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

Megan Carrigan | Strategy Director | Union

Take 10: with Megan Carrigan, Strategy Director

Megan is Union’s strategy director, resident “big sister” and passionately self-appointed office decorator. While she’s been in the marketing industry for 16 years, she has also enjoyed bizarre career tangents including, but not limited to, cleaning and managing blood and severed heads for a horror movie prop department, and sitting in a green room and protecting Vanilla Ice as a convention center security guard.At Union, Megan has worked behind the scenes of high-profile projects like the redesign of five <a href="https://union.co/work/discovery-place">Discovery Place websites</a> and the overhaul of their web strategy, as well as the reimagining, design and development of a series of <a href="https://union.co/work/charlottes-got-a-lot">websites for the CRVA </a>(thank you, component and atomic design principles). These days, when she’s not busy creating strategies for clients, watering various exotic office plants or getting featured in <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultalbot/2018/11/28/the-price-marketers-pay-to-go-in-house/#37d77dc0222a">Forbes</a>, she spends time at home with her two small dogs, Appa and Toki. Cuddling with them is her favorite.From personal branding to the most common mistakes brands make in strategy, here’s a handful of insights from Megan, and the chance to get to know her better.What brings you into work every day?I like to figure out how to solve problems. It’s based more on how people feel and react and how to tap into that — using data and research, but a lot of it really starts with a gut feeling or hypothesis. Then figuring out how to rally people to that to do their jobs well for the client.What’s the first thing you do when you sit down with a client to talk strategy?Really it's asking about where they want to go. Ultimately everything leads back to their business goals. If they have identified the need to sell more of a certain product or that there is a missing profit base, then you start building a strategy from there.

Get to know Megan in the time it takes her to answer these 10 questions we pushed across her desk.

How do you get in the zone when you’re about to dive into a project?I like playing music, preferably not on headphones. I have a playlist of calm but driving music that lets me focus. Bat for Lashes, Boygenius, Stevie Nicks.What’s your greatest challenge at the moment?I'm juggling a lot of different roles trying to transition into one. It’s hard to keep on top of them. And sometimes it’s hard to let go.What’s the biggest mistake brands should avoid when it comes to strategy?They go straight to tactics. Instead of saying, “I want to do social media,” they need to start with, “Who matters?” Spend time figuring out who the brand should be talking to, then where are they, and then what do you say when you meet them? The tactics and messaging follow that.What random office tasks make you giddy?I definitely loved the challenge of the office decor. <a href="https://union.co/articles/introducing-the-new-union">Tough client, but such an amazing canvas</a>. It’s a branch off of my own style, but every time something arrived, I would run up to unbox it. I feel so comfortable and energized in this space. I feel like it’s let the whole agency grow up.What’s your brand?My violet hair does kind of become a central point. I love that it’s different, but I try to figure out how to balance my love of quirk and being professional and put-together. I don’t like being one way or the other. I like the unexpected pops. I like formality with a pop of quirk. Or quirk with a pop of formality. I feel like that is in my personality, and how I communicate as well.How do you recharge your creativity?There is a <a href="http://www.thejealouscurator.com/blog/">modern art blog</a> that I look at every morning. In another life I would be a museum curator — I was an art history minor. I love art and especially art that is a little weird and lowbrow. This blog has the best things that are right up my alley. I’ve already bought some clay to start making some things based off inspiration I got there.Favorite happy hour or coffee spot in Charlotte?My couch with my dogs and Netflix while my husband plays video games on my computer. I am not a big-crowd or going-out person anymore. I’m too old for that shit.How do you aim to grow professionally this year?I want to be an advocate for my discipline. Not only do the work, but get people across the agency better tools to be comfortable having these types of conversations with clients. I think, innately, most of us do it or know we should be doing more of it. Just need the first step.Megan is just one example of the quirk, inspiration and problem-solving talent that Union has to offer as a digital marketing agency. Is your brand in need of a new strategy? <a href="https://union.co/contact">Let's talk.</a>

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.

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Strategy Director Megan Carrigan At Union Charlotte Nc