• JUDY GIANNETTO

    EXPERIENCE DESIGN + CONTENT STRATEGY

  • I LIKE TO THINK OF MYSELF AS A MULTI-CULTURALIST.

    Italian by heritage, British by birth, educated in the UK and the US, and now based in Chicago.


    More than anything, though, I'm a creative and a storyteller.


    I fell in love with design early on. I spent hours beautifying my bedroom, sketching fashion collections, drawing elaborate worlds (more often than not featuring rabbits) and writing short stories (almost always a mystery).


    Storytelling has always been central to my world. I’m not a “content person” in the narrow sense, but rather an "experience architect," leveraging word + image, research + systems, to push the boundaries of creative vision.

    Here are a few of the things that make my work tick.

  • THE SKINNY

    Knock your socks off content + design

    INSIGHT Magazine on Issuu

    EXPERIENCE DESIGN: Clarifying ambiguity and transforming challenge into opportunity to deliver scalable, industry-leading brand enhancements, product launches, and digital reboots.

    CONTENT STRATEGY: Human-centered design powered by AI-assisted discovery, data, and user behavior. Driving simplicity and clarity to create scalable, repeatable frameworks across complex digital journeys.

    AI INTEGRATION: Prompt frameworks and narrative mapping to speed analysis, pattern recognition, content iteration, and brand differentiation.

    STORYTELLING: Test-winning UX copywriting and award-winning feature writing, editorial stewardship, thought leadership, and editing.


    BRAND OPTIMIZATION: Content audits; qualitative and quantitative testing; gap assessments; competitive and comparative analyses; tone, use case, and persona matrices; empathy mapping; and taxonomy builds to amplify and unify multi-channel experiences.


    COLLABORATION: Partnering with global Product, XD, Research, Legal, Localization, Engineering, and Marketing teams to bring holistic strategies to life across geographies.

    LEADERSHIP & GOVERNANCE: Facilitator, mentor, and content leader, driving executive and client alignment. Experienced in PoSa-specific playbooks, policy, and standards for scalable, organization-wide adoption.


    INDUSTRY INSIGHT: Engaging audiences across travel, tourism, lifestyle, brand marketing, and business sectors.

  • DESIGN IN FOCUS

    Strategy case studies

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    APP-FIRST, AI-POWERED MULTI-DESTINATION TRIPS

    Role: Concept, creative, and content lead.

    Outcome: Hackathon prototype: inspiring, informing, and guiding travelers within an immersive discovery and shopping ecosystem.

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    AI AND HUMAN-ENGINEERED BEACH PACKAGE DESIGN

    Role: Lead content strategist and product design partner.

    Outcome: Market-differentiated beach package product — curated, themed experiences offering value, conveience, and trip goal relevance.

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    HUMAN-BUILT, AI-AMPLIFIED CONTENT SYSTEMS

    Role: Lead content designer.

    Outcome: Content design guide to impactful messaging frameworks and iteration best practices — built by humans, co-piloted by AI.

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    DOWN TO THE STUDS BRAND REBOOT AND RELAUNCH

    Role: Lead content strategist, design partner, and copywriter.

    Outcome: Modernized brand positioning and content / visual redesign across digital ecosystems.


  • EDITORIAL PORTFOLIO

    No room for ho hum

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    Award-winng feature writing and blogging

    THE ARTS

    • Cannes Film Fest: Chercher Les Femmes Read it here
    • The Immersive Arts Experience - Ladies & Gents, Please Leave Your Seats Read it here
    • Louvre Abu Dhabi - Art, Sand & Shadows Read it here
    • You Are What You Wear: MOMA Taps the Museum-Going Public As The Subject of Its Latest Show Read it here
    • The Art of Stealing: Flattery or Fraud? Read it here
    • Theater On The Move: Who Needs A Fourth Wall, Anyway? Read it here
    • Times Of Transformation: Art Imitates Life As Gender Is Redefined Read it here

    TRAVEL / TOURISM

    ROVE Europe (WIP) Explore

    BRAND MARKETING

    • V&A Case Study: Reinventing An Age-Old Brand For A New Arts Culture Read it here
    • Touch, Snap, Post - Becoming an Arts Media Darling in the Social Media Age Read it here
    • Honesty is the Best Policy: The Birth of the DMO Anti-Slogan Read it here
    • 10 Hot Blogs for Experiential Advertising Pros Read it here
    • Prison Lite: Ex-Con Boot Camps and the Saks Wellness Brand Experience Read it here

    INTERIOR DESIGN

    BUSINESS

  • JOB LIST

    What, where, when

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    Associate Director, Content Strategy

