LISA TANGO

GROUP Creative Director + Copywriter

lisa@lisa-tango.com // lisa-tango.com // linkedin.com/in/lisa-tango

SUMMARY

Left brain + right brain creative leader with 18+ years across in-house and agency teams. I lead multidisciplinary teams of designers, writers, and video creatives, translating complex, highly regulated products into clear, engaging stories that speak from the heart. I design generative AI workflows, coach creatives to use them in daily practice, and build scalable systems that move high volumes of work quickly without sacrificing craft. A player-coach who still writes, designs, and presents the work, with an empathetic leadership style and a record of exceeding client and business goals with powerful, honest creative.

GENERATIVE AI & EMERGING CREATIVE TECHNOLOGY

Gemini • Claude • Copilot • Nano Banana • Midjourney • Adobe Firefly • ElevenLabs • Generative AI workflow design • Brand-conditioned prompt systems • AI-assisted ideation and previsualization • Multimodal content generation • Human-in-the-loop review and brand governance • Team enablement and adoption

EXPERIENCE

DENTSU // CHICAGO, IL

GROUP CREATIVE DIRECTOR // 2025 – PRESENT
CREATIVE DIRECTOR // 2022 – 2025

Creative lead on the Disney Vacation Club account for 11+ years (at Dentsu since 2022; formerly at THELAB, NY, since 2014), directing award-winning 360-degree brand work for a complex vacation-ownership product.

  • Lead and mentor a multidisciplinary team of 12–16 creative directors, ACDs, copywriters, art directors, designers, and proofreaders as the agency partner to Disney's in-house creative agency.
  • Set strategic creative direction across campaigns, product launches, and event activations spanning film and video, paid and organic social, lifecycle/CRM email, digital, print, direct mail, OOH, and audio. Includes seven resort launch campaigns and two full Disney Vacation Club brand refreshes.
  • Put agentic workflows into high-volume digital production, generating, proofreading, and QA-ing message and audience variants across email, banners, and web at a pace the team could not previously support.
  • Built scalable creative systems and operations: designed a high-volume workflow model that delivers 100+ projects and 1,000+ tactics a year, on schedule and on budget.
  • Concept, write, and present campaign platforms to Disney senior leadership, partnering with brand, product marketing, legal, and account teams to turn business priorities and audience strategy into integrated campaigns. Vacation ownership is complex and heavily regulated, so the brand has to feel like Disney while the details stay legally exact.
  • Own the DVC voice: tone-of-voice system, copy standards, and messaging architecture used by internal teams, outside partners, and AI-assisted production.
  • Work hand in hand with producer leads, account, and project management to protect quality and keep programs moving, giving clear creative feedback and holding brand consistency across distributed work. Direct editors, animators, composers, and talent through production.
  • Built generative and agentic AI workflows and the brand-conditioned prompt systems behind them, holding voice and legal guardrails steady across the team while cutting significant rounds of review.
  • Direct film and photo productions at Disney Parks and Resorts, overseeing pre- and post-production, VFX, SFX, and music.
  • Attract, mentor, and retain top creative talent; run craft forums and coach presentation skills to develop the team into future leaders.

Clients: Disney Vacation Club, Rust-Oleum, Famous Footwear // Industries: vacation ownership/hospitality, consumer goods

THELAB // NEW YORK, NY

CREATIVE DIRECTOR // 2019 – 2021
ASSOCIATE CREATIVE DIRECTOR, COPY // 2016 – 2019
SENIOR COPYWRITER // 2014 – 2016

Managed a team of copywriters, art directors, proofreaders, and freelancers in a fast-paced creative production agency, primarily on the Disney Vacation Club brand. Responsible for creative direction, oversight, and development of nearly 700 annual deliverables across print, digital, social, video, email, and audio.

As Associate Creative Director, expanded leadership by hiring and guiding talent, shaping brand voice, and driving integrated campaigns for high-profile Disney Resorts; as Senior Copywriter, developed branding and launch collateral, mentored junior writers, and supervised video scripts.

Clients: Disney Vacation Club, Absolut (Pernod Ricard), Meta (B2B), Red Lobster, Cannondale, New York Life, Emtek, La Aurora // Industries: vacation ownership/hospitality, spirits, restaurants, B2B technology, cycling, insurance, home hardware

HAPPY HOWL // PHILADELPHIA, PA

MARKETING DIRECTOR // 2020 – 2021

In-house brand lead for a direct-to-consumer startup through its launch phase. Developed brand voice, strategy, style guide, and all product, packaging, web, digital, social, and print content, partnering weekly with the CEO/Founder, CMO, and web development team to align creative with sales goals.

Industry: DTC pet products

SOURCE COMMUNICATIONS // HACKENSACK, NJ

SENIOR COPYWRITER // 2012 – 2014

Created B2B and consumer campaigns for technology and enterprise brands, translating product capabilities into demand-driving creative for business audiences. Developed sports marketing and sponsorship activation work — brand-in-culture assignments built on earning credibility in spaces the brand didn't own. Wrote across print, digital, radio, OOH, social, POS, and CRM, maintaining multiple brand voices and contributing to new-business pitches.

Clients: Sony, HP, NY/NJ Super Bowl, New York Mets, Brand USA, Amtrak, Wise Snacks, CohnReznick // Industries: B2B technology, consumer goods, CPG, travel, sports, finance

EARLIER EXPERIENCE // 2007 – 2012

In-house and agency copywriting and design roles for Toys'R'Us (including the Toys'R'Us Movies streaming launch), AREA15 Las Vegas, Barneys New York, Net-A-Porter, Maidenform, Five Below, David's Bridal, Charming Shoppes (Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug), Panzano + Partners (Macerich, The Forbes Company, Ivanhoé Cambridge, Turnberry, West Edmonton Mall, Westchester's Ridge Hill), Mint Advertising, Digitas, and King's Cages, plus freelance work for Aetna and College Savings Bank.

EDUCATION

SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS, NY // BFA, Advertising, 2008
GENERAL ASSEMBLY, NY // Certificate in Digital Marketing, 2021
UNION COUNTY VOCATIONAL TECHNICAL SCHOOL, NJ // Certificate in Commercial Art, 2004

AWARDS

2018 ARDA (AMERICAN RESORT DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION) ACE PROJECT OF EXCELLENCE // Disney Vacation Club – Copper Creek Villas & Cabins

EXPERTISE

Creative leadership and team building • AI-powered creative workflows • Brand building: naming, taglines, and identity systems • Brand stewardship • Voice and tone systems and copy standards • Creative performance measurement • Product marketing partnership • Integrated campaign development • Product storytelling • Sports marketing, sponsorship, and brand-in-culture work • B2B and consumer marketing • Creative operations and scalable systems • Long-form and documentary storytelling, scripted and unscripted • Film, digital, social, print, OOH, and experiential • Lifecycle, CRM, loyalty, and retention marketing • Agency, producer, and production partner direction • Senior stakeholder management and presentation

PROFICIENCIES

Gemini • Claude • Copilot • Nano Banana • Midjourney • Adobe Firefly • ElevenLabs • Adobe Creative Cloud • Figma • Sketch • InVision • HTML/CSS • Squarespace • Microsoft 365 • Workfront • Smartsheet • iPad Pro + Pencil