Ten years art-directing brand identity, packaging and campaign work. Five of them leading the teams that build it. Partnership campaigns with Red Bull, Ubisoft and Epic Games, packaging stocked in 10,000 clinics, creative across 100+ retail and entertainment locations. The teams that felt safest did the bravest work.
Creative performance agency. Built the agency's creative operating system and run art direction across a DTC, hospitality and B2B SaaS roster.
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Gaming and entertainment venues. Led all creative for the Global League launch, domestically and internationally, plus every in-store partner asset.
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Gaming chairs. Ran the 10-person Toronto office and secured partnerships with Red Bull Homeground, Epic Games, Riot, Fnatic and Blast.tv.
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Marketing agency. Led a five-person media, design and strategy team, rebranded the agency and its podcast, and co-led client pitches.
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AI startup. Built the brand vision and marketing strategy, managing creative vendors alongside partners including Google and Deloitte.
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Fashion brand. Led Shopify front-end and UI/UX with the e-commerce team, plus paid media design and retouching for Costco, The Bay and Macy's.
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Kinesiology tape. Worked directly under the CMO and CEO on retail installations, vendor management and broadcast production.
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Medical startup. Designed the product packaging that established the brand's visual identity, and promotional work that lifted ROAS.
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Design agency. Co-designed the Acer flagship store in Bangalore with the senior art director, and MTR Foods' Diwali packaging.
ResponsibilitiesMost creative leaders stop at the brief. I never wanted to. I set the strategy, build the team and defend the budget, then I'm back in the file when a layout isn't landing or the edit runs long. Knowing how the work actually gets made is what makes me useful to the people making it.
Campaign concepts, visual systems, typography and shoot direction, from first sketch through final asset.
Identity, guidelines and asset libraries that hold up across a multi-brand roster.
Product packaging, in-store displays and flagship retail builds, designed then seen through to installed.
Objectives translated into written briefs with the metric named before work starts.
Creative reviews, performance audits and 1:1s. Recruiting and managing designers, photographers and freelancers.
High-volume ad variation judged on hook rate, CTR, conversion and ROAS.
Scoping and running creative budgets, then protecting them: vendors and freelancers briefed, scope held, deliverables shipped on the date they were promised.
I direct generative video end to end: script, character design, shot list, animation, edit. Same craft standards, a fraction of the cost and turnaround. I built and ran an original animated series on this pipeline to pressure-test it before putting client work through it.
I'm Liam Zalitach, a Toronto-based art director and creative leader with over ten years in the industry, five of them running marketing and creative teams.
I've collaborated with global brands including Red Bull, Ubisoft, Epic Games, Riot Games and Fnatic, building partnership campaigns, co-branded work and the creative that carried them. Alongside that I've led in-house and agency teams, recruited talent, solved project challenges, negotiated contracts up to $2M, and built strategies that met real business objectives.
I never stopped designing. Identity, packaging, retail environments and campaign art direction are still work I do myself rather than only review, which is why the briefs I write are ones a designer can actually build from. Previously I consulted for an AI startup, crafting their branding and marketing strategy alongside partners like Google and Deloitte.
What I'm after next is a team where the creative bar is the point, and where one person is trusted to own both the vision and the execution of it.
"His creative direction, branding and design thinking have been essential to our growth. We strongly value his marketing strategy mindset, AI in particular."
"Very professional, always looks out for his clients' best interest, and has a unique ability to think outside the box."
"Outstanding creative leadership. His ability to guide the creative process is truly commendable."
Open to creative direction and art direction roles, full-time or contract. Toronto-based, working with teams anywhere.
liam_zalitach@hotmail.comAlso: Resume (PDF)
