Lynn H. Shook

Mapping IPs DNA For Managing The Design Of Licensed Brands And Creating New Sources Of Value

Lynn Shook’s career has been a series of achieving “breakthroughs” in the field of product design and brand image innovation spanning industries from automotive to children’s publishing to licensing her own designed products.

Today, Lynn specializes in strengthening a company’s brand equity for creating new markets and developing new sources of value. She employ’s a proprietary architecture for harnessing a company’s intelligence, imagination, expertise and vision laying a framework resulting in a brand narrative unique to each company / brand. This framework informs all stakeholders in the product development equation to create a unified, evolutionary brand experience. It is a key component for companies interested in licensing their brands and for maintaining continuity, clarity of brand message and managing design standards. This assures the integrity of the brand image / message elevating IP value.

Lynn serves as an IP Specialist to Consor; and participates in strategic alliance projects with companies including SaberOne, Jetmax, Intersection Inc. / GE Healthcare & Energy Groups, Eastman Chemical, Launch Institute / CVS, Lifetime Brands.

Her diverse background and expertise with fusing research, business, design and innovation strategies led her to Vice President positions at the following companies:

BMW-Designworks / USA (1988-93) managing product design programs for BMW AG, Siemens AG, Heidelberg, Nokia, and Compaq Computer. She established a strategic R&D service specializing in lifestyle trend research and translation into product. A key account was BMW developing exterior / interior color and trim styling programs that attracted the emerging growing female market to increase U.S market share. Another brand, Nokia, was revolutionized when her team introduced Nokia to the power of color and cultural nuances. She led the research and design initiative for Nokia by creating an industry first in which Nokia launched brightly colored mobile phones elevating the brand to a global fashion icon in lifestyle marketing and disrupting the technology industry standard for creating only grey or black products.

As VP at The Walt Disney Company / Disney Publishing Group (1993-95) she re-engineered and managed the QC department for all U.S childrens’ book design for 45 licensed and vertically integrated publisher’s and partnered with Disney Publishing Licensing Group in creating new branded books opening new channel’s of distribution.

At Disney Interactive / Educational Publishing Group (1996-97) she was acting VP of Product Development assisting the start-up group in building a team of gamers, educators, technicians and product developers dedicated to launch an extensive line of multi-media educational learning products.

At Enesco (1997-99) she served as VP of the Precious Moment Licensed Brand. Lynn had P&L responsibility for the $250 million brand group overseeing marketing, product design and development.

Prior to corporate positions she was a strategic consultant to Weston Anson’s consulting firm establishing the visual brand language and design standards to support licensors and guide licensees in the design development of licensed products. She was also the first design firm to join Licensing Merchandisers Association (LMA-1984). Some of Anson’s clients she designed programs for included Land O’Lakes, General Foods, and Caterpillar.

Lynn received her BFA with honors from Art Center College of Design, a world-class design and innovation institution in Pasadena, California. She is currently a faculty member conducting courses in Empowering the Innovator and Strategies In Inno-Visioning, both are leadership courses for establishing future “cultures of innovating”. She recently conducted a Design Language workshop for The American Marketing Association Conference held in San Diego.