Blending Digital and Education

Craig Pladson helps grow brands and people, and he's accomplished this throughout his career by purposefully challenging the status quo to drive digital innovation.

He's an independent marketing leader with more than 20 years of experience building, teaching, and co-creating brand and digital strategies for organizations at every level, including Digital River, ColleMcVoy, General Mills, GoKart Labs, and Ovative Group.

Throughout his career, Craig has always been drawn towards marketing, education, and entrepreneurship. In March 2020, he started his own business — Craig Pladson Consulting Group — to do all these things at once. Services include strategy, leadership, creative, and workshops for individuals or teams looking to level up their digital marketing capabilities.

I believe curiosity, learning, and challenging the status quo puts people and brands in a position to find patterns and insights not seen by others.

Learnings from Opus College have helped advance Craig’s career — from practical application of business theory and concepts to helping him run his own business today. Nearly every one of his courses incorporated relevant and real-world business cases, leading to insightful conversations during class. By working directly with students in the finance, operations, engineering, and HR fields, Craig gained a better understanding of their business perspectives and how they approach problem-solving.

He continues to find ways to give back as an adjunct professor, mentor to students, and advisor to local nonprofits like Northern Monday Films. Most recently, Craig is working on building out his own content platform, The Blend, which is a mix of articles, presentations, and podcasts that blend together marketing and education, explore their relatedness, and uncovers insights in a way that can be applied to growing brands and people.

As a marketing leader across teams that include clients, agencies, and independent creatives, Craig continues to inspire and impress with his passion and expertise. In bridging his digital and education paths, he’s helping brands and people lead, make change, and find inventive ways to grow.