With a new floor come new faces! In the last year we expanded to the third floor of the Firefly Building, and our team has grown along with our space. Read on to meet the newest members of our client services, design, and digital teams!
Billy Peake, Senior Digital Director
What attracted you to work in marketing?
After touring and playing music for a number of years, I wanted to find a different way to harness my creative energy. Digital marketing allows me to solve problems creatively with technology and great design.
What is your favorite thing to do outside of work?
I have a young family that I adore. My son William is 4, and my daughter Annie is 2. My wife and I spend the weekends with them at libraries, parks, in the backyard, etc.
Life motto?
Work hard and be nice to people.
You have control of the Sonos speakers around the office for a day. What do you play?
The Cincinnati band Afghan Whigs, Superchunk, Cheap Trick, Motown, classic Van Halen, and Frank Ocean. A lot of rock, a little bit of soul.
Creative intelligence is a motto/theme at LMG. What does creative intelligence mean to you?
To me, there are different ways to become intelligent. One of those is through research and study. So, creative intelligence is paying attention to clients’ needs and understanding their audiences, and finding the most graceful and efficient solutions for them. In digital we tend to overthink things, but sometimes the most creative and intelligent solution is the simplest. You just have to do your homework to find out what that is.
Emily Denka, Account Executive
What technology innovation has made the biggest impact on your life, and why/how?
FaceTime. Since all my family lives far away, it allows us to see each other weekly.
Invite a famous person to dinner. Who would it be and why?
Jimmy Fallon, because he is so darn funny!
What is the biggest marketing challenge you’ve faced in your career so far, and how did you handle it?
When I was working in the pet industry, I was challenged with rebranding a dog chew rawhide brand that had a bad name within the marketplace and was rapidly losing sales. We recognized that a manufacturing issue needed to be corrected first, so I worked with the supply chain to understand the issue and make efforts to correct it. Then, we started from the ground up to rebrand the product and enhance its image. The first year after re-launch, we saw sales double from the previous year.
What’s one unique fact about you?
I hold four national and one world title in synchronized figure skating.
What does creative intelligence mean to you?
Being smart about the creative process. It’s easy to get caught up in the emotional aspect of marketing and evaluate based on feeling, which is not always reliable. Unless you fit the target to a tee, it’s important to let data and target insights drive the creative process, so you have reasons for why the creative is the way it is.
Dallas Christman, Designer
Describe yourself in three words.
Weird, motivated, curious.
What’s the best thing about Dayton?
I like the historical aspect of it. And even though a lot of big companies have left over the years, there’s a tight-knit community that’s not letting it go. They still love Dayton and want to improve it.
What attracted you to work in marketing?
The ability just to create. There’s definitely good practice for marketing, but there’s not necessarily a right or wrong way to design for it. Everyone has their own style, and what you create is unique to you.
Three items you can’t live without at work?
Mechanical pencils, my headphones, and a slushie.
What does creative intelligence mean to you?
It’s the knowledge and experience you need to take on a project for a client, and the ability to think outside the box to help clients evolve their brands.
Taylor Hunt, Front-End Developer
What do you believe is the most important personal attribute or quality you bring to your position at LMG?
As a developer, my priorities are accessibility and optimization. At its best, my work may go unnoticed because success means that everything simply works flawlessly, delivering a consistent, excellent experience for every user, every time.
If they made a movie of your life, what actor would you want to play your role?
Someone almost, but not quite, as handsome as me, so I wouldn't be jealous.
What is one goal you’d like to accomplish in your lifetime?
Survive and help others to do the same.
Where did you go on your last vacation?
Kihei, Hawaii.
What does creative intelligence mean to you?
When I do a good job with a website, it involves leaning on nooks and crannies of the web platform—like getting script access to the browser's streaming HTML parser with <iframe>s and document.write. Linking those bizarre behaviors together requires strong-rooted knowledge and the creativity to even consider those two old Web Sins together in the first place.
Donna Wright, Associate Account Executive/Project Manager
What’s your favorite thing about working in marketing?
The constant exposure to amazingly creative people, whether in the work they do or their outside interests. This industry is filled with inspiring people.
If you could have an endless supply of any food, what would you get?
Pizza… any way, anytime!
What’s the best advice you ever received?
“Keep it on your own mat,” which I think is yoga-inspired… basically meaning, just do you.
What is the last book you read?
I’m not an avid reader, but I do love cookbooks. I received “The Food Lab” during the holidays so I have been immersed in that over the last month.
What does creative intelligence mean to you?
CI is an inner “power” that we’re all blessed with. It’s important to me to stay true to my instincts while constantly taking in as much new inspiration as I can.
