marketing
creative strategy
executive communications
I make complicated things clear, compelling, and built to move.
Strategy that holds up.
Stories that move people.
Programs that convert and convince.
mabco 6724 Cedar #1 Westmont IL 60559 312-493-5661
SERVICES
Whether you need a strategic partner for a long-term engagement or senior expertise for a specific program, I bring the full range — from brand strategy to production, from executive communications to high-volume campaign execution. I've been doing this across retail, B2B, technology, food service, and consumer brands for more than two decades. Everything I do is AI-augmented — which means faster research, sharper copy, smarter iteration, and more time spent on the thinking that actually requires a human. The work still sounds like you. It just gets there faster.
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B2B & B2C ADVERTISING & MARKETING
(AI-assisted audience research, messaging frameworks, and competitive analysis)
ONLINE, EMAIL
& DIRECT MAIL MARKETING
(AI-optimized subject lines, personalization strategy, and performance testing)
DIRECT MAIL & MARKETING
(AI-supported variable data strategy and targeting)
INTEGRATED MARKETING PROGRAMS
PROMOTION & STORE MARKETING
EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS
board decks, keynotes, investor materials, CEO messaging)
AI STRATEGY & WORKFLOW CONSULTING
(helping marketing teams integrate AI tools into their creative and content workflows practically and responsibly)
CONTENT & SOCIAL MARKETING
MOBILE MARKETING
& UX
LOYALTY & GIFT CARD PROGRAMS
(AI-informed segmentation and lifecycle messaging)
PRIVATE BRAND
STRATEGY & MARKETING
EVENT & TRADE SHOW MARKETING
My passion is work that performs — across every channel it touches. The projects below represent a cross-section of 25+ years of integrated campaigns, content programs, brand launches, loyalty programs, digital and social work, and executive communications for some of the world's best-known brands. Every one of them was built to move a number, not just win an award.
WORK
 The Perfect Storm: Managing IT thru the Great Resignation and Beyond |  Ensono VMware Collateral |  Website |
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 Collateral |  ISACA Collateral |  Ensono Collateral |
 GoHealth DM |  OLFA Rotary Cutters |  Springboard Chicago Website |
 Grin Studios Toy Catalog |  OLFA Folding Mat Campaign |  Integrated launch campaign for OLFA Splash Rotary Knife |
 Integrated campaign to promote parties and events at Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab |  ISACA Direct Mail for CSX Bootcamp |  Craftsman Digital Catalog |
 OLFA Endurance Blade Sweeps Campaign |  Pet Annex Brand Identity |  ServiceLive contractor microsite |
 Sears Gift Card |  OLFA Endurance Blade Ad Campaign |  Science Chicago Integrated Campaign |
 Sears Furniture Outdoor |  OLFA Black Blade Collateral |  OLFA Folding Mat Ad Campaign |
 Print and digital campaign to launch OLFA's new Endurance blade. |  Sears Commercial Fitness DM |  Shop Your Way Mystery Award Digital Campaign |
 Kenmore Sears Commercial Collateral |  Sears Commercial Website |  Shop Your Way VDP DM |
 |  Shop Your Way DM |  Shop Your Way Summer Shopping App |
 Shop Your Way variable digital flyer |  Kmart Five Faves Mobile App UX |  Highland Technologies Booth & Graphics |
 Sears Home Reinvention DM |  Sears Mobile Game App |  Sears Commercial and Kenmore trade show graphics at IBS Show. |
 Argosy University Acquisition |  Lettuce Entertain You Parties Campaign |  Lettuce Entertain You Parties Campaign |
 Sears Home Services appliance repair campaign |  Sears Mobile Game App |  Integrated digital campaign for first Craftsman Brand Ambassador program. |
 Sears Auto Sweepstakes Winner Calendar |  Shop Your Way Kmart DM |  Craftsman Bolt On Campaign |
 Shop Your Way DM |  Sears Home Services DM |  Integrated launch for Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab. |
 Grainger reactivation campaign. |  Integrated acquisition campaign for GNC loyalty program. |  Craftsman FB Campaign |
 Private brand packaging |  Craftsman Industrial Collateral |  Craftsman Challenge Digital Campaign |
 OLFA Professional Knives Collateral |  Shop Your Way Lifelock acquisition campaign |  Acquisition direct mail for World Wine Club |
 Sears Commercial Infographic |
WHAT I KNOW
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Integration isn’t easy. It’s essential.
Coordinating message, channels, timelines, budgets, and agendas to a common purpose requires someone who never loses sight of the big picture while managing hundreds of moving parts. That's not a skill you develop in a meeting. It's one you develop over a career.
Senior thinking shouldn't come with agency overhead.
When you bring me in, you get a strategist who has done this at BBDO, Saatchi & Saatchi, McCann Erickson, and Lowe Lintas — and who has spent 25 years applying that experience directly to client problems, without the layers, the markups, or the account team telephone game.
I won’t waste your time.
When speed to market matters, you need someone lean, experienced, and ready to move. I ramp up, write clean, and deliver work that doesn't need three rounds of fixes to be right.
Unset goals are unmet goals.
I believe in the power of the brand and the rigor of measurement. Every engagement starts with clarity about what success looks like — and ends with results you can point to.
Woman-owned. WBENC certified. AI-forward.
I'm obsessed with ideas that move the needle — and I use every tool available to get there faster, including
AI tools I work with daily to sharpen strategy, accelerate execution, and keep improving how the work gets done.
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ABOUT ME
I'm a marketing and creative strategy executive with a career built at the intersection of big ideas and operational reality.
I started in New York at three of the world's most respected creative agencies — BBDO, Saatchi & Saatchi, and McCann Erickson — developing campaigns for IBM, Apple, Coca-Cola, L'Oréal, P&G, Sony, and The New York Times. Then I moved into senior leadership at Lowe Lintas Columbian, where I ran creative services and agency-wide operations for a national portfolio of brands including Sears, Motorola, Ameritech, Bacardi, Discover Card, and Häagen-Dazs.
In 2001, I founded MAB Advertising, where I've spent 25 years doing what I love most: helping organizations clarify complex stories, build customer loyalty, and generate demand — particularly in regulated, technical, or "hard to explain" spaces where precision isn't optional.
I'm known for translating complicated things into clear, compelling narratives that move people and programs forward. I'm equally at home shaping a CEO's keynote and managing a 2000-version direct mail program. I build systems, not just campaigns — and I work with AI tools daily to stay ahead of how marketing actually evolves.
The clients I've worked with longest aren't clients. They're partners. I count most of my client relationships in decades, not years, and I think that says more about how I work than any credential could.
I'm based in Chicago and available for senior in-house roles, long-term advisory engagements, and strategic partnerships across industries.
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Recognition: Entrepreneurial Achievement Award, NWE · Women Who Make a Difference, Lakeside Bank · National Speaker, Fifth Third Bank's WEDO Tour
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Certifications: LLMs, AI, Cybersecurity, Mainframe Technology, Google
SELECTED
CLIENTS
I'm proud of every brand on this page — and prouder still of how long most of these relationships have lasted. I don't measure success in awards, though I've won some. I measure it in whether your bottom line moved, your story got clearer, and you called me again. Most of these clients did. Decades, not years.
LET'S
TALK
Whether you're looking for a strategic partner, a senior collaborator, or simply want to explore what's possible — I'd love to hear from you.
Mary Bahr
6724 Cedar #1
Westmont, IL 60559