Brand & Experience Strategist
Connecting Identity, Space and Experience
Brand Strategy | Creative Direction | Customer Experience | Growth & Positioning
Strategic Brand Leader with 12+ years of experience driving brand positioning, integrated marketing strategy, and customer experience alignment across hospitality, lifestyle, retail, and consumer brands. Proven expertise in brand transformation, cross-functional leadership, campaign architecture, and scalable identity systems that support audience growth and revenue objectives.
Growth Strategy
Campaign Development & Execution
Digital Marketing & Social Strategy
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Stakeholder Management
Executive & Founder Advisory
Retail & Experiential Brand Strategy
Content Marketing
Audience Development
Data-Informed Decision Making
Core Competencies
Specialized in aligning brand vision, strategy and multi-channel execution to create cohesive brand ecosystems that strengthen engagement, digital growth and market differentiation.
Brand Strategy & Positioning
Creative Direction
Integrated Marketing Strategy
Customer Experience (CX) Strategy
Brand Architecture & Identity Systems
Experience
HALLMARK CARDS, INC.
Senior Designer, Content Marketing Studio
2022–Present | Kansas City, MO
Drive brand strategy and creative direction for Hallmark’s Mahogany brand across digital, social, email, and retail marketing channels.
Partner with Marketing, Merchandising, and Product teams to align brand positioning with integrated marketing campaigns
Contributed to audience growth strategy, increasing social media impressions to 20M+ and engagement to 191.5K within 18 months
Led creative direction for multi-channel campaigns including video, lifestyle photography, digital advertising, and print collateral
Supported launch strategy and user experience integration for Mahogany.com
Applied customer segmentation insights and market research to inform content strategy and visual storytelling
Contributed to award-winning “Uplifted & Empowered” integrated campaign (AIGA Juror’s Choice Winner)
Integrated marketing, campaign development, audience growth, segmentation, UX integration, multi-channel strategy
ASHLEY GAFFNEY DESIGN, LLC
Founder, Brand & Experience Strategist
2012–Present | Aurora, CO
Lead brand strategy, creative direction, and experiential alignment initiatives for founder-led and growth-stage organizations.
Develop brand positioning frameworks and identity systems to support expansion and market differentiation
Guide clients through rebranding, repositioning, and go-to-market strategy
Architect integrated marketing campaigns across digital, print, and experiential touchpoints
Design customer journey strategies to align brand narrative with audience engagement
Manage stakeholder relationships, budgets, timelines, and vendor partnerships
Oversee cross-functional collaboration between designers, marketers, developers, and content teams
Rebranding, go-to-market strategy, customer journey, stakeholder management, expansion strategy, integrated campaigns
HALLMARK CARDS, INC.
Graphic Designer, Greetings Studio
2012–2014 | Kansas City, MO
Developed retail product concepts aligned with brand segmentation and category growth strategy
Contributed to style guide development and brand consistency across national retail accounts
Collaborated with cross-functional product development teams to bring consumer-focused concepts to market
Retail strategy, brand consistency, product development, segmentation
Adobe Creative Suite
(InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop)
FIGMA
E-mail Marketing Automation Platforms
Google Workspace
Microsoft Office Suite
AI Tools
(OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, MidJourney, Adobe Firefly)
Education
Savannah College of Art & Design
Bachelor of Fine Arts – Graphic Design
AutoCAD Certification, Heritage School for Design
Technical Skillsets
