We’re built to benefit you, your business, and your brand. We do it all through a unique, collaborative virtual agency that’s a lot nimbler and more cost-effective than your traditional agency. We are experts in our fields, we represent all parts of the country, and we work virtually. We bring exceptional value to clients by providing the highest-level talent who produce best-in-class solutions for much less than the cost of a traditional agency. We’re talking as much as 30% less. We’re issues-based, data-driven, and full-service.
The approach
We bring the best and brightest minds together from all over the globe to form client idea teams that quickly solve marketing challenges. We prefer lean strategy and creative teams doing smart work quickly.
brand strategy
A sound and rigorously vetted brand strategy is the bedrock of your business. What makes you different and unique? Why should your customers care? What is your purpose and what compelling brand stories are just waiting to be told? Windup digs deep to get to the heart of who you are, what you need to say, and how to say it.
brand creative
Reaching full business potential means fully aligning and integrating your brand promise and creating holistic customer experiences that drive customer acquisition, retention, and loyalty. Windup can build your brand to better align to your unique and ownable differentiators using a variety of key, digital-first creative strategies.
brand protection
Technology-related brand risk has emerged with the potential for long-term brand damage. We’re talking data breaches and the potentially devastating and expensive brand fallout. In addition, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has changed the digital marketing landscape forever. Are you ready? Enter Windup. Our team includes veteran technology and brand/reputation experts who know the risks you face and the consequences of failing to plan for an event.
the collaborative
Our core leadership team has years of experience working with hundreds of Fortune 500 companies, small-to mid-sized businesses, entrepreneurial start-ups, advertising firms, and non-profits. We’ve been CMOs. We’ve been Creative Directors. Agency-side. Corporate-side. Windup's leadership team is comprised of four highly experienced and industry-recognized brand warriors who have proven track records starting and growing high performing teams and brands. We founded Windup to provide a higher level and unique set of offerings without the overhead and bureaucracy of large firms.
judy willis
Collaborative Partner – Brand Strategy
A creative problem-solver and strategic thinker, Judy has over 25 years of experience in marketing, with the majority of her time spent in integrated marketing and business consulting. Pulling from both sides of her brain, Judy has the ability to quickly analyze complex business situations and determine the best course of action to meet and exceed client goals and expectations. She has a proven track record for brands including UPS, LexisNexis, IHG, Procter & Gamble, GTE, IBM, Disney, Square D/Schneider Electric, NCR, Merck, Delphi, Georgia‐Pacific, Cox Enterprises, Fujitsu, and Johnson & Johnson in the areas of strategic planning, performance optimization, organizational leadership, crisis management, consensus building, integrated communications, social media, market research, sales support, direct marketing, profitability improvement, and business management excellence.
james e. lee
Collaborative Partner – Brand Risk and Reputation
Where James goes, increased revenue, brand awareness, messaging effectiveness, and operational excellence follows. He’s a seasoned strategic executive who has created, restored, and improved brands and messaging for more than 20 years. James believes that the foundation of all strategic branding, marketing, and communications is simple and direct messaging. He’s been a champion for and subject matter expert on brand risk and protection for companies including ChoicePoint (acquired by Lexis-Nexis), Waratek, and many others. A prolific blogger and industry speaker, James also serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors of the respected Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) based in San Diego, CA.
lisa acup
Collaborative Partner – Brand Strategy
A champion of building world-class brands – Lisa leads high-performing brand solution teams to achieve what is best for the company, its customers and employees. She’s built a career around providing the care, feeding and nurturing of brands so that they can contribute strategically to the bottom-line success of their companies. Lisa has sparked breakthrough ideas and has led bold, high-impact creative initiatives, campaigns, and programs that generated dynamic results for Fortune 500 brands including Cisco, IBM, Disney, Anheuser-Busch, Georgia-Pacific, and UPS. Lisa believes that top-performing brands embrace and excel at storytelling and that just about any business challenge can be best solved through Design Thinking.
greg simmons
Collaborative Partner – Brand Creative
Greg has over 30 years of experience in all aspects of integrated brand design and development. Direct experience with integrated marketing solutions: branding; packaging systems; advertising; brand identity creation; web site and UI design. A multi-talented creative director and designer, he works with top brands including Airstream, AMD, Emerson Climate Technologies, Honeywell Aerospace, OfficeMax, Toys ‘R’ Us, and Walgreens. Greg’s passion is to propel brands through smart thinking and thoughtful design.
Lisa Speitel
Collaborative Partner – Brand Creative
Lisa discovers unique approaches to create dynamic visuals that inspire audience connections. With 30 years of career experience, Lisa’s client range focuses on healthcare, education, not-for-profit, and tech. When not creating something, Lisa travels with her family and shelter dogs in a vintage Airstream, loves glitter, cooking, and finding cool treasures.
Jeff Stapleton
Collaborative Partner – Brand Creative
With over 40 years of experience in brand building and design, Jeff brings a rare mix of creative and strategic savvy to creative role—and the relationships he builds with clients and colleagues around the world.
Regardless of what he’s working on, it’s how he works that sets Jeff apart. His ability to drive collaboration, consensus and innovation in service to “the big idea” leads to stunning content and brand experiences that make a meaningful impact on people’s lives. Internally, externally—and all the spaces in between.
Industries we serve
Healthcare • Aerospace • RV Industry • Pet Care • Beverage • Technology • Cybersecurity Information • Technology • Mobile & Desktop Credit Reporting Agencies • Software Development • SaaS, PaaS, IaaS • Data Analytics (Big Data) • FinTech • Heavy Manufacturing • Insurance Property & Casualty (personal & commercial lines) • Life (carriers, agencies, & producer groups) • Non-profit