Ci is a nimble group of a dozen high-level strategic thinkers and creative executors who come from a range of backgrounds - advertising agency account planners, writers and art directors, industrial designers, PR strategists, researchers, as well as marketing and business development directors for leading global brands. Core team players include:

Kierstin De West, CEO/ Founder

Kierstin is the key strategic mind at Ci and has been developing brand and creative strategies based on consumer, cultural and marketplace insight for the last 12 years. She is an expert in the relationship between consumers, brands and sustainability and has worked as a brand planner at a number of high profile advertising agencies helping build brands such as Hershey Foods, Unilever and Allied Domecq. Kierstin has worked on the client side of the business at About.com and helped lead the successful repositioning of the company to prepare it for acquisition by Primedia. Her work has taken her to NYC, San Francisco and now Vancouver.

With a keen interest in culture, consumers and their marketplace, Kierstin saw early on in 2000 that all indicators were pointing to a significant cultural shift where consumers were making lifestyle and purchasing decisions based on a set of predefined values: integrity and social responsibility.

She speaks regularly on consumers and sustainability, and hosts a weekly sustainability segment on Global Morning News - the highest rated morning news show in BC. To contact Kierstin for a speaking engagment, contact sandra [at] ci-shift [dot] com.

 

 

 

Jason McCormick, Creative Director/ Co Founder

An ideasmith, a storyteller, an advocate – as Ci’s Creative Director Jason helps Ci clients translate their corporate passion for sustainability and social responsibility into compelling, authentic stories that get talked about in pop culture.

After a successful career as advertising copywriter working in major advertising agencies in London, New York and LA on mainstream brands such Mars Confectionary, Crunch Fitness, IBM, Perrier, New York Times, Motorola and The Fine Living network, Jason landed in Vancouver in 2002 to help set up Ci.

His award-winning, newsworthy, integrated brand strategies have been featured in the New York Times, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal as well as industry publications such as Adweek, Brandweek and Campaign magazine. Awards really don’t mean a whole lot, but just for the record Jason’s work has been recognized by Effie, D&AD, Graphis, The Addy’s, the lotus awards and Communication Arts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dawn Leonetti, Communications Director

Dawn's great sense of timing has served her well over the past 10 years, and helped promote a number of leading brands and organizations. Her first success came with promoting Microsofts Windows 95 campaign at Waggener Edstrom. She followed this with a leadership role on the Internet browser PR team for Microsoft Internet Explorer, moving the new product from its infancy to market leader.

Ever alert to emerging issues and industries, Dawn's next challenge was at Nike where she was recruited to head up Nike's sustainability communications efforts as well as to drive global communications for the companys Outdoor division, ACG. This included maintaining environmental and sustainability NGO relations, crisis communications planning and corporate messaging for all environmental initiatives and ACG brand topics. Her next step was to take on the role of Associate Director of PR at Cole & Weber/ Red Cell marketing agency, where she led a team with a diverse list of Clients. Her key accounts included Printbid.com, Seattle Office of Sustainability and Environment, Outward Bound and Nike ACG.

Today, Dawn partners with clients as a PR and brand marketing expert developing innovative, customized and cost-effective marketing strategies for companies who share her zest for effective, creative marketing and sustainability.

 

 

 

 

Sarah Hay, Creative Strategist

Sarah is Ci's Creative Strategist. She was brought on this summer as part of her internship within Emily Carr Masters of Applied Arts program (design stream) where she is researching the push pull relationship between production and consumption through the lens of slow design. As a trained industrial designer, Sarah brings a unique and critical perspective on consumer insight around social responsibility, environmental sustainability and design sensibility. Her responsibilities include maintaining a pulse check on consumer trends and uncovering insight around instances of well - conscientious innovation.

Before coming the Ci, Sarah worked with Light House Sustainable Building Centre as manager of communications and design, and leveraged her great passion for sustainability working at IRAP (industrial research assistance program) as a researcher in collaboration with Emily Carr Institute and CIRS (Centre for Interactive research on Sustainability).