Jay Schacher is redefining healthcare design around a simple belief: the industry should be held to the same creative and experiential standard as the most influential brands in wellness and technology. That’s the bar.**

As EVP and Director of Design at Klick Health, Jay leads Klick Brands, a pioneering practice group focused on building brands that behave as systems, not symbols. At the center of his philosophy is the concept of a *living brand* — one shaped by the human condition and designed to evolve alongside the people it serves.

Jay began his career in consumer advertising, developing campaigns for Nike, Mercedes-Benz, and SiriusXM. His work earned recognition from The Webby and W3 Awards and shaped a creative foundation grounded in emotion, clarity, and cultural relevance. After nearly a decade in the consumer space, he brought that commercial rigor into healthcare, applying it to brand identity, experience design, and systems thinking. For more than 12 years, he has helped reshape how health and life sciences brands show up in the world.

His perspective has earned him invitations to serve as a juror for The One Show, and an Elite Juror for the W3 and Communicator Awards, and as a member of The One Club & Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts, contributing to the evaluation of standout creativity across industries.

On a personal note, Jay’s mornings begin with a giant coffee and a bowl of oats mixed with chocolate-bar flavored protein powder — a small ritual that mirrors his belief in design that balances discipline with delight.

How many years have you been a judge?

10+ years

What excited you about judging for the Telly Awards?

I have a passion for integrated campaigns that include television and video content, and the Tellys celebrates top-tier work across those formats.

What was your first job in the industry? What did it teach you?

I worked as a Flash designer. The tools are temporary; the thinking carries forward. That lesson has held up across every industry shift since.

What project are you most proud to have worked on?

I recently worked on designing an AI platform that helps patients across North America access health support from providers in remote regions and health deserts. The work that matters most is when design is solving a real access problem.

What’s the most challenging part about your job and/or the industry?

Maintaining differentiation in a market where everything gravitates toward sameness, compounded by commercialization timelines that can stretch years before launch. Keeping a brand distinctive across that entire journey requires real discipline.

What do you look for to determine excellence in video?

Storyline that goes beyond visual polish and feels authentic to the brand. The brand’s presence should be earned and not interchangeable.

What are your current roles and responsibilities and what do you love most about your job?

Setting the tone for branding & design at Klick Health, working with incredible talent to carry that through to strategic campaigns and branded content. What I value most is when the intention holds from the brief through to the final deliverable — that consistency is where the real work lives.

What initiatives or projects are you working on now that excite you?

Working on a high-profile nonprofit global rebrand initiative in the healthcare space. You don’t need big budgets to have big impact.

Do you have any specific practices you lean on to spark creativity?

I’m often inspired by film, specifically the more unconventional work coming out of A24. That’s where I consistently see the most intentional visual and narrative decisions being made.

What inspired you to pursue your career path?

I always wanted to be an architect — still do. But I kept moving toward multimedia, art, computers, and animation. Design became the practice that let me combine all of those instincts into one discipline.

In your experience, what is a significant change you are seeing happen in the video, television, and/or film industry, and what insight can you share about how to navigate it?

The content has shifted fundamentally because of how audiences consume it. Episodic shows that function like feature films, films structured as limited series. The range of formats has expanded significantly and format is now as important as storyline.