background
I was born one June in Seymour, CT during the late 70’s after mom’s water broke whilst she laughed at Carol Burnett. I grew up in the same town, where my raw-male-sponge-like-form was puttied into a more specific and directed being. Then I learned how to lie.
After getting booted from a few elementary schools and a Catholic Prep-School, Bro. Tom Parkinson taught me the not-so-subtle art of ass-kissing and appealing to people’s apparent weaknesses. A new man, I attended Marist College and joined the Rugby team, where I was lovingly branded “Meat.” I forged ahead and challenged myself with four full years of Copywriting, Photography, Design, 1-AA Football, Lethargy and countless Beirut Tournaments.
career
Post-college I worked at The Ad Store, NYC as a Jr. Art Director on Sony Imax, and Munsingwear, the Penguin peeps. I bounced around the east coast for a bit and I was hungry. At every traditional shop I landed, I became the guy that helped found their “interactive capability.”
While in Atlanta I co-founded a digital entertainment company and spun it off of a more traditional shop into its own business. (Why not, right?) A small core team and and two angel investors later I found myself in San Francisco leading a group of 30 animators, designers and writers at Spunky Productions. We specialized in producing, marketing and syndicating original children’s Internet content.
We built all these funky, animated experiences that the networks loved—they were engaging on a level that their stuff wasn’t currently delivering. And so Atom Shockwave, Chevrolet, Keebler, JC Penney, Universal Studios, Harvey Toons, Fox Family Channel, Discovery Networks and Artisan Entertainment started snagging them up. We discovered that the web wasn’t a place for “ads.” It was becoming the home of rich, immersive brand experiences that acquire customers in a new way. We learned very quickly that if the user wasn’t engaged…they’d just go elsewhere.
In early 2000, I joined industry leader Modem Media to help develop and design their “interactive marketing programs” offering. There I started working with like-minded, interactive idealists and mega brands like Delta, Song, IBM, Coors, Heineken and M&M/Mars to help them develop an online presence. We agreed technologically driven, dynamically generated interactive experiences like this one we created in 2004 can be creative AND generate real ROI.
Hungry to take this shared vision to the next level both personally and professionally, in October of 2004, I took the post of VP Executive Creative Director at Agency.com in New York. I pride myself in my ability to build passionate teams of technologically savvy creative generalists. Creating that combination and motivating that type of team isn’t easy, but it’s essential.
Together we redefined the web-dev giant into a full-service digital marketing agency. In my first 18 months alone we picked up OMMA’s creative Agency of the Year award, three EFFIE awards (and 55 others) to boot. My stint with Agency.com brought the web such things as the WTC flag, British Airway’s EFFIE award winning Go With Those Who Know campaign, eBay’s EFFIE award winning eBay IT campaign, and the viral campaigns Audible.com Don’t Read, “Agency.com Subway Pitch”, and Ben Relles’ “My Box in a Box.“ Google the names in quotes for more.
In early 2007 I answered the call of a new opportunity - the opportunity to create great brand experiences in my own playground on the LES. And with that, POKE New York was born. As I see it everything is in question at POKE. The right environment? The right team balance? The right energy? It all ads up when you’re building a home for the world’s most creative talent.
most embarrassing career moment
Creating a first-ever piece of pitch content for Agency.com’s Subway Sandwiches pitch. The video ended up on YouTube and ignited immediate response, both positive and negative, as industry blogs such as Adfreak Adrants VOX Experience Curve tcritic.com Karllong.com Logic and Emotion Experience Planner Micro Persuasion Media Bistro called it “lame”, “terrible, “uninspired”, “highly unfunny” and my favorite: “naval gazmatic”.
proudest career moment
Creating a first-ever piece of pitch content for Agency.com’s Subway Sandwiches pitch. The video ended up on YouTube and ignited immediate response, both positive and negative, as industry blogs such as Adfreak Adrants VOX Experience Curve tcritic.com Karllong.com Logic and Emotion Experience Planner Micro Persuasion Media Bistro called it “funny”, “game-changing,” “true viral”, “the best currency for inter-agency conversation in years.”
passions
Testing and using technology as a concept in all types of communications is my passion. It is also the way we create immersive and valuable interactive experiences. The future of brand advertising and acquisition is in the experiential realm and my passion for it will keep me at the edge of developing these experiences.
When I’m not trailblazing the interactive landscape I am home being a new father to enzo, remodeling a fixer-upper in Bridgeport, CT and spending time with my wife Sally, three dogs, and antique lunch box collection.
most prized possession
My life mantra is Don’t Give Up. I have a screen print from Print Liberation that say’s “Don’t Give Up.” See it live on the POKE Cam here, where it hangs to remind all POKERS what those words mean. What’s the POKE Cam, you ask? Here’s an explanation. And here’s a video. Enjoy.
Thanks for reading. Hopefully this has answered more questions than it has raised. :) If not, ping me at tom@madewithcomputers.com
/ t