Enough About Me, Already

Me listening to my personal social influencer, Fox.

Me listening to my personal social influencer, Fox.

 

I began my career as a copywriter for some of New England’s best regional ad agencies. Worked my way up to head of Creative for the Boston and Detroit offices of one of the largest, global digital branding agencies. And most recently, had the privilege of building John Hancock’s in-house creative agency.

As much as I love the work of being a creative, I know success is often predetermined well before creative development. Which is why I get involved further upstream:

  • Shaping and influencing the marketing strategy

  • Digging into the analytics to uncover motivating insights

  • Partnering with brand planners to craft a concise brief

And then, I help the creative teams develop work that inspires people to think, feel and act.

A Very Simple Operating Philosophy:

 

You know your business, industry and sector better than me.

I know how to craft and tell a compelling story better than you.

Together, we can achieve something great.

Lessons Learned Along the Way

There’s a direct correlation between a client’s commitment, engagement and partnership to the quality of advertising their agencies create for them.

Stunts may get you noticed or talked about, but don’t necessarily translate into sales.

Most brands would be better off not being “always on.” Just be ready to deliver when customers need you.

Big Data is worthless unless you can extract actionable insights from it.

Many marketers mistake facts and observations for insights. (They’s not.)

For most customers, “brand relationships” are conditionally transactional. Consistently deliver on your promise and you will keep the relationship.

No matter how long in the business, you never stop learning.

Brands I've Worked With

Aflac
Bank of America
Banktivity
Baskin Robbins
Boston Properties
Buick
Cadillac
Celebrity Cruises
Coastal Construction
Dunkin Donuts
Element Productions

Evenflow
FedEx
Fidelity Investments
Full Spectrum Software
General Motors
GMC
Goodyear
Harley Davidson
The Home Depot
John Hancock
Liberty Mutual

Market Basket
Memorial Sloan Kettering
OnStar
Owners
P&G
Puma
Rocket Software
Sirius XM
SunTrust Bank
Thrive Hive
Wei

A Few Industry Firsts

Received the first-ever daytime Emmy for “Asynchronous digital content” for the GMC Living content series featured on the Scripps network.

Launched the Safeway Savings Club (shopper loyalty program) and introduced the First “clip-less” coupon.

Created Trade Secrets — GMC’s longest running content series (7 years). Trade Secrets connected consumer passions with tips from DIY, Entertaining and Cooking pros and helped launch now celebrity chef Curtis Stone in America.

Discovered the new “voice of the Aflac duck” to replace Gilbert Gottfried with the first major, online casting call.

Founded MaidenHouse — John Hancock’s first, full-service, in-house creative agency