Get to know the creative director at Union digital marketing agency in Charlotte, NC, as he answers 10 questions about inspiration and brand strategy.

Matt Taylor | Creative Director | Union

Take 10: with Matt Taylor, Creative Director

Matt is Union’s self-described “assiduous” creative director, as well as our unofficial office handyman (he always has the tape measure, seriously) and the one who remembers all of the agency’s old ways of doing things. After all, he’s been in the industry for 13 years. His hobbies involve mostly non-screen-time activities, from hiking to hunting to fishing at the coast.Away from the wilderness and inside the office, Matt has been part of a big project shift towards larger, more complex experience engagements that require thinking in terms of components and systems, like Union’s recent work with <a href="https://union.co/work/discovery-place">Discovery Place</a> and <a href="https://union.co/work/charlottes-got-a-lot">CRVA’s Charlotte’s Got A Lot</a> websites. “If we do our job well, users will experience something that is consistent, familiar while still feeling interesting, and it helps keep our sanity throughout the whole process,” Matt says.He also led the team that crafted a comic-book-inspired <a href="https://union.co/work/mack-masters">campaign for Mack Masters</a>, a world-class competition that tests the skills of extraordinary truck technicians. The team delivered a full-length comic book promoting the Mack brand and event, plus a series of videos that merged live-action footage with the comic book renderings.From his habits for maximizing office time to the way he guides brands toward a design focus, Matt offers some pearls of wisdom and a glimpse of what he brings to Union’s culture.What brings you to the office?Doing great work. Working with the 70+ other individuals that also are here to do great work on behalf of our clients. It’s our No. 1 guiding principle. Only our best is acceptable.What’s the first step you take in a project when working with a client?Defining what success looks like to the client. Sell more of a product or service? Sweet. Change brand perception? Dope. Disrupt the motion-based content ecosystem. What?What should brands focus on when considering design elements across experiences — from social media channels to websites?Consistency. Consumers don’t think in terms of platforms or channels. That’s our lingo, not theirs. First click or last click can start and end anywhere; brands need to make sure they’re treating every channel with the same level of care and focus as the other. Every touchpoint should be the best it can be.

Get inside Matt’s mindset as he works his way through these 10 questions we interrupted his workflow to ask.

What creative work really lights your passion?Doing something that hasn’t been done before. That takes creative, innovative thinking and trust from your team that we can figure it out and not fall flat on our faces.Any side projects outside of work you’d like to share? Raising my kids, Jake and Lennon — I’d consider that the most challenging side project that I’ve had. At times they can be difficult clients, my life’s most rewarding work. But I won’t have the success metrics back for quite some time, unfortunately.What’s your brand?I aim to be the best listener in the room. Really listening to what the client or team is saying. I try to not be the most talkative person in the room — I really only speak up when it’s something important to discover or to clarify. It should all be about the client, who knows their business best.How do you get into the creative zone at the office?I wasn’t always this way; I guess I have to thank my kids for this. But it’s now being the first one in, flipping on the lights and tapping the spacebar on my computer to wake us both up. Putting my headphones on to listen to anything from hip-hop to hardcore and getting as much done as I can before the world wakes up.How do you keep your creativity fresh?Always reading and researching. There’s no shortage of beautiful work, innovative thinking or unique approaches out there. Sometimes the right inspiration can come from places you don’t expect.Favorite happy hour or coffee spot in CLT?The smallest, quietest hole-in-the-wall places I can find.How do you aim to grow professionally this year?By doing better, more interesting work. That’s why we’re all here.Matt is just one example of the awesome listeners and strategic creative talent that Union has to offer as a digital marketing agency. He is also one of our many Matts — he was recently voted runner-up for “The Most Matt” in the office next to our <a href="https://union.co/articles/take-10-matt-ashbridge">extremely competitive Campaigns Director, Matt Ashbridge</a>. So, is your brand in need of a new design approach? <a href="https://union.co/contact">Let's talk.</a>

Valtech Union is a creative &amp; performance marketing agency that creates omni-channel campaigns, unleashing creativity on a data-driven world, helping brands produce memorable, measurable and repeatable results. Obsessed with data-driven performance, we believe every marketing dollar should be viewed as an investment. Our clients expect a meaningful return and we prove the ROI of our work with quantifiable data.