Kevin O’Shea
I’m a creative leader, producer and builder of content systems.
Thanks for taking the time to look me up. I help global organisations turn complex stories into compelling creative work.
Over the last 20+ years I've worked across brand, content, creative production and marketing transformation, leading teams, shaping campaigns and building the systems that help creativity scale.
Based in Cork, Ireland. Loves travel.
My recent impact
8,657 projects delivered
20,000+ creative assets produced
40% faster speed to market
$10.6M estimated cumulative savings
International award-winning work and teams
2023 IDI In-house Agency Of The Year
2023 IDI Poster Craft Award
2023 Shark Silver Award - Poster Typography
2023 Shark Bronze Award - Poster Design
2025 InsideOut Best Use of AI in Motion Graphics
2025 InsideOut Best Campaign
2025 IDI In-house Agency Of The Year
2025 IDI Best Typography - Poster
2025 IDI Best Design - Poster
2025 Shark Silver Award - Poster Typography
2025 Shark Silver Award - Poster Copy
2025 Shark Bronze Award - Poster Design
I've spent my career sitting at the intersection of creativity and execution.
Today I lead Global Creative at Johnson Controls, helping teams create stronger content, better creative experiences and more effective ways of working.
What interests me most is the point where creative ambition meets practical delivery. The challenge of taking something complicated and making it clear.
About me
Case Study
Bigger IS Better - Product Visualization
YORK Industrial Air Handling Units
I lead the team in rendering and art-directing these huge YORK industrial units from raw technical files in a way the HVAC industry has never done before - focusing on the sheer beauty and complexity of the products.
Case Study
An AI First - Connected TV
Back in 2025 I lead the team in creating our first full 30 second TV commercial using AI in only three weeks. We went on to create a series of connected TV commercials that have won IDI, Viddy and IHAF awards globally.
Stop The Scroll
Case Study
Weekly Social Campaign
69 campaigns in 69 weeks,
all on time, with 181 creative assets
A new brief every week.
Boosted engagement:
+163% impressions
+154% video views
+253% shares
Process is everything
I’ve spent my life making creative studios and processes work - and people are the heart of that. With the right AI, the right people and the right tools, anything is possible.
AI and 3D technologies allow us to completly re-imagine workflows and processes. I’ve led the creative use and deployment of Adobe Express, Adobe Firefly, Wrike, and Microsoft CoPilot into our workstreams.
Building Global Creative
The in-house content and creative agency for Johnson Controls.
When I joined Johnson Controls, we didn’t even have an in-house agency. I started from scratch, and created Global Creative - a small team with big ambitions.
Over time, we built it into a global creative organisation supporting marketing, brand, content and business teams around the world. What started with a handful of people grew into a multidisciplinary team spanning design, copy, video, motion, operations and creative services.
But this isn't really a story about growth.
It's a story about building the conditions that allow good creative work to happen consistently.
The challenge
Creative teams often face the same problem. As demand increases, the volume of work grows faster than the systems supporting it. More campaigns. More stakeholders. More content. More urgency. The challenge was finding a way to maintain quality while increasing output, supporting a growing business and helping a global brand show up more consistently across every channel.
My role
My focus is always the same:
Create an environment where talented people can spend less time fighting the process and more time making great work.
That means building strong relationships with marketing and brand teams, investing in the team itself and continuously improving how work moves through the organisation.
I lead Global Creative, working across creative direction, content creation, team development, workflow design and stakeholder engagement.
My approach
Start with trust
The best creative work happens when people are involved early.
One of the most important things we did was strengthen relationships across marketing, brand and the wider business. We worked hard to become trusted partners, contributing to conversations earlier and helping shape ideas before they reached production.
Build a culture people want to be part of
Creative excellence and culture are closely connected.
We invested in learning, mentoring, collaboration and knowledge-sharing. We introduced programmes designed to help people develop their skills, learn from one another and stay connected to changes in our industry, including emerging AI technologies and creative tools.
Improve the system, not just the output
As demand increased, we focused on improving the way work was commissioned, prioritised and delivered.
Better workflows. Clearer ownership. Stronger collaboration. More visibility.
None of it was particularly glamorous, but it made a significant difference.
The results
Over the past seven years, under my leadership, Global Creative has more than doubled the volume of creative output completed in house, which reflects the team’s growth and efficiency. With 8,657 completed projects and more than 22,000 individual creative assets produced, we have significantly enhanced the company’s brand presence across multiple channels.
Beyond creative excellence, Global Creative has delivered substantial cost savings. From FY19 to FY26, the team’s in-house capabilities have saved Johnson Controls an estimated $12,700,000 compared to equivalent external agency costs. This combination of creative impact, brand elevation and cost savings highlights the exceptional value we bring to the wider company.
The work has also received recognition through industry awards and nominations, but the achievement I am most proud of is something less visible.
Creative became a trusted capability within the business.
Not a service. Not a production function.
A team people actively wanted involved.
What I learned
Building a creative team isn't really about structure.
It's about creating clarity.
Helping people understand what matters. Giving them the space to do their best work. Making sure they feel supported when things get difficult. And building enough trust that good ideas can survive the complexity of a large organisation.
Everything else tends to follow from there.
Endorsements of Proven Performance for Global Creative
“Thank you for your support in coordinating and refining the board material. You and the graphics team significantly improved the clarity and effectiveness of how complex concepts were communicated. This was especially important given the strategic relevance and visibility of the topic, where precision and quality are critical at board level.”
Andrea Russo, Strategy Team“Thank you so much for all your incredible help in ensuring our Digital Technology Conference presentations were well‑designed, on‑brand, and truly represented our company at its best. Your support and partnership enabled us to refine 37 presentations in a matter of days, which was no small feat. The quality of your work and your excellent time management were outstanding, and your contribution made a meaningful impact on the success of the conference. We’re so grateful for everything you did!”
Dakota Taylor Rose, Content Marketing, OpenBlue“You delivered exceptional results on an accelerated timeline, and it shows. The impact of your work extended beyond our immediate business: it contributed to the substantial rise in JCI’s valuation and was specifically called out by our CEO on our Investor Call. That’s the kind of strategic impact that matters. Each of you played a vital role in making this happen, and Austin and I are genuinely grateful for your dedication, expertise, and ability to execute under pressure. Success breeds more Success. We have momentum, and we need to keep it going. Get ready to saddle up for the next couple of guides in our series—we’re just getting started.”
Davin Sandhu, Global Portfolio Director, Data Center Solutions