Optimus today announced the promotion of Mike (Chick) Ciacciarelli to executive creative director, where he will guide the company’s creative efforts for both client work and internal branding and marketing. Donnie Bauer, formerly design director at Optimus, will move into the creative director role, where he will oversee Optimus‘ team of talented designers and continue to elevate the bar on their award-winning work.
“The promotions of Chick and Donnie reflect our commitment to offering integrated production services – from production to editing to design – to meet all of our client needs,” said Optimus President Tom Duff. “As executive creative director, Chick will bring to the entire company the holistic approach to creative direction that he has honed during his years leading the design group. And Donnie is a natural leader who consistently sets the example of how to execute flawless work and be a selfless collaborator.”
Ciacciarelli has been with Optimus for 13 years, during which he led the design group to become a best-in-class organization, working with a wide array clients such as Nutrilite, Craftsman, The Chicago Museum of Science & Industry, Budweiser, Supercuts and a host of others. “We’ve seen outstanding growth in the Optimus design group in terms of both clients and the breadth and quality of work we do, and we have some of the most talented artists in the industry working here,” commented Ciacciarelli. “I’m looking forward to bringing what we’ve learned in design to the whole organization as we look to continue Optimus‘ strong momentum in reaching clients and winning work. We can truly meet any client need – for clients such as Illinois Lottery and Ford Trucks, we can speak to our expertise as a full-service collective of services in production, post and design. For clients such as Craftsman or Amway, we can provide a la carte specialized design attention and focus."
Bauer came to Optimus almost five years ago as a senior designer, after which he made the move to design director, doing a range of work from broadcast design for clients such as Pitchfork on its new Pitchfork Weekly YouTube channel to more traditional work for clients such as Suave and Aveeno. “As Chick moves to an expanded role at Optimus, I’m looking forward to leading projects and winning pitches as creative director,” said Bauer. “I’ve worked closely with Chick over the last few years and am ready to make the jump to lead the charge on the design group. Our team has a lot to look forward to, and I’m thrilled to build upon the strong momentum we’ve got going.”
The Optimus design group includes nine award-winning directors, animators, artists and designers that are focused on collaborating with clients to interpret their communication into leading edge animations, films, graphics and titles. The group works with a diverse set of clients, from agencies and creative throughout all aspects of the broadcast industry. The team prides itself in not only the quality of its works but the strength of its relationships with clients.
For more about the Optimus design group, please visit the new website design.optimus.com.
About Optimus
Optimus is a leading integrated production company with offices in Chicago and Santa Monica. A singular, streamlined creative-driven machine, Optimus offers all production services – production, editing, color correction, visual effects and design, audio mixing and finishing – under one roof. For more information, please visit www.optimus.com. Connect with us at www.facebook.com/optimus161.
