Cara O'Brien

About

Marketing and creative strategy leader specializing in performance-focused paid social and lifecycle marketing. Currently Associate Director of Creative Strategy at Darkroom, leading creative direction for DTC clients and driving measurable ROAS improvements through iterative testing, audience segmentation, and data-informed briefs. Also operates as a Founder & Marketing Consultant at Ouro Strategy, managing end-to-end paid and AI-enabled creative workflows for consumer brands and apps. Previously led end-to-end marketing ownership at early-stage Nomad Common and delivered strategic planning and market research work for McCann Health (North America).

Experience

• Associate Director, Creative Strategy · Darkroom — Agency01-26-2026

  ● Direct paid social creative strategy across a portfolio of 5 DTC brand clients with a combined $11M+ annual Meta ad spend, owning creative direction from brief through execution across performance-focused campaigns ● Lead a dedicated creative team per account. Briefing and managing assigned designers and editors ensuring output consistently aligns with brand standards and channel performance goals. ● Grew blended ROAS for Guizio by 52% over a 3-month period through iterative creative testing, audience segmentation, and performance-informed brief refinement. ● Deliver biweekly performance reports directly to client stakeholders, including C-suite executives at founder-led brands, translating creative data into actionable strategy

• Founder & Marketing Consultant · Ouro Strategy — Consulting Practice01-01-2024

  ● Lead ongoing marketing strategy and campaign execution for consumer brands and apps across paid media, creative direction, and lifecycle marketing, with clients implementing recommendations directly ● Drove measurable growth outcomes, including 22% social audience growth in 3 months for Siren Basics and doubling annual revenue for a professional services firm through targeted email marketing and funnel optimization ● Manage end-to-end campaign planning, audits, and optimization across Meta Ads, TikTok Ads, Google Ads, and AI-enabled creative workflows, supporting app downloads, lead generation, and sales performance

• Creative Strategist (Contract) · 3rd+Lamar — Agency11-01-2025 – 01-01-2026

  ● Led content intelligence and creative strategy for EliseAI, a $250M-funded AI company, supporting executive-level recruiting initiatives aimed at attracting top-tier technical talent ● Analyzed hours of raw executive and brand footage, exercising independent creative judgment to identify high-impact, competitively differentiated soundbites trusted by agency founder and EliseAI’s Director of Brand & Communications

• Marketing Manager · Nomad Common — Marketing Agency05-01-2022 – 01-01-2024

  ● Served as the sole marketing owner in an early-stage agency, leading end-to-end campaign strategy across paid media, organic social, and content for multiple client accounts ● Drove measurable performance outcomes, including 3x ROAS on Meta Ads for a DTC kids toy brand (Kiri Toys) and scaling YouTube video views from ~100 to ~100k+ through Google Ads ● Set strategic direction for client growth initiatives, autonomously planning and executing paid and organic programs across Meta Ads, Google Ads, Instagram, and TikTok, supported by campaign briefs, funnels, and persona research

• Regional Strategic Planning Intern · McCann Health (North America)05-01-2018 – 01-01-2020

  ● Advanced from McCann Torre Lazur (NJ) to the North America Strategic Planning team (NYC), supporting cross-market strategy for global pharmaceutical clients including Novartis and Pfizer ● Conducted deep competitive and market audits—including drug landscape research, innovation partner analysis, and category backgrounders—used to inform client pitches and campaign strategy ● Produced strategic decks and research materials that shaped internal positioning, creative direction, and executive understanding of competitive dynamics across major healthcare categories

Education

• NYU Stern School of BusinessBachelor of Science, Business (Concentration in Marketing)

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