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Full Stack Marketer — Strategy & Creative

WHO AM I?

A thoroughly cross-trained creative and strategic leader with over two decades of NYC experience working for top agencies, clients and startups. 

 

HOW I CAN HELP YOU

I can get your marketing moving faster and more effectively by reducing the switching costs of hiring and managing multiple people. If we need more help, I founded a marketing collective to bring in more talent when we need, and not have to pay them when we don’t. 

You don’t need more people,
just better people. 

WHAT DO I COST? 

More than most freelancers, less than an agency and many of the things I do for clients turn out to be self-liquidating when I save them money on inefficient spends and weak campaigns. 

I believe that advertising is the price you pay for not being interesting. 

My experience

Creative

I have won multiple international awards in my days as an art director, copywriter and creative director working for agencies such as BBDO, Young & Rubicam and Ammirati Puris Lintas on brand including UPS, Visa, Pepsi, Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola Zero, Chevy, Samsung, Haier and dozens of others. 

Research & Strategy

 I received a 2010 Best of Show for use of research in the Word of Mouth Marketing Awards for the experiential and social media launch of Coke Zero. I founded the strategy department of NYC based design firm Catch-24, and headed up growth and digital strategy at a major NYC independent agency.

Entrepreneurial Leader

In 2004, I founded one of the first social networks ever, Adholes.com which grew to a who’s who of 10,000 top ad execs, a feature in the Wall Street Journal and a nod from the Webby Awards. Since then, I have been part of the founding team for a number of startups, helping pitch and win investment, and serve as a versatile right hand for the CEOs. 

Agency Growth

I joined the executive team of a former NYC creative hot shop with 25 employees, helped define their vision and dream customers, and built it to a 75 person powerhouse that won Small Agency of the Year within 2 years. I have founded and sold one agency and currently run a marketing collective / agency matchmaking service. 

What I’ve been up to recently...

Founded a remove marketing collective of digital nomads, Marketing General Contractors to bring more flexibility to the concept and execution of creative and strategy initiatives. 

Spun off a media buying agency with strong programmatic media chops Sentient Media and a design / branding collective Brisk Brands from MGC. 

As fractional CMO of a 20-year old chain of yoga studios in Texas, over a year I reinvigorated the brand and positioned it for a merger with a competitor following the CEO’s retirement. 

Achieved 25% YOY growth for a NYC based custom clothier. 

Implemented programmatic media buying for a niche Unilever brand and a fast-growing consumer snacks brand to launch in Target & Kroger. 

I’m the volunteer president of one of the most active 501c3 non-profits in North Central Florida, managing 15 board members, 45 volunteers and 120 events per year.  

I recently completed long-form improv comedy training and perform a monthly show at our state theater. 

Who I've Worked With:

  • All
  • B2B
  • Branding
  • Creative Direction
  • Digital
  • Experiential
  • Gamification
  • Naming
  • Print
  • Strategy
  • Video
  • Web Design

I'll help you understand and reach your target
better than ever using data and creativity

Recent brand projects

Relaunched the iconic surfing brand The Endless Summer as a 50th Anniversary Book & Box Set, overseeing the launch strategy, recruiting and management of a 360 team

Complete rebrand, web design and strategic overhaul of a popular wellness website to increase traffic and conversions.

 

Strategy and creative direction of a b2b marketing funnel for a top financial printer targeting hard to reach compliance execs at major corporations and institutions.

Customer research, brand strategy and grassroots roll out of a marketing campaign for the Florida State Department of Health’s Children’s Dentistry clinic. 

Create a product nomenclature and taxonomy system for a product line that’s a companion to several different brands of asthma inhalers. 

Naming, branding and creative development of sales materials for B2B SaaS warehouse apps powered by SAP.

How can I help?

Is your marketing getting messy? I can fix it. 

Research

DATA ANALYSIS

I will uncover hidden gems and insights in your data, finding the social media behaviors and interests of your fans and email lists. 

PERSONA DEVELOPMENT

Who is your ideal customer? Based on research I’ll not only identify interesting and new target personas, but give them fun names we can call them in marketing meetings. From Kelly Quantified to Sam Single, this shorthand will help your team understand who ever piece of communications is talking to. 

MOOD BOARD

Based on the social insights – understanding what media your fans are consuming, I’ll put together examples of the types of posts, ads and images they’re exposed to, which can help inform our creative development. 

Strategy, Media & Tech

ANALYTICS

If you’re selling something online, there’s at least one part of your sales funnel that can be improved and I can quickly find it and make recommendations. 

PROGRAMMATIC MEDIA

Facebook just took all their fun data toys away from us. Programmatic media offers enough levers to pull to make Congress want to interview me for a month straight. I can get you into buying programmatic – once a tool reserved for huge brands and agencies, at costs up to 80% cheaper than Facebook and Google with 80,000 more ways to target people. I will still do Facebook ads if you want me to. 

ADTECH

There’s a gazillion tools out there. Fortunately I’ve worked on the adtech side too and can find a nice SaaS when I see one. I will add key pieces of my marketing stack to your team’s repertoire, because we all know everyone is too busy to check out every vendor that approaches us. 

Creative

BRAND DEVELOPMENT

I have experience launching and relaunching dozens of brands. I will help you understand what your brand stands for, and rally your team around the vision. Then we’ll roll out new creative materials and tell the world. 

CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

From award winning television commercials to hiding jokes in sweepstakes rules, I add to the nerdy analytics side with subversive and sometimes hilarious humor. 

WEIRD STUFF

Anything else that doesn’t fall under traditional. Stunts, hoaxes, unbranded sites, apps, gamification, scavenger hunts, and so on. 

My Experience

“What are you looking for in a new hire?”

I’m frequently asked this in the small university town I currently live in when inquiring about hiring students.

“Give me someone curious with good taste, who can write well and can figure out things on the Internet and I’ll teach them the rest.” I’ll respond.

These are the common threads that have fueled a career that has spanned over two decades to deliver what some people are now starting to call a “Full Stack Marketer” and others call a “Growth Hacker.”

From top NYC ad agencies to startups, to my own ventures, I’ve held roles spanning creative, strategy, marketing and business development.

It’s my belief this is the future of marketing: thoroughly cross-trained individuals with a bias towards action.

You don’t need more people – just better people.

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

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.

 

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.

1 Y
Graphic Design
1 Y
Art Director
1 Y
Copywriter
1 Y
Creative Director
1 Y
Creative Director
1 Y
Social Media
1 Y
Analytics + Big Data
1 Y
Inbound

How can I help?