    Digitas North America — Chicago, IL | 2026–present
    Content and messaging experience leadership for General Motors multi-brand initiative (GM.com, GM Energy, GM Defense).
    • Translating business goals into cross-channel content strategies and clear execution plans.
    • Initiating, leading, and executing end-to-end storytelling concepts, brand voice initiatives, taxonomy redesigns, and multi-brand narrative framing and messaging.
    • Leading discovery efforts, including research and analytics, competitive analyses, and content audits across brands.
    • Driving opportunity assessments to reinforce brand differentiation, develop user personas, and define user journeys.
    • Developing simplified, guided discovery, shopping, and customer support flows.
    • Developing playbooks, governance models, and workflow standards to enable consistent execution.
    • Designing AI prompt frameworks for immersion, audit, iteration, and testing functions, defining tone, structure, and constraints.
    • Aligning stakeholders around content strategy, execution models, and experience standards.
    • Directing feedback / review / iteration best practices, playbook standards, and continuity protocols.

    Lead Content Designer (Product & Experience)

    Expedia Group, Chicago, Illinois / 2020-2026

    Content strategy and creative leadership across high-impact, multi-channel, cross-brand initiatives (Expedia, Hotels.com, Vrbo)

    • Owned UX writing direction and scalable messaging across product discovery, multi-item planning and shopping, personalized recommendations, and booking.
    • Designed and refined UX writing patterns for complex flows, including booking, identity verification, and contextual in-product guidance—improving clarity while meeting legal and business requirements.
    • Led bold multi-item travel discovery and shopping narratives that generated $26M GP, reframing the mechanics of bundled purchases in the marketplace.
    • Designed AI prompt frameworks for immersion, audit, iteration, and testing functions, defining tone, structure, and constraints.
    • Partnered with global XD, product, legal, research, localization, marketing, brand, and Eegineering teams to define scope, align messaging, and optimize performance for growth-focused product initiatives.
    • Redefined XD / legal team partnerships to expertly blend traveler-first, high-engagement content and UI design with
    • PoSa-specific legal risk mitigation and regulatory requirements.
    • Defined use cases and personas to uncover market opportunities and sharpen reasons to believe.
    • Championed simplicity and plain-language content practices to support diverse user needs and improve comprehension across complex journeys.
    • Developed quantitative and qualitative test prototypes, storyboards, and research syntheses to achieve optimized experience-led, human-centered designs.
    • Led multidisciplinary teams (writers, designers, strategists) from concept through execution across multiple workstreams.
    • Directed creative output, providing feedback, setting standards, and ensuring consistency across deliverables.

    Measurable impacts include,

    • $26M annualized GP — Reimagined “Bundle & Save”
      Reframed “Bundle & Save” as a flexible, traveler-first concept—book together or build over time and save. Shifted perception from rigid package shopping to personalized planning, improving discoverability and engagement across global shopping flows.
    • Personalization insight — Enabled measurable engagement lift
      Proved that small cues build trust—and used them to reshape how personalization shows up in the experience, driving measurable engagement gains.
    • +245% search engagement — And +48% orders per visitor
      Shifted cross-sell from transactional urgency to assistive trip planning—reducing pressure messaging to help travelers explore their options with confidence and take decisive action.
    • $2.5M incremental GP — Simplified package product value propositions
      Cut through complexity with clearer, more intuitive messaging framing—reducing friction and improving conversion across the funnel. Enabled teams to iterate and scale quickly while maintaining brand consistency and supporting experimentation across platforms.
    • Concepted AI-assisted trip planning experience
      Assembled and led a multidisciplinary team of engineers, analysts, and creatives to develop an immersive app-first, multi-city trip concept. The resulting prototype blends destination inspiration with practical trip planning and itinerary-building, helping travelers maximize their trip experience and plan and book complex travel in one easy, intuitive place.
    • Expanded design flex within global regulatory constraints
      Partnered with legal departments internationally to rethink how requirements show up in-product—creating a model that protects compliance without compromising clarity or human-centered design.
    • Trip board discovery as an immersive experience
      Introduced new visual and content patterns to increase contextual relevance, reduce visual noise, enhance deal discovery, and elevate inspirational browsing. Test wins informed crawl-walk-run innovations that continue to shape trip board design.

    Senior Copywriter & Content Strategist (Product & Brand)

    Envisionit Agency, Chicago, Illinois / 2017- 2019

    Strategic content lead for B2B, B2C, and destination marketing clients in a fast-paced agency environment.

