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Team DIGO | 05/13/2016 | in
The following post is an excerpt from Digital@Speed, authored by digital marketing guru Mark DiMassimo. Visit the official website here to download your free copy today.
Great brands are like great individuals. Authentic. Idiosyncratic. Unique.
But most brands, like most people, fall into bad habits. And the bad habits cost them dearly. To help you avoid them, here are the Seven Habits of Highly Affected people.
1) Trying to be cool. The coolest clients never brief in “cool”. They focus on relevance.
2) Falling into The Aspiration Trap. Usually, you’re not the target audience. Neither is your Hamptons-dwelling agency head. Remember: it’s about the target’s aspirations, not yours.
3) Briefing from the Trend Report. Great brands create trends.
4) Management Fads. Quality is not job one! Professional management has buckets of specialized concepts. They don’t belong in great advertising, even to professional managers.
5) Believing: “You don’t get it because you’re not the target.” Your job is to get it or you shouldn’t be signing off. Period.
6) Wishful Thinking. Advertising can be a tool for leadership. More often it is a reflection of corporate denial. Advertise the target’s wish, not the company’s.
7) Mistake execution for ideas. It’s easy to fall in love with something beautiful, novel, funny, poetic, witty, or profound. Do fall in love. But first make sure there’s a powerful, convincing idea in the middle of all the artistry. If you’re in the right sort of place, your job depends on it.
Most brands have fallen into one or more of these habits. That’s why great brand change agents will always be busy.
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Team DIGO | 05/05/2016 | in
Today is DiMassimo Goldstein’s 20th anniversary, and we’d like to make one thing very clear:
We are 20 years young…not 20 years old.
Why?
Because as an agency, we must always focus on the future. Before we can ever develop an inspiring idea, we first have to identify the alternative future we exist to prevent. It’s our job to build brands. We come to work each day and work collaboratively to help our clients become the leading brands of 2020, and once they get there, we’ll be focused on 2025. Simply put, we’re obsessed with growth, and it’s hard to grow if you’re busy reflecting on the accomplishments of the past.
Besides, we’re youthful in spirit. Our mission, our drive, and our passion for our clients have not grown tired. We’re just as enthusiastic as we were on day one, and that will never change.
Still, we’d be remiss if we failed to acknowledge this day and this milestone. Not because of us, but because of you.
It wouldn’t be possible to be where we are today if it weren’t for the help of so many others along the way. This is our 20th year of saying thank you. Thank you to our incredible clients, both past and present. Thank you to our team members, both past and present, for making each day so exciting. Thank you to the countless others who have joined us on this incredible journey.
It’s been an unbelievable 20 years. Let’s make the next 20 even better.
–The DiMassimo Goldstein Team
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Team DIGO | 05/05/2016 | in
For twenty years, we’ve been happily helping the innovators of the direct economy take business from the old school intermediaries.
For twenty years, we’ve worked side by side with visionaries helping to create the new direct and platform economy you see all around you.
And, for twenty years, if you weren’t one of our clients, other than our creative work, you probably had no idea what we did.
So, for our 20th Anniversary, if you’ve been one of those clients, we thank you. And, if not, we will tell you:
1) We help the client escape the false choice between selling and brand building.
2) We knock down walls to make results the center of the conversation.
3) We deliver more than enough great creative to test and optimize the great strategic thinking we and our clients have.
4) We bring an uncommon clarity to strategic thinking and our inspiring ideas, which shows in our work.
5) We never settle for the better of a few good ideas – we don’t rest until we get to great.
6) We give the client the power to answer back to sub-optimizing stupidity like mixed-up measurement and last-click laziness.
7) We free the client from the results-killing theft of non-transparent media. (Check out this blog post to learn how)
8) We help the client discover the idea that will organize and change everything.
9) We mine that idea to speed growth by up to 10x and more.
10) We use the ten strategies of an inspiring action brand to do all of the above.
