← The CollectiveMember

Tavis Salazar

Fractional Brand & Creative Leader | Brand + UX Strategist

30+Years of Experience
10+Industries Served
Tavis Salazar

About

For more than 30 years, Tavis Salazar has helped organizations find clarity in their brands, experiences, and creative expression. As a fractional brand and creative leader, UX and brand strategist, and creative director, he partners with founders and executive teams to solve complex challenges, build stronger brands, and turn strategy into work that connects with people and drives business forward. His experience spans brand strategy and positioning, UX and customer experience, creative direction, digital transformation, go-to-market strategy, and team leadership across consumer, lifestyle, luxury, beauty, spirits, hospitality, healthcare, and B2B brands. Over the course of his career, Tavis has worked with brands including Bacardi, Three Hearts Rum, L'Oréal, KEVIN.MURPHY, Mielle Organics, Suave Brands Co., Hanes, Samsung, Kohler/Kallista, James Hardie, Marla Aaron Jewelry, Naturopathica, Malin + Goetz, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, Macy's, Bloomingdale's, and Dillard's. Known for his steady, collaborative leadership style, Tavis brings strategy, creative thinking, and experience together to help teams make better decisions and build work that is meaningful, useful, and built to last.

Works acrossUSSpeaksEnglish · Spanish

How Tavis helps

The roles Tavis steps into. Select one to see how they work in it.

Role

Interim Creative Director

Tavis Salazar is a senior brand strategy executive with 30 years of leading creative direction across digital and traditional channels at full-serve advertising agencies and in-house creative teams. Tavis has a proven ability to lead projects from conceptualization through final production, including brand positioning, brand voice, identity development, brand standards, visual language, design thinking, user experience design, digital experience, content development, video and collateral materials. Tavis is passionate about building successful teams to cultivate client relationships and drive brand awareness to foster return on investment and business results for clients. This has led to working with brands like Bloomingdales, Bigelow Teas, Crabtree & Evelyn, Dillard's, Lennar Homes, Macy's, Humana, American Heart Association, Bacardi, Shaw Flooring, Guatemalan Tourism Board, Lynskey Performance, Kevin Murphy, BlueCross BlueShield, Naturopathica, Elliptic, Malin + Goetz, Gate 11 Distillery, Hirshleifers, Dee Ocleppo, Mielle Organics, Marla Aaron Jewelry, and L'Oreal.

Selected work in this role

  • Director of Brand Strategy at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee

    Tavis provided strategic leadership across the organization, defining and managing the brand while building an in-house agency.

  • Interim Creative Director at Mielle Organics LLC

    Tavis developed Mielle's brand strategy and brand standards while serving as interim Creative Director, supporting the brand team's marketing.

  • Interim Creative Director at MBO Partners

    As Interim Creative Director, Tavis led MBO's UX and Design team to standardize the visual language across its portal, website, and collateral.

Focus areas

Creative DirectionBrand StrategyUser Experience DesignAdobe Creative Suite

Selected clients

Designer Drugs Pharmacy
Pros & Content Community
Tastefairy Corp dba Marla Aaron
Lost Horizon Spirits
Kohler Co.
Hanes
Whistle Express
Output Services Group, Inc
Wrist Aficionado
Steady
Suave
Cumulus Coffee Company

Chameleon Collective work

Engagements Tavis delivered through Chameleon Collective.

Selected work from prior roles

Personal case studies from Tavis’s career before joining the Collective. These were not delivered through Chameleon Collective.

