Tony Snethen

Executive Creative Director, VML

As an Executive Creative Director, Tony leads a diverse creative team to develop cross channel experiences that engage consumers while delivering on his clients’ objectives. He has a proven record of taking the evolving field of user-centered design from theory into practice and turning these practices into design approaches that provide immediate value. Given his 17 years in the industry developing, delivering and being recognized for great creative, he leads like a coach – motivating and inspiring his team to deliver the best work possible.

Tony’s success comes from his ability to bring both a high level of inspirational and strategic thinking while being pragmatic in respect to user behavior and clients’ business needs. Beyond driving towards award-winning creative by finding the balance between user needs and elevating the design approach, Tony is a strong leader in business development, managing senior client relationships, and agency management relationships.

Tony joined VML in 2004 and has applied his experience to design user-centered solutions for global brands such as Gatorade, Tropicana, Burger King, Wonder Bread, Sears, Colgate-Palmolive, Sprint, AMC Theatres and the Dr Pepper Snapple Group. As a thought leader, his design methods have focused on the future state of programatic and automated publishing of digital experiences to maximize delivered value to the market.

Tony won his first Cannes Lion with Gatorade’s Everything to Prove, followed by a silver and shortlist for additional Gatorade work. He has earned additional recognition from top international shows, including CLIO Awards, Effie Awards, Facebook Awards, London International Awards, New York Festivals, One Show and Webby Awards.

A native to the Kansas City area, Tony is a graduate of Kansas State University and worked at eCollege as an Interactive Design Director prior to joining VML.