This is why we’re on Inc.’s list of the fastest-growing private companies in America year after year. This is why we’ve stayed happily independent, growing with our clients, focused only on building our clients’ brands and businesses. And this is why the next twenty years are going to be even better than the first.
Thanks for being an inspiring part of our world.
-Mark DiMassimo, Chief
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Team DIGO | 05/02/2016 | in
An excerpt from the Inspiring Action Manifesto
We will not avoid the boss. We will not seek to set up our own fiefdom inside of the boss’s kingdom.
We will use the boss. If we have a founder still in charge, we will recognize that we are rich. Rich in clarity of vision. Rich is simplicity of organization.
If we but love the vision, everything else is available to us.
Have better ideas in support of that vision. Hatch better plans to realize the vision. Execute with great positive effect on that vision.
And you win.
You have something 99% of workers don’t have. Something priceless. You know who decides. You know where the buck stops.
If we report to the CEO, COO, CMO or similarly senior team member, we will consider this person as potentially the most powerful member of our team.
We will never fail to use this power when we can. We will pull this person in. We will choose radical collaboration rather than cautious avoidance.
Of course, we respect that the boss is busy. We understand that we cannot plunge the boss into a morass if minutia. When the boss declines our invitation, we are gracious and understanding – up to a point.
After that point, we must resell the boss on involvement. There are things only the boss can accomplish, and if those things are crucial to the next level of growth, then they ought to be top priorities. We make it as quick and as direct as it can be, but we pull the boss in to get the obstacle unblocked, the connection made or the problem solved.
We use everything we’ve got to build our brand and business, starting with the boss.
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Team DIGO | 04/29/2016 | in
Take a look through our full design showcase here.
The context is the user’s or the audience’s experience. Design in context. Present in context. Evaluate in context. The first rule of design. And remember that everything we do is design.
At DiMassimo Goldstein, we put our values in a document we call “The DIGO Standard.” It doesn’t just hang on the walls and sit on our desks and desktops. We use it every day. People who visit often ask for a copy. Here’s yours, and you didn’t even have to ask.
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Team DIGO | 04/28/2016 | in
For most parents, the day goes like this:
Wake the kids up. Make them breakfast. Send them off to school. Go to work.
But not today. Today is Take Our Daughters to Work Day. Whether you’re a teacher or a lawyer, it’s the one day each year where you can bring your little angel to the office for all to see. It’s your one chance to show off the little princess that’s been seen framed in a picture on your desk for the past 2 years. Now, for the first time, your daughter can see what Daddy and Mommy do everyday. It’s an opportunity that should be taken advantage by everyone, in all professions.
On second thought, maybe not everyone…
This year, we teamed up with incredible director Ted Melfi and production company Brother to make the funniest Take Our Daughters to Work Day ad ever made. How? By encouraging Prison Guards everywhere that the clink is probably not the best place for your 7-year old girl. In fact, it’s SO funny that you may even see it running on Comedy Central’s website. Check out the spot below:
Comedy Central – Prison Guard from DiMassimo Goldstein on Vimeo.
P.S. But seriously Prison Guards, don’t bring your daughters to work today. Please.
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Team DIGO | 04/22/2016 | in
By James Nieman
Here at DiMassimo Goldstein, Earth Day holds a lot of meaning.
Last year, we hosted a party called the “Night of The Living Shred”. We invited a bunch of our friends over to the agency to shine a spotlight on waste in the advertising industry. We asked them to bring over old presentations, unused ads, and any other old paper they had lying around the office so we could recycle them and celebrate the day while collectively helping to support and protect the environment.
Some of the paper went to our paper shredder, where our amazing Art Director Erica Grau took the remains and used them create a mural that a year later still shines brighter than ever. If you haven’t seen it already, the recap video is worth the watch.
So when Earth Day came around this year, we knew we had to Inspire Action again, except this time, we did it internally.
