Cofounded my own network agency, Half Fiction, specializing in social media, digital and experiential. Clients included Clarins Fragrance Group, Pax Wholesome Foods, COTY, L’Oreal and several funded startups.
Full Stack Marketer & Creative Director
I have spent my career working at the elite levels of NYC advertising agencies in a wide range of roles spanning from award-winning creative to strategy and big data analytics. I help agencies and brands grow by bringing a versatile set of skills difficult to find in one person, with a high set of standards. I currently live in Gainesville, Florida and travel often. I am available as part of my collective, Marketing General Contractors or as a consultant/collaborator with your business.
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Graphic Design
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Art Director
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Copywriter
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Creative Director
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Creative Director
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Social Media
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Analytics + Big Data
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Inbound
How we can work together:
Agencies
New Business:
I’ve founded two agencies and helped a seminal NYC creative shop grow from 25 to 75 and Small Agency of the Year honors in two years. I’ll find your why, refine your offering and create an echo chamber of content and propaganda around your target clients that makes you not just the best choice, but the only choice.
Strategy & Media
I’ll help bring in big agency strategic thinking into smaller agencies without a full time planner.
I’ll teach you how to expand beyond Facebook and Google to more effective and profitable buys in programmatic media.
Brands
Fractional CMO:
I help busy CEOs/Founders free themselves from “random acts of marketing” and put together strategic plans using the RACE methodology that can be executed brilliantly.
Branding & Creative Direction
I’ll polish your brand and create guidelines, creative briefs, and the processes that lead to consistent, compelling work.
Analytics & Optimization
I’ll find weak spots in your current media plan, optimized and experiment into new channels with a higher Return on Ad Spend.
The work:
ReCircuit
AchieveIT Solutions
HealthSteps
The Endless Summer
Micelli
The Nuvo Group
Response Crisis Center
We Are Neutral
Wholly Guacamole
UPS
TradeStation
Royal Caribbean International
Sabra
The Royal Bank of Canada
National Jewish Health
Mercury
L’Auberge
InfiniGraph
Haier
GGP
Corn Nuts
Coca-Cola
Chevy
Coke Zero
CheapOair
Bliss
Audi
Affinity
Adholes
My History:
1988
After blowing off homework for the entire first semester of high school, I liberate my report card from the mailbox. My first venture into graphic design is making my own.
1988
Though my report card is much better designed than the real one, my lack of personal branding undermines me when my parents fail to believe I really aced all my classes.
1988
Part of my punishment is to help mom at work during school vacations. I find her job a total snore (media planning) and meander into the art department.
1988
A young art director takes me under his wing and teaches me how to use a stat camera and press type to create ad mechanicals. I’m thrilled with seeing my work in print the next day and hooked on advertising for life.
1989
The agency gets its first Mac computers. I quickly teach myself how to use the programs to start an underground newspaper in high school.
1991
Still not getting good grades, my school ships me off to a trade school for half the day to learn advertising art.
1991
I wind up teaching the advertising art teacher how to use a Mac, and spend my time as the in-house agency for the school and teachers instead of having to do assignments.
1992
I’m accepted to The School of Visual Arts but can’t afford it. I decide to get a job doing Mac production until I figure things out. Take a job putting together supermarket circulars on Long Island at night while I wait to graduate high school.
1992
Graduate from high school and start a punk rock music magazine called Isotope, which later merges with a larger one to become the biggest free punk rock magazine on the east coast, supported by dozens of record label ads. Several indie record labels advertise and we interview a who’s who of famous bands.
1995
After three years toiling away in Long Island sweat shops, I get back in touch with the art director who mentored me at my mom’s agency. From his job at Mad Dogs & Englishmen, he tells me I’m funny and should be an “advertising creative” and stop doing this menial layout stuff.
1995
I find a recruiter in NYC willing to work with a 20 year old with no college diploma, who places me at a pharma agency production department doing small changes to Tylenol ads. My recruiter is nervous, calls my supervisor to see how I’m doing and they tell her I’m the fastest person they’ve ever had. She sends me to work in the production department at BBDO.
1996
Promoted to junior art director at BBDO working on Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, HBO, Visa, Pizza Hut and many other large clients.
1997
The Internet becomes popular and I’ve already been online in some form since 1992. I create the first ever web banners for Fed Ex and advise on the web development of M&Ms’ first website.
1997
After two years of endlessly long hours having a hand in the storyboards and props for 30% of the Super Bowl commercials, I leave advertising to design characters for the Emmy Award winning season of Nickelodeon’s Blue Clues.
1998
Joined my former BBDO creative director at Ammirati Puris Lintas as an art director, working on campaigns for UPS, Labatt’s, Dos Equis, RCA and GMC.
1998
A poster project UPS forgot about gives my partner and I an hour to come up with an idea. It wins Silver at the International ADDY Awards.
1999
After selling my fair share of headlines, I become a hybrid art director/copywriter. Recruiters don’t know what to do with me. 18 years later this is totally normal. I join a small agency working on RC Cola, Tracfone, Crain’s New York Business and InStyle Magazine.
2000
Become one of the first art directors at Brand Buzz, an agency form under the Y&R umbrella to integrate the creative process of the entire agency network. I work on concepts for Sony Wega, Toblerone, KFC and Colgate.
2002
Taking a break from NYC, I join a small agency in Western Massachusetts, working on Spalding, Polar Beverages and many local accounts, winning multiple regional ADDY awards and have work featured in the PRINT Regional Design Issue.
2004
Working with a company developing customized social network software, I founded Adholes. Adholes was an irreverent social network for advertising creatives and for many people in the business, the first one they ever logged into. Over six years, I growth hacked the site on a tiny budget to 10,000+ users, 20 worldwide chapters and hundreds of networking events. It was relaunched as a Slack community in 2016.
2004
2005
Joined Snap Marketing, an independent experiential marketing agency as creative director. Led a rebrand of the agency to ESCALATE. Collaborated with the President on all new business pitches.
2005
Created award winning experiential marketing campaigns for Coke Zero, Mercury, Condé Nast, Royal Caribbean, The Royal Bank of Canada and several other major brands.
2009
2013
Merged Half Fiction with Catch-24. Started the strategy department. Pitched and won the consolidated Casio social media account across all brands as well as Sermo. Worked on digital strategy for Lufthansa, DirecTV, The New York Yankees and Oracle.
2014
Joined DiMassimo Goldstein as a the Head of Growth strategy. Worked with the CEO to rebrand the agency while heading up digital on all agency accounts including Reader’s Digest, TradeStation, Fresh Direct, Hello Fresh and Mediacom. Responsible for responding to RFIs and RFPs and creating the agency’s inbound marketing practice.
2015
Move to Florida and created a marketing collective called MGC Solutions, working with early to mid-stage startups and growth brands across the world.
2018
Served as fractional CMO for Yoga Yoga Austin, positioning the brand for sale upon retirement of the CEO.
2019
Spun off Sentient Media from my marketing collective with a heavy focus in programmatic media planning and buying after 4 years of success with clients.