Building A Bridge To The Future With Next To NothingPersonal work
SuaveSuave

Building A Bridge To The Future With Next To Nothing

Tavis as Creative Director

Digital Revamp: Kevin Murphy's Brand ElevationPersonal work
K
Kevin.Murphy

Digital Revamp: Kevin Murphy's Brand Elevation

Tavis as Creative Director

Designer Drugs Labs rebrand and platform buildPersonal work
O
Otter Design Labs

Designer Drugs Labs rebrand and platform build

Tavis as Creative Director

View all 34 case studies

Experience

  • Three Hearts Rum

    Fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Three Hearts Rum

  • Knotch

    UX and Brand Strategist at Knotch

  • Gate 11 Distillery

    Gate 11 Distillery

    • Creative Director, Brand Strategist, and Minority Owner
    • Brand Development:
  • Chameleon Collective

    Partner / Brand Strategist and Creative Director at Chameleon Collective

  • Hanesbrands Inc.

    Interim Creative Director at Hanesbrands Inc.

  • Cumulus Coffee

    Interim Creative Director at Cumulus Coffee

  • S

    Interim Creative Director at Suave Brands Company

  • Mielle

    Interim Creative Director at Mielle

  • Barker

    Brand + UX Strategist Consultant at Barker

  • Blink Fitness

    Interim Creative Director at Blink Fitness

  • G

    GlueIQ

    • Brand and UX Strategy Consultant
    • Brand and UX Strategy Consultant
  • BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee

    BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee

    • Director of Brand Strategy
    • Director of Brand Strategy
  • BANTAM

    Creative Director / Co-Founder at BANTAM

  • A

    Executive Creative Director at AREA203 Digital

  • Smart Furniture

    Creative Director at Smart Furniture

  • B-Squared Advertising

    Associate Creative Director at B-Squared Advertising

  • Dee Ocleppo

    Brand Strategist, Creative/UX Director at Dee Ocleppo

  • T

    Brand Strategist, Creative Director at The Jack Parker Corporation

  • H

    Brand Strategist, Creative/UX Director at Hirshleifers

  • M

    Brand Strategist, Creative/UX Director at Marla Aaron Jewelry

  • V

    Vitech Systems Sub LLC

    • Creative Director
    • Brand Strategist
  • Mielle Organics LLC

    Interim Creative Director at Mielle Organics LLC

  • MBO Partners

    Interim Creative Director at MBO Partners

  • Made by Grizzly, Inc.

    UX Strategy at Made by Grizzly, Inc.

  • L

    Brand Articulation at Lynskey Titanium Bicycles

  • N

    Brand Strategist at Negave Estates

  • B

    Brand + UX Strategist Consultant at Barker NYC

  • T

    Fractional CMO at Three Hearts Rum by Johnny Depp

  • STAQ

    STAQ

    • Brand Strategist
    • Brand Strategist, Creative/UX Director
  • D

    Brand Strategy / Creative Director at Dojo

  • Lennar

    Brand Strategist, Creative Director at Lennar

  • KEVIN.MURPHY

    KEVIN.MURPHY

    • Website Redesign
    • Creative Director
  • Suave

    Interim Creative Director at Suave

  • Anova Fertility & Reproductive Health

    Brand Strategist, Creative/UX Director at Anova Fertility & Reproductive Health

  • Bold Dental

    Chief Creative Officer at Bold Dental

Expertise

Brand StrategyBrand Style GuidesBrand MessagingAgency ManagementCreative DirectionUser Experience (UX)Luxury BrandingInterim LeaderBrand DevelopmentCreative StrategyCreative LeadershipGo-To-MarketExecutive LeadershipE-commerceReal Estate MarketingBrand Positioning

Off Hours

Tavis has always been a maker at heart. He played guitar in garage bands, wrote poems on napkins, and developed an early love of cooking that never really went away. These days, he's a vinyl-collecting music obsessive, prolific concert-goer, cocktail and cuisine aficionado, patron of the arts, and minority owner of a craft distillery. He's happiest discovering a great record, restaurant, cocktail, piece of design, or some obscure bit of culture worth going down a rabbit hole for. For Tavis, curiosity doesn't really clock out when the workday ends. It's usually where the next good idea starts.

Work With
Tavis

Interested in bringing Tavis onto your transformation? Let’s start the conversation.