Seattle’s WH inc., Grows Creative Team with New Creative Leadership

Agency adds additional strength to design team  

July 25, 2023 (Seattle, WA) – WH inc., the Seattle-based marketing leader in healthy active lifestyle brands, continues to drive creative excellence with the addition of three creative hires, including a new creative director, Hart Rusen, who brings with him over 20 years of creative experience across ad agencies, design firms, and in-house with leading brands like REI, Alaska Airlines, T-Mobile and Cheetos. In addition to Hart, WH inc., welcomes senior designer Ari Pal, who joins from Vail Resorts, and Chase Kunz, production designer, who joins from Microsoft.  

“Since humans landed on the moon, our mission at WH inc., has been to build preference for healthy, active brands, said Marc Williams, president, WH inc. “With the addition of Hart, Ari, and Chase, we have three passionate new team-members who will help further push the creative strategy for our legendary portfolio of brands. Their love for our brands has been crystal clear since day one and that’s proving a key ingredient in the success of our work.” 

Hart has worked as a team leader and writer at ad agencies, design firms and in-house at REI leading brand, social and sustainability and impact efforts. His work highlights include leading creative at Mekanism for Alaska Airlines. As Group Creative Director at Publicis, he helped the T-Mobile brand flourish over the course of six years. At Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, he resurrected the Cheetos mascot, Chester Cheetah, tapping into his alter ego and landing him on the Super Bowl, and helped create a first-person interactive horror website for Doritos, Hotel 626, which won numerous Cannes Lions, One Show and D&AD honors. His outside-of-work accomplishments include the Portland Marathon, 5 Hood to Coast races, the STP and RSVP double-century bike rides, and a national championship as a member of the San Diego State rugby team. 

Ari joins WH with over 15 years as a designer with a background in graphic design, illustration, and photography. He brings with him a deep passion for the outdoors and has spent time living and working in places like Boulder, CO, and now Seattle, WA. Prior to joining WH inc., has worked across B2B and B2C segments designing spending time as a Senior Designer at Vail Resort with their retail marketing team, and with Coleman Outdoor.  

Chase joins the team after working with some of Seattle’s largest tech giants including Amazon and Microsoft as franchise media artist at the Microsoft game studio 343 Industries and production design for Microsoft Office. In his free time he enjoys digital illustration, as well as connecting with friends over video games and BBQ. 

About WH inc.  

Founded in Seattle, WA in 1969, WH inc. is a marketing, communications and PR agency with a focus on building brand preference for healthy, active lifestyle brands. The agency boasts a portfolio of national and global brands that are #1 in their categories and brands that are on their way. To learn more, visit WH1969.com.