Lisa Sabo, VP, Creative Director

Lisa supervises agency art directors, copywriters, graphic artists and creative interns, helps to establish creative strategies and keeps work on course. She’s also established “the look” for major campaigns for the Detroit Tigers, Flagstar Bank, the Michigan Dental Association and countless others, and won scores of awards for the agency.

Do you have a philosophy of leadership?
Leadership by example. The department heads are hands on, doing the work, too. The less experienced creatives learn from watching, and vice-versa.

Is there something about SMZ that’s different from other places?
We have a variety of clients so we’re not just focused on one thing. You’re using different parts of your brain on a daily basis. It keeps things fresh. We also become partners with our clients. When we talk about them, we say “we.” We take on their goals. Because of that, we keep learning things and it broadens our own horizons.

What about the creative department?
That’s really something special. This group of creatives doesn’t operate on a “my idea vs. your idea” basis. It’s more like an open think-tank. We’re constantly pitching in to help each other’s ideas be better. We’re hungry to do the best work, but we’re not hungry to one-up each other.