WHO?
I have stepped in and run major pieces business with little or no supervision – from Guinness and Johnnie Walker to Kimberly-Clark to United Concordia and beyond. I have consistently pushed the boundaries of marketing – proposing facebook concepts to clients in 2007; podcasts in 2008; twitter in 2009; A/R in 2011 – and more. Through The-Agency-Review.com, I have kept my finger on the pulse of how advertising and culture are changing, with book reviews, marketer content and interviews with movers and shakers from Kevin Roberts to George Lois to Sir John Hegarty. I am a proven conceptual leader who is at home in any media and who is recognized for bringing innovations, ideas and insights to agencies and clients; a trusted guide by clients through the rapidly-changing, incredibly interconnected marketing landscape; a businessman who grows his own business by growing his client's; and a well-respected writer for agencies and publications around the world.
WHERE?
7419
2024 -
2004 - 2017
[What’s with the weird name? Click here for a highly interactive explanation]
Currently an occasional freelance endeavor but for a decade and a half, my primary employment. Strategies, concepts, creative, and copy for agencies and clients across all kinds of disciplines and all kinds of industries all over the world. [Why did I leave?]
What kinds of disciplines? Experiential, Shopper, Digital, Social Media, Print, Viral, TV, Event, Radio, Sales Promotions, Guerilla, Direct Mail, and stuff that was invented after I finished writing this sentence.
What kinds of industries? Appliances, Automotive, Baking, Beer, Beverages, Cable, Candy, Charity, Clothing, Collectibles, Corporate, Detergent, Electronics, Financial, Government, Health & Beauty, Home, Insurance, Kids, Magazines, Military, Online, Packaged Foods, Paper Goods, Pet Food, Pharmaceutical, Real Estate, Retail, Retail Food, Service, Snack Foods, Soda, Software, Spirits, Sports, Travel, TV, Water, Wines and others
Judging: 2024 Davey, 2024 NYX, 2024 W3, 2024 Collision, 2024 Telly, 2024 Communicator
LevLane
2018-2024
Oversaw creative strategy and execution across 20+ clients and all media for this $12 million agency. Managed full-time creative department of 15 ranging from kids right out of college to lifers who’d been with the agency since the 1990s - across multiple time zones, supplemented with freelancers as needed. Interacted directly and personally with senior level clients. Created new business plans and strategies, pitched and won new business - including agency’s largest account in a category agency had no previous experience in, and for which I wrote the strategy and managed a cross-agency team across multiple rounds. Mentored and developed younger staff. Created cross-department projects and processes for more innovative, effective, seamless and efficient work. Increased agencies public profile within Philadelphia and across the country. Wrote copy, concepts, strategies, wireframes, whatever, as needed. Eschewed offices. [Why did I leave?]
Accolades: When I initially interviewed with the founder, one of the things on his wish list was “winning awards.” “We used to win awards all the time” he said. “I don’t know why we don’t anymore.” During my five years leading the creative department at LevLane, work I personally had a hand in (either writing, concepting, or directing) won 99 awards from a variety of international competitions, across branding, integrated marketing, TV, OOH, digital, social, websites and more. I think the year before I got there, they’d won two. Which awards did we win? [Click here for a list that some say makes me look like an egomaniac.]
Electric Enjin
2017-2018
Doubled the billings and tripled the output of this small start-up digital advertising agency that produced websites, managed SEO, SEM, A/R, media, social, and provided a wide variety of other offerings to Fortune 500 companies, startups and mom-and-pops alike. Managed and directed all the creative, found and mentored internal and external creative resources, built processes to more efficiently run the department and the entire company, adapting the staff, materials and processes to the changing offerings and complexity of the products. Prospected, pitched and won new business to help grow the company while still writing copy, concepting, strategizing, doing discovery and research, and occasionally washing bottles. [Why did I leave?]
Clients: Pitney Bowes, Yum Earth, Office Evolution, SDS Rx, Sparks, among others
Renegade
2002–2004
Helped grow an agency in the nascent and volatile “Guerilla Marketing” space with strategically insightful and creatively innovative concepts and executions that won the support of companies from startups to Fortune 500 stalwarts, from foreign banks to domestic apparel powerhouses. [Why did I leave?]
Clients: HSBC, Panasonic, Nike, Bluefly.com, ICICI Bank, IBM, among others
Accolades: 2004 Brandweek “Guerilla Marketer of the Year” for HSBC
Zipatoni
1997-2001
Brought strategy and creativity to the retailer-level in the extremely competitive beer and spirits category. Traveled the country to meet with distributor partners to earn their trust while developing cutting edge creative work that resulted in agency being named industry’s Agency of the Year. Did all this while agency grew from 75 people in two offices to 200 people across the continent.
Clients: Molson, Icehouse, Mickey’s, Dewar's, Bacardi, Kinko’s, Nextel and others
Accolades: 2000 Promo Magazine Agency of the Year
TEACHING
Villanova University
2013 – 2016
Adjunct Professor in the MBA Program
Classes:
Getting Products to Market
Increasing Advertising ROI
St. Joseph's University
2011 – 2014
Adjunct Professor
in the International Marketing MBA Program
Classes:
International Product Development & Brand Management
University of the Arts
2007 – 2017
Senior Lecturer
in the Music Business Entrepreneurship and Technology Undergraduate Major
Classes:
Introduction to Advertising
Creative Concepts 2
Social Media Workshop
WRITING
The Agency Review
Last Word on Sports