Christopher Papa | 516-655-9647 | Brooklyn, NY | Ctonypapa@gmail.com

Brands

Paramount+

Nickelodeon

Nick Jr.

Noggin

Awards

Chris Papa

Creative Director

Multi-Channel Content Creation | Design, Animation & Innovations

Seasoned Development Executive and Animation Studio Head with an illustrious 20-year career contributing to Paramount’s exponential growth in the Kids and Family space. Instrumental in the success of iconic Ips including Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants, TMNT, Paw Patrol, Peppa Pig, Blues Clues, and the innovative Noggin App. Headed all facets of development, leadership, and business unit scaling for Paramount, including the strategic oversight of Nickelodeon’s Brand Design and Animation Team, Noggin App’s Creative Department, and Nick Jr.’s Originals and YouTube Channels. A visionary leader, driving unparalleled success in the dynamic world of animation and content creation.

Key Skills

Adobe Creative Suite | Autodesk Maya | On-Set and Post VFX Supervision | Concept Development | Setting Strategic Direction | Brand Strategy | Creative Technology | Motion Graphics | Character Animation | Design | UX/UI | Audio Director

Professional Experience

Paramount, Noggin, New York, NY 2020 - 2023

Vice President, Design, Animation, CGI, & Interactive

Creator and development executive for Paramount’s premiere preschool brands Noggin and Nick Jr. The creator of multiple YouTube Kids series amassing >1B views and Noggin’s slate of original IP which are foundational to the company ethos, its brand marketing, and featured as animated stars of educational video and gaming content. 3-time Emmy award winning creative leader, taking home top honors for original content, brand marketing, and animation.

Studio head overseeing the development and production of original shows, games and mobile app features for the Noggin/Paramount studio. Talent acquisition, technical director, and production executive to internal teams of multi-disciplinary creatives and external production partners from around the globe.

  • Developed Ip, concepts, and visual identities for video productions, interactive games, and DTC marketing, resulting in Noggin emerging as an award-winning app of kids 2-7.
  • Published a weekly slate of videos and games to the Noggin App, Paramount Plus, and YouTube Kids, expanding the brand’s content library, increasing audience awareness and subscriber count into the millions.
  • Created, maintained, and implemented Noggin’s asset library of original style guides, custom character art, key art, series design guides, animation production guides, motion libraries, brand books, and internal animation tools using Adobe Creative Cloud & Maya Pose Library, connecting all of Noggin’s departments (Growth, Learning, Research, Marketing, ect.) to best-in-class visual assets increasing design productivity and visual brand consistency company wide.
  • Cross functionally managed Noggin’s creative operations within a large corporate infrastructure of Production Technologies, Legal, HR, and Building Operations to build a full-service content pipeline which became 5x larger than the small educational start-up’s original footprint and evolved into to a full service EdTech production studio capable of release and quality demands.
  • Lead visual strategist for the development and implementation of both parent and kid facing visuals identities in the app UX and it’s marketing materials, resulting in a cohesive DTC experience and increased brand awareness and affinity.
  • Developed and optimized production pipelines for video, animation, vfx, and educational games.
  • Negotiate production deals, liaise with Legal and Production Management in papering contracts and software licensing. Review and approve project calendars, team compositions, and all stages of creative content.

Nickelodeon, New York, NY 2016 - 2020

Vice President of Animation & VFX

Strategically determined and led the brand marketing and short-form vision for branded multi-platform animated content creation. Managed a large consumer-facing portfolio and aligned cross-functional groups with building brand awareness, connection, and new content loyalty. Guided technical and creative teams through marketing and product launches while managing three separate multi-million-dollar budget lines.

Strategically determined and led the brand marketing and short-form vision for branded multi-platform animated content creation. Managed a large consumer-facing portfolio and aligned cross-functional groups with building brand awareness, connection, and new content loyalty. Guided technical and creative teams through marketing and product launches while managing three separate multi-million-dollar budget lines.

  • Pioneered branded content & maximized YouTube potential, through marketing creative and the launch of successful YouTube Kids series.
  • Built and led an enterprise marketing and content creative service that provides animation, brand, social, and interactive solutions for Nickelodeon, Nick Jr, & Noggin. Global rebrands and product launch for Nick Jr & Noggin.
  • Launched and leveraged the power of YouTube Shorts to increase brand awareness, engagement, loyalty, and retention among the target audience and to drive traffic to the main Nick Jr. YouTube channel.
  • Achieved >1M views per week of branded content while minimizing channel investment & growing the channel subscriber base into the tens of millions.
  • Developed content and launched educational interactive series across multiple media platforms and partners.
  • Successfully integrated leading kids brands into interactive games and original series creation. Develop original content with the world’s most popular kid’s characters to create immersive stories, games, and activities for the Noggin app; Apple, Amazon, and Roku streamer partners; and Paramount Plus.
  • Hired, trained, and coached industry-leading production teams to be agile and goal-oriented.
  • Created a collaborative culture across the UX, animated, and interactive short-form design and production teams who work cross functionally to meet specific project goals.
  • Led the Noggin educational app product launch, built the team and short-form content.
  • 360° strategic leader in launching the interactive educational entertainment app; involved in the content pipeline, original video development, interactive games development, parent brand marketing, kids facing interface visual design, & internal partnerships.
  • Launched and led the development of Nickelodeon franchise marketing channels.

Developed and implemented design style guides and social media campaigns for Nickelodeon’s biggest animated franchises, SpongeBob Square Pants & Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Nick Jr.

Education

MASTER of science (Ms), Computer Arts & Post-Production

2003, New York University, New York NY. 

Bachelors of FIne Arts (BA), Genral Fine Arts & Illustration

2002, Maryland Institute College of Arts, Baltimore MD.

Brands

Paramount+

Nickelodeon

Nick Jr.

Noggin

Awards

Nominations