In just over 17 years in the business, Michael’s marketing and advertising work has been recognized with numerous awards and accolades, and drawn an international clientele. A graduate of one of America’s leading advertising design colleges, he has since been molded by experience with some of the largest and smallest agencies in the industry, whose clients have likewise included everything from Fortune 500 corporations, to Internet startups, from international venture capital firms, to sole proprietorships.

As an art director at Young & Rubicam, he contributed to national campaigns for the world’s leading brands, including AT&T, Colgate, Dr Pepper, Holiday Inn, Chef Boyardee and Johnson & Johnson’s Band-Aids. In a campaign for the U.S. Mint, his innovative repackaging of special World Cup commemorative coins made a significant splash among sports enthusiasts, spurring a dramatic increase in sales outside the traditional collecting community.

In 1997, Michael’s television campaign for the Mississippi Department of Tourism, created while working as Senior Art Director in a 54 person shop in Jackson, included one spot that was pulled off the air early, the telephone response having overloaded the Department’s call center. Another went on to win the coveted Platinum Award of the Hospitality, Sales & Marketing Association International, beating out 1,650 entries from 55 countries, and top honors from the London International Advertising Awards.

It was while in Jackson that Michael honed his skills in the executive aspect of the business, pitching and winning the business of the Mississippi Department of Economic and Community Development. The campaign he created for them netted accolades from all corners, including the award for 1998’s “Best Read Ad” in Fortune’s year-end, double-issue investment guide. (Fifty-two percent of readers surveyed reported they noticed the ad and 39% reported reading it in its entirety.) And the results from this award-winning campaign? An unabashed “can do” image for the Mississippi business community that netted the state a 23% increase in jobs created by new businesses and a 15% increase in new business startups, at a time when new business creation experienced a seven percent drop-off nationally.

As an Associate Creative Director at Arnold Worldwide, Michael’s clients included major national brands including Mobil Oil and STIHL, as well as financial institutions including PNC Bank and Citizens Bank. His work for Citizens Bank captured the New York American Marketing Association’s prestigious 2003 Effie Award, a national honor focusing specifically on results from advertising, and reserved “for campaigns that have delivered superior results in meeting the objectives they were designed to achieve.”

Intrigued by the explosion of interest in the world of online communications, Michael released his “inner geek” beginning in 1995, teaching himself HTML programming, an interest that eventually led him to Java Script, CSS and SSI, and an in-depth knowledge of web site architecture, development and search engine optimization. Merging his design, marketing and production background to his newfound interest in the Internet, he carved a niche for himself as a “creative conduit,” through which clients could facilitate their planning and execution of a powerful online presence. Michael can speak the language of clients, designers and technical professionals alike, enabling him to bring even the most complex projects to fruition.

Today, Michael’s award-winning creative talents continue to draw clients from around the world and around the corner to KristofCreative.com, an online “creative gene pool,” through which he assembles for each project the precise mix of professional talents necessary to provide comprehensive marketing and communications solutions.