Mary Dean

Description:

Award-winning writer / creative director and internationally recognized expert on marketing to women. Prior to founding KickSkirt, Mary held leadership positions at some of the world’s top ad agencies including Leo Burnett (Chicago), Chiat/Day (San Francisco), Foote Cone and Belding (San Francisco) and Publicis USA. While working on brands such as Levis, Maytag, Celestial Seasonings, Curves, and Proctor & Gamble, Mary developed a reputation for creating compelling strategies and campaigns that were particularly effective at connecting with women. Mary has won multiple honors from the Advertising Women of New York for contributing to the positive portrayal of women and has also been recognized nationally and internationally by the Clios, ADDYs, The One Show, Communication Arts, Archive, and the EFFIES. Mary was the author of the campaign that launched the Curves women’s fitness franchise from a grassroots organization to a worldwide phenomenon. During the five years she led their advertising, Curves grew from 1,500 locations to over 7,000. In April of 2007, she left her position as VP/Creative Director at Publicis to found KickSkirt, one of the nation’s first agencies specializing in marketing to women. KickSkirt immediately attracted national clients such as New Balance, Genworth Financial, & Abbott Labs. A frequent and popular presenter at national and international conferences, Mary has delivered keynotes on the art of connecting with women at forums as far away as Dubai and Sweden. She graduated from Emory University and Portfolio Center where she was a Dean’s List Student and the recipient of the Portfolio Award respectively. She lives in Austin with her husband and two great kids.