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Team DIGO | 02/27/2018 | in
Starting out somewhere new is never easy. You’re tasked with figuring out a boatload of new information for yourself: what those acronyms stand for, which conference room you’re supposed to be in, or what your coworker’s name actually is because you’re pretty sure it’s Pat, but maybe you misheard him and it’s Matt, but it’s too late to ask now so you just decide to play it safe and avoid calling him anything at all.
It can be tough to navigate these new waters – unless that place is DiMassimo Goldstein.
I’ve had the privilege of being DiGo’s Client Fulfillment intern since December, and I can honestly say this transition has been seamless. From day one, I’ve been met with nothing but warm smiles, welcoming coworkers, and great opportunities to get to know them better. Perhaps the greatest opportunity of them all has been the Buddy Lunch.
I realize that this is not a widespread term, as I’m lucky enough to be at the company that’s at the forefront of the Buddy Lunch Revolution. To better clarify this DiGo terminology for our readers, I’ve created a definition:
Buddy Lunch (noun): a midday meal paid for by your company during which you get to better know one or several of your coworkers, and thus, make new friends.
Example: “Hey, John. You seem like a really cool guy. Let’s go to Panera and chat it up!”
This might not sound typical, but keep in mind that nothing about DiMassimo Goldstein is typical. This is the same company where within my first two weeks, I experienced things like team karaoke, meditation, cats and dogs in the office (and no, that’s not a metaphor). So, a free lunch during work as a way to make new friends? That just seemed like classic DiGo – and I was all over it.
Unfortunately, my execution was not as effortless as my excitement. After several drafted emails later, I still couldn’t think of the right words. How exactly is the best way to say “Hey, you probably don’t 
know me, but that’s why I’m emailing you. Should we get some lunch so that we can learn each other’s names?” Didn’t exactly work. Luckily enough, some kind soul in the office saved me from my own awkwardness and invited me out to lunch. If you know anything about DiGo’s employees, you’ll know that this display of kindness is par for the course. To no surprise, it was a great time: flowing conversation and plenty of laughs over a pizza that was definitely fit for more than two people. Was I sure this was the dreaded “work” that all my employed friends were warning me about?
After that, I felt comfortable. I had a friend in the office, and I had the momentum to make some more. With every Buddy Lunch I went on, I felt like I became more a part of DiGo because I got to know the people who made it so special. Each person imparted their wisdom on me, wanting to give me the best possible advice on how to succeed at this company. Though I valued their input greatly, it was their willingness and enthusiasm to help others that most resonated with me.
I quickly realized that everybody at DiGo wanted the best for their peers, and the feeling was contagious. Whether it was pizza with someone from Studio, dumplings with the Account team, or salad with someone from the Marketing team, I felt such a strong sense of support from the people I was surrounded by, and it made me want to do the same for others. To me, that defines success at a company.
If that isn’t #InspiringAction, I don’t know what is. Power to the Buddy Lunch!
— Claire Holleran, Client Fulfillment Intern
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Team DIGO | 09/21/2017 | in
The most creative activity in many agencies is filling out time sheets.
For eighteen years, we have never done one. Here’s why:
1) We don’t want to reinforce the silly idea that what we sell is time. We sell results.
We take that seriously and stick to it. Our compensation agreements align with it as well, accepting risk and reward for creating marketplace results.
2) We don’t want the moral or legal hazard of a practice that is almost universally abused. A process that at best is a waste of the very time it purports to record and at worst is a fraud. Sometimes accountants are creative people, but creative people are rarely accountants.
3) We want to spend all of our time and energy on the stuff we’re good at, the things that return the most value for our client’s dollar. We always strive to deliver much more value than we capture in revenue. And our agreements, often with lower fees and bonus for market success, bear this out.
4) No one benefits from a culture of nickel and diming over time. Not clients, who will feel hesitant to use the team to the fullest extent for fear of additional changes. Not agency people, who come to value their contribution in billable hours rather than in winning work. We never charge more for “going over” hours. Because we don’t measure hours, we measure value.
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Team DIGO | 08/24/2016 | in
SmartCEO Announces New York’s Top Company Cultures
50 firms to be honored in New York SmartCEO’s Corporate Culture Awards program
New York, NY (Aug. 22, 2016) — New York SmartCEO is pleased to announce the 2016 Corporate Culture Award winners. The Corporate Culture Awards celebrate 50 companies in Greater New York that have successfully championed a positive, productive and performance driven culture, and have worked with their employees to develop successful cultural practices. Winners will be profiled in the November/December issue of SmartCEO magazine and celebrated at an awards ceremony on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2016 at 404 NYC.
Please see below for a complete list of winners and for program details. To share in the excitement leading up to the event, follow us @SmartCEO #CorporateCulture.
