, which makes education and strategy a critical part of my role. I am responsible for the strategy and implementation of all interactive marketing projects at Cambria, which includes the main site redesign, the ecommerce site for a new product launch, email marketing campaigns, a new site to offer Cambria Style magazine content, online ad campaigns, and social marketing.
CambriaStyle.com- We are currently creating a new Wordpress site: CambriaStyle.com. This will be a blog-style site to publish all content from Cambria's lifestyle magazine as well as fresh online-only lifestyle content. I created the site architecture and have led the process to complete the site design and development. The site is currently under internal review and is slated to launch this spring.
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CambriaUSA.com Redesign- At this point, I have completed the research, goal setting, user testing and information architecture for the next CambriaUSA.com site. The new site will set Cambria apart from competitors who are not yet making the most of the online media and will advance Cambria's online lead generation and audience connection capabilities.
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Social Media- I have established and am responsible for executing all social media marketing at Cambria. Since starting at Cambria in 2008, I have planned the strategy for, created, implemented, and maintained all social media programs, including: Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
In creating the social media program at Cambria, the biggest challenges have been educating the company on the purpose and possibilities of social marketing and establishing an appropriate approach for each unique network.
Goal- Offer nuggets of inspiration to followers interested in a premium lifestyle which might include Cambria Quartz Surfaces. |
Goal- Engage fans in conversation. Promote events and community involvement. |
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Fidelity
At Allen Interactions, I led a small interactive team (10 to 15 members) to create a data privacy course for Fidelity. The project lasted over one year and will be viewed by more than 40,000 Fidelity employees.
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University of Minnesota
At Allen Interactions, I was assigned to a struggling project for the University of Minnesota. I led a team (15 to 20 members) to complete the project which is currently undergoing randomized control testing at the UMN. Some of the project challenges included:
Timeline and Scope- When I joined the project, there were only 3 months left in a 3 year project and design concepts had yet to be approved. Although it wasn't possible to approve design concepts and complete production for the 17 module course in 3 months, we were able to complete the entire course within 9 months.
Explicit Material- The course was designed to teach MSM (men who have sex with other men) to have less risky sex, therefore reducing the incidence of HIV infection in the population. The course takes a new approach, teaching healthy sexual behaviors (which ultimately affect decisions men make to protect themselves) rather than just speaking to the importance of protection. In order to teach this effectively to the target audience, highly graphic material was included in the course. Therefore, finding team members who were willing and able to work on the project proved very challenging, but I was able to negotiate with team members and found creative solutions to a sensitive topic.
Mismanagement of Course Goals/Objectives - Before I joined the project team, a legacy of unsuccessful project and client management had interfered with good instructional design. Because of this, the goals for the project and the actual design concepts were not aligned. It was my responsibility to lead a realignment of goals and objectives for the project, despite a hostile and political project atmosphere. At completion of the project, the course was unlike any other in the world, and so far, research is showing that it is out-performing other online HIV prevention efforts in retention and effectiveness.
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Cargill
At Allen Interactions, I led a small interactive team (8 to 10 members) to create several courses for Cargill Corporation. For one of the courses (Mix and Blend) we taught grain elevator operators how to mix grains together to achieve a blend that met the customers requirements as well as maximized profit for Cargill.
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United Health Group
While working at RMG Connect, I led a small team to create a Spanish version of the Evercare website for United Health Group. Additional work included updates to the English version of the Evercare website.
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Cartoon Network
While working at Ham in the Fridge Design, I led a small team to create two games for Cartoon Network. Each project lasted for about 3 months, involved 5 to 10 team members (designers, developers, sound designers, quality testers) and the games are still popular on the Cartoon Network website.
| Ed, Edd, and Eddy- Lunchroom Rumble - |
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Foster's Home for Imaginery Friends- Gallery of Imagination - |
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Porsche Cars North America
After earning a promotion at Carmichael Lynch, I took over the interactive responsibility for the Porsche Cars North America business. I was responsible for managing their $1.2 million interactive account, which involved a number of varied projects (online ad campaign, email newsletter campaign, microsites, etc.). I worked with an internal team (designers, writers, developers, PM intern) and partners (media company, ad serving companies) to complete projects and launch them online.
Campaign Example: 987 Carrera Launch
Interactive Campaign Components: Microsite, Emails, Online Ads, Desktop Widget, Promotional DVD
Related Campaign Components: Television Commercial
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Northwest Airlines
While working at Carmichael Lynch, I was responsible for the interactive work for Northwest Airlines. Their online ad campaign strategy brought with it one very large challenge.
The Challenge: If other airlines found out that NWA was planning a fare sale, they could easily launch a counter-sale of their own, taking critical business away from NWA. Therefore, NWA would wait to announce their plans for a sale until one or two days before the sale launched to reduce the risk of a leak of sale information.
They followed this protocol with all of their vendors, but because of the typical turnaround time of an online banner campaign (two to three weeks at that time), it was especially difficult for us to handle.
The Solution:To address this challenge, I worked with the internal team at Carmichael Lynch to find ways to reduce our banner campaign turnaround time. Our approach was two-fold:
1. Our media buying group negotiated special deals with the sites where we wanted to place our ads so that we could secure placement with very little notice.
