Rachel's Creative

Outside of work, she created a website and a brand for healthy, vegan cooking (Very Veggie), through which she educated preschoolers about nutrition. She was also a Grand Champion fundraiser in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s and was a top “Yoga Reaches Out” team participant for Boston Children’s Hospital.

Wow! I replied to a great pic of my former team @ CITIZENS. This was the Executive Producer’s response. 🔝💚🙏 Love building teams that last! (I was there 2016-2021.)

Shout your BRAND from the rooftops. Make it accessible for Everyone to see rather than a thick book or some PDF too big to email. At BCBSMA & Citizens I led the creation of Digital Brand Guidelines for In-House Creatives, organizational partners and vendor partners. The more they know the more they can amplify your BRAND with cohesion. Take a look at the link below for Guidelines created 5 years ago. They are still working for Citizens: https://designsystem.citizensbank.com/#/brand-guidelines/consumer-guidelines/strategy

https://players.brightcove.net/5981523323001/ERsw61xzk7_default/index.html?videoId=6330931468112

Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you. Spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life. - Amy Poehler Last night we celebrated being together IRL thrown by The Ad Club. Congrats to all the winners. I feel like the lucky one!

Our monthly Marketing Meetings at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts end with a breathing exercise from yours truly. My passion for health has led me to this amazing Not-for-Profit Health Care organization. Their willingness to embrace my passion for yoga & meditation is helping me thrive in my new role. I am growing as an empathetic leader. We are slowing down to speed up. And most importantly we continue to check in and ensure Self Care and Mental Health are a priority for our teams.

What have you done lately? It’s a question we are asked In-House because many of our partners don’t have a line of site to what was being worked on. Before moving on to my next opportunity I made sure GREENHOUSE was set up for success and they continued to highlight the value add every day with a monthly recap video. What a journey! Now onto my next challenge and following my passions into the healthcare space for another In-House Creative Team. Onward.

Excerpt from Citizens Corporate Communication article: Colleagues in Greenhouse, Citizens internal creative agency use Agile to “cross-pollinate with our strategic partners, bring stories to life, and grow the business,” said Rachel Houk Seeger, Greenhouse Creative Director, Enterprise Marketing. At first, Seeger received some team pushback that Agile is a methodology better suited to the software development industry where it originated. So she included all of her team members in the training so everyone understood the benefits of an Agile mindset. “The collaboration across all of our teams is key – from content writers to graphic designers to photographers. I encourage everyone to reach out and learn and support other team members so we’re all part of solving the challenges and delivering a better product to our customers,” added Seeger. Here are the key takeaways Greenhouse colleagues learned together: The customer is at the forefront of all we do Share early and often Collaborate across teams Listen more, Ask more Have a Positive Mindset We are all accountable Test and Learn Here are the lessons the Greenhouse leaders live by: Empower colleagues Consultative Leadership Have empathy for our team members and partners Positive feedback loop= I like, I wish, I wonder (encourages can-do spirit) Connect with our creative POD members & share out learnings Seeger’s team uses the lesson of the beach ball to learn how to show empathy for and accept new ideas during their brainstorming sessions. “Everyone sees a different color (side) of the ball. There are many other people at the table and we need to hear all of their perspectives,” added Seeger

You can do a lot in a few years if you have great ideas, a lot of passion and a dream team. Creating a recap video brings to life the massive amount of work for In-House Marketing efforts. Growing from 3 Creative Services designers to 40 talented #citizenscolleague Designers, Copywriters, Producers, Photographers, Editors the list goes on. Managing and growing this team was a massive undertaking I am so proud of. 12 Direct Reports was a lot but necessary as the team and structure was formed. Go greenhouse! Keep creating, winning and making a difference.

I am always inspired and learning from other leaders. So when a photo request came into our studio I asked what more can we do with a simple request to photograph our CXO, Beth Johnson? Out of this simple request a social post and video content here was created. Hope you are inspired too! See video here> 

An oldie but goodie article about the rebranding of Citizens. Over the past year not only did our In-House team evolve the Citizens Brand but it simplified it. This article talks about leveraging customer insights to help us evolve. I encourage the team to always listen to our customers and I listen to our Executive Leaders when they are all in on innovation and simplification. We take on every asset requested through our automated workflow tool and update it with a modern take from Citizens Bank to Citizens. Even when our requestor isn’t looking for a refresh, we communicate, collaborate and over deliver every time. And when it’s bumpy we ask why, how can we make it better next time? Most importantly when our customer responds positively we challenge ourselves to do it again and even better. We are Agile in our approach instilling Design Thinking along the way. Bravo Citizens! greenhouse : )

It’s Award Entry season and greenhouse, Citizens IN-House Agency is entering up a storm. Since we opened our doors 3 years ago, we have won a HATCH Bowl, a GOLD TELLY, a Gold at IHAF and a GOLD at NEDMA not to mention plenty of Silver and Honorable Mentions. This wacky creative video series aimed at educating the Millennial and Gen Z audience looking to buy their 1st home was on strategy, on a tight budget and on fire at the award shows. Check out the series on the Citizens Youtube channel. Go Fish!

Happy PRIDE Month! The Photo Studio we built during the pandemic is up and running. Everyone is collaborating and giving it their all. Our colleagues showed up in their neutral tone clothes and their bright spirits. With the magic of our amazing In-House Photographer, Talented Art Directors & Magical Retoucher this image came together. Across channels Citizens In-House Creative Team is sooo Made Ready for Anything!