    • Led messaging strategy and content governance for the Choose Chicago website rebuild, ensuring tonal consistency and SEO alignment.
    • Built persona-driven content frameworks and campaign narratives across tourism and membership industries.
    • Redesigned, relaunched, and managed the Choose Chicago blog, elevating editorial voice and increasing engagement; managed editorial calendars, writer assignment, blog updates, and day-to-day workflows.
    • Produced travel and brand marketing blog posts, campaign content, and brand messaging aligned to growth objectives
    • Collaborated closely with art directors, creative and product strategists, and SEO teams to deliver fully integrated creative work.
    • Partnered with freelancers and cross-disciplinary teams to maintain quality and strategic alignment.

    Editor, Writer & Product Experience Designer

    Freelance / Contract, International / 2010-2020

    Creative partner to magazines, agencies, and organizations across B2B, B2C, and D2C sectors.

    • Served in editorial leadership roles across city magazines, tourism publications, and lifestyle titles.
    • Wrote award-winning, internationally published feature articles and blogs across lifestyle, travel, tourism, arts & entertainment, business, and design topics.
    • Authored rapid-fire sound bites, blurbs, and guides for both professional and consumer audiences.
    • Built brand positioning editorial systems and messaging frameworks for regulated and high-consideration industries.
    • Crafted digital campaigns, website relaunch narratives, and editorial systems that strengthened brand positioning and audience engagement.
    • Translated complex subject matter into accessible, persuasive storytelling for executive and consumer audiences.
    • Served as client-facing creative lead, presenting and supporting strategic ideas with clarity and confidence.

      Select clients: Critical Mass, Cereals Canada, Project Management Institute (PMI), International Interior Design Association (IIDA), Arizona State University, Procter & Gamble, Medici Museums and others.

    Director, Digital Publishing Products

    Illinois CPA Society, Chicago, Illinois / 1999-2017

    Defining multi-channel publishing and brand strategy across print and digital ecosystems.

    • Defined and stewarded a multi-award-winning quarterly magazine highlighting high-impact topics on the business & finance landscape.
    • Built segmented email and content programs that increased engagement rates by 60%.
    • Integrated editorial, marketing, and creative functions to create cohesive brand voice and growth strategy.
    • Managed internal and external creative contributors to ensure consistent strategic direction.

    Deputy Editor

    Complete Woman, Chicago, IL / 1998-1999

    Supervising editorial and photo shoot coverage for beauty and lifestyle features magazine

    • Feature writing and copyediting for a women’s lifestyle magazine, including celebrity interviews and articles relating to relationships and health & beauty.
    • Quality control and proofreading protocol supervision.
    • Photo styling, photo research, and model contracting.

    Senior Editor

    The Rotarian, Rotary International, Evanston, IL / 1998

    Leading features coverage for global philanthropic efforts and travel news

    • Human interest and travel feature writing.
    • Reporting on fundraising initiatives and humanitarian efforts internationally.
    • Articles reprinted within The Rotarian magazine family internationally.

    Managing Editor

    Kansas City Magazine + WHERE Kansas City, Overland Park, KS / 1994-1996

    Shaping the identity and voice of new lifestyle and visitor editorial ventures

    • Integral member of launch team for award-winning city magazine and visitor publication (part of the WHERE magazine franchise).
    • Feature writing; cover story development; Style, Home Design, and Arts & Entertainment editor.
    • Long-range editorial planning and freelance writer/photographer/artist assignment.
    • Copyediting, proofreading, and general quality control supervision.
    • Coordination and supervision of fashion, interior design, and local personality photo shoots.
    • Coordination of cultural events in partnership with area museums and arts institutions.
    • Mentoring of freshman students in the Journalism Department at Avila University, Kansas.
    • Editor training in preparation for new WHERE magazine franchise launches.

  • SHOUT OUTS

    Honors, awards + accolades

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    Check out reviews and recommendations on my LinkedIn profile.

    • Communications Concepts Apex Award of Excellence, Magazines, Journals & Tabloids
    • Communications Concepts Apex Award of Excellence, Feature Writing, 10 Worst Business Decisions Ever Made
    • Association Trends All Media Contest Gold Award for Annual or Quarterly Magazines or Journals
    • Communications Concepts Apex Award of Excellence for Magazines + Journals
    • Communications Concepts Apex Award of Excellence for Magazines + Journals
    • Magnum Opus Award for Best Association Publication
    • Graphic Design USA American In house Design Award for Publication Design
    • Communications Concepts Apex Award of Excellence for Magazines + Journals
    • Magnum Opus Award for Best CSR/Green Series or Article
    • Magnum Opus Award Honoree for Best CSR/Green Series or Article
    • Communications Concepts Apex Award of Excellence for Magazine + Journal Writing
    • Magnum Opus Award for Best All-around Association Publication
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