Mark DiMassimo - Creative Director, CEO of DiMassimo Goldstein (#39)
Biography
Mark DiMassimo (Creative Director) is Chief of DiMassimo Goldstein, an “inspiring action” agency which he founded in 1996.
A creative entrepreneur since his teens, DiMassimo began his agency career working for the author of “Direct Marketing: Strategy, Planning & Execution.”
Son of a silicon chip engineer — inventor of speed dial, and core technology from communications satellites to nuclear supercolliders — DiMassimo saw the direct model revolution coming. He understood that faster processing speeds would make it possible for companies to know their customers. He recognized consumers would increasingly demand direct relationships with organizations. He also saw that most direct and digital marketers lacked the skills and understanding to build dramatically outperforming brand experiences.
DiMassimo set a goal to start an agency that would bring the benefits of great brand building to direct model innovators, particularly those that offer life-changing services directly to clients.
The promise would be simple: drive brand value up and cost-per-acquisition down.
This immediately led to his participation in over fifty historic firsts, including the first social network (SixDegrees.com) the first Internet delivery service (Kozmo.com), the first online weight loss company (eDiets) and the first electronic stock trading network (Island ECN, INET, INSTINET, NASDAQ).
Before starting his own agency, DiMassimo spent a decade of making tongues wag with his work for a who’s-who of top direct and integrated Madison Avenue agencies, including BBDO, J. Walter Thompson, Chapman Direct Advertising, Deutsch and Kirshenbaum & Bond.
Mark is the author of Digital@SPEED, and co-founder of the Tappening and Offlining movements. He serves as the Chair of the Creative Development Board of the Partnership to End Addiction, and has served on the board of Rare and of the Financial Communications Society. He was named a Future 50 CEO by SmartCEO magazine in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
DiMassimo is featured in the best-selling book Leadership Secrets of the World’s Most Successful CEOs, by Eric Yaverbaum. He is co-author of Inside the Minds: INNOVATION and Branding as an Advertising Strategy and is featured in Passion Brands, by Kate Newlin, for which he also wrote the foreword. A familiar face on CNBC, CNN, Bloomberg, FoxNews, and Fox5NY, DiMassimo is often quoted in the media.
Mark teaches advertising undergrads at The School of Visual Arts. Mark lives in Rye, NY, and is the happy husband of Jill and the devoted father of Max, Alex and Jack.
About DiMassimo Goldstein (DiGo)
DiMassimo Goldstein is an inspiring action agency. We help life-changing brands grow by helping people make more inspiring decisions and form more empowering habits. We’ve done this for WW, WeightWatchers, HelloFresh, Jackson Hewitt, Shutterstock, Nasdaq, Avon, Ideal Image, National Jewish Health, Sallie Mae, CVS Health, Rare, The Wildlife Conservation Society, The Partnership to End Addiction, and several clients so prestigious we have agreed not to mention them here.
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Episode Summary
“I’m truly a creative person to my core. I’m not afraid of the arcane, the new, the technological, the unsettled, the ambiguous. In fact, I love to get in over my head with something I don’t understand…”
—Mark DiMassimo
In this episode we’ll cover:
- In what way branding has changed with the advance of modern data analytics?
- How Mark went from account executive to copywriter to freelance strategist to a creative supervisor to starting his own branding agency
- Why being fascinated by human behavior, business, and technology can make you a successful creative technologist.
- What is Mark’s advice for getting over writer’s block?
Key Milestones
Additional Resources
Selected Links from the episode:
The Artists Way - by Julia Cameron
CONNECT WITH MARK DIMASSIMO
LinkedIn
Twitter
DigoBrands - DiMassimo Goldstein Agency