2. Our interactive team concepted simple yet highly effective banner ads that could be produced very quickly.
The ads we created were innovative at the time. A viewer could type in their flight search information, click search, and be taken to a flight results page, where they could complete their purchase. The ads were easy to update with the most current sale information, and they out-performed previous banners we had created for NWA.
The Result: Once we put our approach in place, we were able to turn around an online banner campaign within one or two days of notice and NWA enjoyed record click-through-rates and sales from the ads.
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American Stroke Association
At Carmichael Lynch, I had the pleasure of working on an Agency-wide pro bono campaign for the American Stroke Association. The agency created several television spots to highlight the symptoms of stroke and impress upon the viewer that 'time lost is brain lost'.
Sharon Stone (YouTube)
Michael Clark Duncan (YouTube)
Patrick Dempsey (YouTube)
Don Rickles (YouTube)
I led a small team that created companion online ads for the campaign.
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Recommendations
LinkedIn
Interactive Marketing Manager at Cambria
“…It's difficult to fully articulate simply how GOOD Susan is at what she does, and for us, she does a lot…”
- Nathaniel Salzman, Interactive Designer, Cambria (worked directly with Susan)
“…Susan wields a firm grasp of usability, site mapping, wireframing and development which makes her the best accomplice to any project needing a keen eye with no time to spare. She is very diplomatic, patient and kind in her interactions. She's just great.”
- Sheila Oberaigner, Interactive Designer, Cambria (worked directly with Susan)
Interactivity Producer at Allen Interactions
“…Susan took a challenging project and restored trust with her clients, helped keep a stressed project on track, and delivered outstanding results at final delivery and acceptance. The project would not have achieved success without her steady hand and creative insights to resolve challenges and conflicts.”
- Gene Danilenko, Project Manager, University of Minnesota (was Susan’s client)
“Susan's commitment to quality extends beyond just the project she is working on. Susan understands that quality is not just about the final product, it's about the way you go about achieving the goals of the project. Susan's professionalism, mixed with her wit, humor, and commitment to excellence make her a joy to work with. Her attitude is inspirational and benefits not only her clients, but the people that are fortunate to work with her. Her energy maintains team chemistry and drives the team to succeed.”
- Andrew Nooleen, Interactivity Developer, Allen Interactions (worked directly with Susan)
“… She is professional, ethical, efficient, communicative, and organized to a T. She also has an amicable, pleasant relationship with those around her and helps keep the team morale and attitude positive and productive…”
- Michelle Kenoyer, QA Specialist, Allen Interactions (worked directly with Susan)
Interactive Project Manager at RMG Connect
“Susan played a key role in the further maturation of the PM practice at RMG Connect. Her insights and ideas regarding process and communication were foundational to future growth. Her ability to establish a confident and professional relationship with our customers provides a cornerstone for the relationship with the client. She has set high standards by which others shall continue to be measured.”
- Randy Wymore, Manager, Project Management, RMG Connect (managed Susan directly)
“… she met challenges with a smile and had a way of bringing calm, organization, and open communication to a project. When we worked on a project together, she always managed it with clear direction and smart insight. Susan is an incredibly sharp woman who understands not only how to manage projects, project teams, and client relationships; but also understands the bigger picture of developing the business.”
- Julie Horton, Information Architect, RMG Connect (worked directly with Susan)
Account Director at Ham in the Fridge
“Susan's leadership and straightforward approach in sometimes challenging situations was a great value to both Target and Ham in the Fridge - her goal was always a "win/win" situation. She was a pleasure to work with and I highly recommend her.”
- Jamie Hermes, Creative Services Buyer - Interactive Marketing, Target Corporation (was Susan's client)
Interactive Project Manager at Carmichael Lynch
“… Give her any challenge. She quickly figures out what needs to be done, what the team needs and how she can get it for them. She uses no fancy party tricks, she just digs in and makes stuff happen. She asks questions – of clients, peers, superiors, or the man on the street – to find out what’s really going on. She learns fast. She self-corrects. She is persistent and organized. She’s smart – book smart and people smart. Clients love her. If you have the chance to work with her, I recommend it. I admire Susan and would work with her again in an instant.”
- Melody Lentsch, Senior Partner, Director of Interactive & Direct, Carmichael Lynch Advertising (managed Susan directly)
“… her view is more than tactical: she has the ability to see the big picture: she understands strategy, and is equally comfortable and competent talking to clients as she is to the internal team. When I worked with her, she was relatively junior in title only: her maturity, razor-sharp instinct and intelligence made her a great partner - one that I'd welcome working with again.”
- Stacy Graiko, Account Director, Carmichael Lynch (managed Susan indirectly)
“… Her skills transcended her official role that she held during our time together at Carmichael Lynch. Her dedication and ability to solving business problems the smartest way possible for both her employer and clients (while driving amazing results) is second to none. I can't wait to work with her again. (One can hope.)”
- Chris Wexler, Online Media Manager, Carmichael Lynch (worked with Susan)
Susan Quakkelaar
3744 20th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55407
612-462-0806
squakk@gmail.com
Resume.pdf (47kb)
Resume.doc (52kb)