As an agency, we work hard to create empowering habits, not just in our clients and their customers, but in ourselves as well. That’s why throughout our entire office you will see these beautiful flyers reminding us that every day is Earth Day, and that if you truly want to make a difference, you have to turn actions into habits.
These flyers are here to stay, and we’re going to continue to strive towards making this office as environmentally friendly as possible.
But Earth Day is also a celebration, and we couldn’t help but turn the day into some Social Media fun. Check out our DiMassimo Goldstein Snapchat filter below:
Together, we can make every day Earth Day.
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Team DIGO | 04/11/2016 | in
From Intern to Partner, Inspiring Action Agency Names CFO as Fifth Partner
April 11, 2016 (New York, NY) – To support its ongoing growth, NYC-based advertising and brand-building agency DiMassimo Goldstein has announced that Desiree Cortez has been named the agency’s fifth partner. Previously Director of Operations, Cortez will also assume the title of Chief Financial Officer, effective immediately. Cortez will take on expanded responsibilities in the ongoing development of financial and operational strategy aimed at cementing the agency’s position as the leading partner for life-changing marketers.
Beginning a decade-long career with DiMassimo Goldstein, Cortez joined the DiGo team as an operations intern, quickly securing a full time position as First Impression Manager. Focused on the agency’s finances, facilities, and HR management, Cortez played an integral role in the restructuring of DiMassimo Goldstein’s operations department and fundamental infrastructure. Cortez is credited with the development and growth of DIGO’s internship program and assisting in leadership training material construction. Making her an invaluable asset to DiMassimo Goldstein’s brand-driven growth network, Cortez is recognized in the creation of current systems, policies, and procedures accredited to the agency’s scaled profitably over the past 10 years.
“We’re trying to build something unique in the world, an integrated agency focused on life-changing organizations, and Desiree has been an important part of that for ten years,” said the agency’s chief, Mark DiMassimo. “We have long since been working as partners, and this makes it happily official.”
As Chief Financial Officer, Cortez will take on expanded responsibilities in strategic business planning and will continue to serve as a business partner for clients during key points in their relationship with the agency.
“I am both honored and excited about the opportunity and look forward to playing a leading role in the next 10 years of our agency’s growth,” said Desiree Cortez on her new promotion.
In addition to her new role as Chief Financial Officer, Cortez will join CEO Mark DiMassimo, President Lee Goldstein, Managing Director of Proove, Adam Lutz, and Chief Creative Officer, Tom Christmann in the rank of Partner. Driving the growth and direction of the agency, Cortez will be included in key decision-making about the services the network will build and foster, while maintaining its commitment to inspiring action and direct-economy innovation.
About DiMassimo Goldstein (DIGO Brands):
DiMassimo Goldstein, an Inc 5000 fastest-growing company (2014 and 2015), is a NYC-based independent brand and business-building agency that accelerates value, scale, and impact through inspiring action. The agency serves a rising class of entrepreneurial leaders of innovative companies in the US and beyond who want to chart a path of life-changing growth in an era of overwhelming change. Clients include HelloFresh, Great Minds, TradeStation, Online Trading Academy, Weight Watchers, Affinity Federal Credit Union, Mediacom, National Jewish Health, Sallie Mae and CreditCards.com among others. Proove Accountable Media is DiMassimo Goldstein’s media planning, buying, analytics and optimization arm.
About Desiree Cortez:
Beginning as an operations intern and rising to newly announced Partner and Chief Financial Officer of DiMassimo Goldstein, Desiree Cortez has spent over a decade focused on the financial and operational growth of the agency core initiatives on its charted path to become the leading agency partner for life-changing marketers. Holding previous position titles including, First Impression Manager, Operations Manager, Director of Finance and HR, and Director of Operations, Desiree has proven to be an essential member of the DiMassimo Goldstein team. After choosing to focus on finance, Desiree earned a Master degree in Accounting and Financial Management from Keller Graduate School of Management. Desiree currently splits her time between Chicago and New York City offices.
