Kevin DiMaggio is our creative director.
Official Bio:
Kevin DiMaggio is Creative Director at Brand Cool, where he leads the teams in all things strategically creative (always integrating client’s business and marketing goals) and contributes to the agency’s strategic and new business initiatives.
Over the course of his career, Kevin has won numerous ADDY, PRism and Telly awards and appeared in the prestigious International One Show. His work has been published in The Art Director’s Annual, Communication Arts and Print.
Prior to joining Brand Cool, Kevin was the owner and creative director at Throttle Communications, where he managed and supervised all facets of clients’ marketing efforts within a boutique, solutions-oriented shop. Even in the economically depressed and shrinking central/western New York markets, Throttle grew or held stable event attendance each year for Watkins Glen International while national NASCAR attendance and ratings were eroding. By 2010, WGI was the top performing venue (by percentage increase in attendance) in the ISC portfolio and many of the track executives Throttle worked with were promoted within the ISC organization.
Prior to Throttle, Kevin was the Vice President/Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi | Rochester, where he managed the creative department and new business efforts, strategy development, and art direction for a worldwide satellite office servicing various global, national and local B2B and B2C accounts. During his six years in the agency, he led creative growth as CD during 2004-05, contributing to Saatchi winning two Best-In-Show awards and most overall awards at Rochester ADDY competitions. His accounts included Bausch & Lomb; DuPont–Agricultural, and Flooring Systems Divisions; Eastman Kodak Professional Division; Shaw Contract Group; University of Rochester Medical Center; Watkins Glen International, and others.
Kevin had an earlier 10-year stint at Saatchi when it was Saatchi & Saatchi Business Communications, when he served as Creative Supervisor/Senior Art Director. He helped Kodak Professional transition from film to the leading brand in digital camera systems and technology for the professional photographer.
Other accounts included Agway Country Foods; Blue Cross & Blue Shield of the Rochester Area; Champion Athletic Apparel; DuPont–Corporate and Agricultural Divisions; Eastman Kodak–Consumer Imaging, Commercial Graphics, and Motion Picture Divisions; Fisons Pharmaceuticals; Frontier Communications; Marine Midland Bank; Rochester Red Wings; and Samaritan Medical Center.
Kevin also spent a few years as Associate Creative Director at Eric Mower & Associates, Rochester, NY, where he delivered creative supervision, strategy development and art direction within a six-office agency located throughout New York and Atlanta, GA. He helped establish the satellite office as a creative force in the Rochester market. He contributed to the most wins in the history of the agency at the 2000 Rochester ADDY Awards and more than any other agency in the market. His accounts included Al Sigl Center; Birds Eye Foods; Eastman Kodak Consumer and Health Imaging Divisions; Empire Kosher Poultry; Rich’s Food Products, and others.
Kevin holds a BA in Advertising/Graphic Design from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.
Unofficial Bio:
Question?
answer
Why did you choose this career?
I always wanted to create—it probably started with Legos, Crayolas and Etch-a-Sketch—and have something tangible at the end of the day you could point to and get a reaction from someone else. Strangely enough, you could actually make money doing this.
What’s your favorite food?
Thai, I could probably eat it every day.
What’s your favorite song?
Any song that takes me back to a memorable time in my life.
What’s your favorite movie?
Endless list… but mostly the epics, from “The Godfather” (1&2), and “Once Upon a Time in America” to the “Lord of the Rings” and Bourne trilogies. Honorable mentions that come to mind: “Lost in Translation”, “Up in the Air”, “Unforgiven”, “Waking Ned Divine” and, of course, “Shawshank Redemption”.
What’s your favorite book?
Fortunately my ADD keeps this list short. Fiction: Grisham’s The Firm and Pelican Brief. Nonfiction: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and The Civil War.
What’s your favorite recreational activity?
Tennis, scuba, kayaking!
What’s your favorite vacation?
Anyplace by/in/on the water. Hawaii. St. Martin. Amsterdam. Paris. Rome.
You think the world would be a better place if:
We didn’t take life so seriously.
It would surprise people to know that you:
Went to school for Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering (okay, that lasted for only 2 semesters).
Besides (branding / marketing / writing / designing, etc. – choose one or several) your other passions are:
The ocean—by it, on it, in it.
Favorite joke:
An art director, writer and account guy go into a bar…oh wait, that one doesn’t end well.
Suddenly blessed with a day off and no limitations of time, space or cash, you would:
Kayak to see manatees, dolphin, and other sealife around the scrub islands and mangroves of Florida’s ICW with my wife.
The web site you think everyone should have in their favorites file:
Humor and inspiration: MyDamnChannel.com. Sports: SI.com (gotta get my fix)