• by Larissa Faw , June 5, 2019

The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) has typically worked with outside advertising agencies for nearly all of its creative work, but now Dawn Rodney, vice president for innovation/Chief Marketing Officer is re-envisioning the group's marketing approach.

As part of that process, she is building out the conservation group's in-house marketing and advertising team. 

The group has appointed Frank Keating associate vice president, consumer marketing to lead the NWF's marketing campaigns. Those campaigns will be designed to drive revenue and related business growth, increase brand awareness and deepen people’s passion for protecting wildlife.

Most recently, Keating served in a variety of marketing strategy roles at Disney Channel that included a focus on cross-platform brand engagement.

Keating is the newest member of what Rodney hopes will become a "rock star" team filled with others sharing a "passion for our mission to save wildlife."

According to Rodney, Keating is “a collaborative leader, adept at using data-driven insights to develop successful marketing campaigns and drive consumer engagement."

Earlier this year, Rodney hired Sharon Bennett as head of licensing and Michelle Collins, as associate creative director.

"Each person is bringing with them incredible innovation and commercial experience and will significantly elevate the work we are doing," Rodney says. 

While Rodney says the NWF will continue to align with “movement-oriented” outside agencies, this pivot toward in-house solutions undeniably helps to save the group money. Still, she emphasizes, "we will continue to rely on outside agency partners for creative, brand, and advertising in the future, especially as we grow and scale the innovation initiatives."