Marni Burns
Creative Director/Art
Marni Burns develops highly effective, innovative campaigns for some of the nation’s most visionary developers. She has created branding, marketing strategies and messaging campaigns for properties valued at over $1.5 billion which have changed perceptions, generated excitement and anticipation, exceeded leasing and profitability goals and attracted premium tenants such as YouTube and Google.
Since founding SEED in 2007, Marni leads each project with the simple belief that humans seek happiness that comes from a feeling of connection to the people, places and systems that surround them — and this approach has proven key to successful value creation. Together with her team, she helps clients achieve their goals by defining their audience, unearthing intersections between the product and positive experiences that can be owned and delivered, then creating a fresh, authentic vision for each property that engages this audience. By “reverse-engineering” joy into every aspect of communication, time and again the results have achieved profits for her clients and their investors.
Prior to SEED, Marni worked for 20 years creating national advertising campaigns for clients such as Nestle, Farmers Insurance, Kaiser Permanente, Whole Foods Market and DirecTV. Her passion for building brands, and a desire to better understand what drives behavior, decision making and the connections between people and places, serves as a driving force behind every aspect of SEED.
Marni serves on the board of Art Center 100, a community based support group created expressly to raise money for scholarships that are awarded to undergraduate and graduate students in all departments of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.
Phil Glist
Creative Director/Copy
Over a long career Phil has worked at some of the advertising world’s most creative agencies (Saatchi, Ogilvy, BBDO, among others). Most recently, he was a Creative Director at Team One, working primarily on luxury brands such as The Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, Lexus and HSBC. At other times in his career, he worked on automotive accounts from Jaguar to Mazda, tech accounts from Apple to IBM, and many more. Back when awards were a thing, Phil’s work was recognized by the One Show, Communication Arts, Adweek’s Best Pro Bono Ads of the Year and the Beldings.
When not working, Phil enjoys writing and telling stories. He’s a frequent Moth storyteller and Moth Story Slam winner, and has taken Storytelling Workshops at Upright Citizens Brigade. Phil also does improv every week at Improv for the People in West LA. Despite these activities, Phil considers himself an introvert at heart.
Melanie Monteiro
Copywriter
Melanie Monteiro has been part of the Los Angeles ad scene for nearly 20 years. A freelance copywriter for top agencies such as DDB, TBWA/Chiat Day, David and Goliath, Grey Worldwide and Dailey & Associates, she’s created national television, radio and print campaigns for Mitsubishi, BMW, Kia Motors, California State Lottery, Activision, Atari, PetsMart and Epson. She’s also a voiceover artist, lending her voice to national TV and radio spots for Panda Express, Westfield Shoppingtowns, even a top-ten rated Superbowl spot for Ameriquest. In addition to working on exciting projects for Seed, Melanie might be found raiding a pot farm in Angola, swimming with whale sharks in Western Australia or hiking through Papua New Guinea with a local wearing nothing but a gourd and a big smile.
In addition to advertising and traveling, Melanie also has a passion for dogs. Her first book, The Safe Dog Handbook, was released in 2009 and has received raves from the likes of Ellen DeGeneres and Dean Koontz as well as respected animal professionals such as VPI Pet Insurance, PetsMart Charities and the Veterinary Emergency Funding Mission.
Damjan Krajacic
Digital Development + UX
Damjan has the unique ability to bring a sense of logic and balance to the seemingly ephemeral world of design concepts and thinking. He can clearly see functionality as it relates to design and put the two together seamlessly in a neatly packaged structure. With an agile, acrobatic approach he orchestrates not only beautiful but highly intuitive and customer friendly digital experiences by leveraging consumer profiles and SEO expertise.
Jason Cook
Designer
Jason Cook is a designer and creative strategist, with expertise across a variety of design services including branding, digital advertising, environmental advertising, packaging, UI/UX. He has serviced a multitude of clients across Los Angeles in a variety of industries including fashion, entertainment, food/beverage and technology. He has been the lead designer across an assortment of projects including an upcoming brand launch for a national eyewear retailer as well as a multi-million dollar, brand collaboration with Hearst Media. He brings a conceptually focused approach to the creative process alongside a clean, modern design aesthetic.
Zora Chase
Media Strategy
Zora’s background encompasses 20+ years in broadcast, digital, social media, event, and experiential marketing. While at CBS, iHeart and Emmis Communications, she expertly developed meaningful client relationships in several verticals including entertainment, automotive, direct response and retail, and packaged goods. She’s innovated media solutions for Fortune 500 companies like Nestle, Warner Brothers, Six Flags, Chrysler/Fiat, Coca-Cola, and AB InBev as well as small and mid-size high growth businesses. Her passion is to work closely with her clients to understand their business challenges and create trailblazing solutions using social strategy, influencers, digital, broadcast and unforgettable events.
Ben Woo
Research + Strategy
Ben is a partner and managing director at Red Sky Strategy, a Seed Agency collaborator providing expertise in market research and strategic planning. As an alumnus of best-in-class firms in marketing strategy consulting (Monitor Group) and full-service creative advertising (TBWA\Chiat\Day) he brings experience in a wide range of industries including consumer products, business services, healthcare / pharmaceuticals, and consumer tech.
Ben holds a B.A. from Northwestern University in Economics and Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences, and studied abroad at the London School of Economics and spends his free time cooking, surfing, golfing, and going to concerts and LA Clippers games.