“The 2016 Corporate Culture Award winners have realized that running a company is more than head count and the bottom line. It’s about creating a place where creativity, energy and ideas are cultivated. Through this they are able to not only enhance performance and sustain their companies’ competitive advantages but also enrich the lives of those they employ and inspire them to make a greater impact on the world,” says Jaime Nespor-Zawmon, President of SmartCEO. “We’re honored to celebrate with the leaders of New York’s top company cultures and recognize them for building true performance-driven cultures.”
The Corporate Culture Awards ceremony on Nov. 30, 2016, is an expected sell-out event where the leaders of New York’s top companies will gather to mingle, celebrate and share stories about their collective successes. The event will kick off with a high-energy networking reception, complete with fun activities, including ping-pong, a putting green and a basketball shootout. Accompanying the fun is a video-packed awards ceremony that will honor the leaders of New York’s top company cultures.
2016 Corporate Culture Award Winners
Adore Me, Altrum Group, Benhar Office Interiors, Bombas, Booker Software, Inc. Bounce Exchange, Bright Energy Services, Broadway Technology, Carrot Creative, ChalkDust Consulting, City Winery, Cliff Young Ltd., Convene, Create NYC, Crowdtap, David Feldman Worldwide, DiMassimo Goldstein, Drawbridge, Eastman Cooke Construction, Friedman LLP, Great Eastern Energy, House of Kaizen, IAC Applications, Innerspace Electronics, Inc., Innovid, IRI: Innovative Resources for Independence, J Public Relations, Kaptyn, LeadDog Marketing Group, Levien & Company, Inc., Likeable Media, LivePerson, Mitchell Martin, Inc., Nurture Inc. dba Happy Family Brands, Peloton Cycle, Pure Insurance, RiskVal Financial Solutions, Schaefer Enterprises, Inc., Shark Group, Silverline, SiteCompli, Small Planet Digital, Socialfly LLC, St. Christopher’s, Inc., SUMO Heavy, Tapad, TekScape, tmg-emedia, inc., TPN, Transbeam
About the Corporate Culture Awards
The Corporate Culture Awards program honors companies that foster a creative, collaborative workplace culture to enhance performance and sustain a competitive advantage. Smart leaders understand that culture is a company’s greatest asset, driving performance and growth. What’s more, a successful culture is actively and intentionally cultivated and developed. Corporate Culture Awards winners will have championed for a positive, productive culture in their organization, and will have worked with employees to develop successful cultural practices. The final roster of winners will be chosen by an independent committee of local business leaders, profiled in SmartCEO magazine, and celebrated at a high-energy awards event.
About SmartCEO
SmartCEO’s mission is to educate and inspire the business community through its awardwinning magazine, connections at C-level events and access to valuable online resources. SmartCEO’s integrated media platforms reach decision makers in the Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Long Island, New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, metropolitan areas.
For more information about the 2017 Corporate Culture Awards nomination process and sponsorship opportunities, email Jennifer Ornovitz at jennifer@smartceo.com.
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Team DIGO | 05/26/2016 | in
We proactively work on relationship building. What are you doing this week to strengthen a client relationship?
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 | 05/25/2016 | in
Thousands of New Yorkers will escape the city to be liberated by the beach this weekend. We would join them, you know, if we didn’t already have a beach in our 23rd street office.
You heard that right. DiMassimo Goldstein is the only agency in the world with its own beach.
When we said a couple of months ago that we would build a beach in our office, we really meant it. But everyone knows that saying something and actually doing something are two very different things. We’re an agency full of doers. It’s what we’re all about, taking an inspiring idea and putting it into action.
Check out the video below to see how we brought the beach to our Gramercy Park office.
Behind The Scenes #digobeach from DiMassimo Goldstein on Vimeo.
Whether it’s for a nice lunch, a meeting, or just pure relaxation, the DiGo Beach is officially open for the summer. It’s the perfect environment to nurture creativity; a seaside oasis that encourages free-flowing thought. We wanted to build a paradise where ideas could come to life, and we couldn’t be happier with the result.
To read the official Press Release just click HERE.
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Team DIGO | 05/13/2016 | in
Make no commitment without consultation. Give clients something they didn’t ask for. Sometimes, deliver ahead of deadline. End a meeting early and give your colleagues, vendors or clients the gift of time.
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 | 10/26/2015 | in
Starting a new job can be a very exciting time in your life, but the process often leaves you feeling uneasy and intimidated. You’re the new kid on the block, doing your best to navigate your new surroundings and make a good impression. Most of us will quickly try to find allies in the office, but that isn’t always easy to do. It doesn’t help that stressful situations, back-to-back meetings and timely deadlines are not the ideal ingredients for relationship building.
In September 2015, Fast Company published an article breaking down the importance of having friends in the work place and why it is crucial to our happiness. The article claims that even though we spend most of our days at work, we are less likely to have friends in the office now in comparison to past years. Although this seems like a problem most directly affecting employees, it is also a troublesome problem for employers looking to maintain a positive, productive work place where they can groom long-term talent.
Since our mission at DiMassimo Goldstein is to Inspire Action, we set out to find a solution to this growing problem in the hopes of increasing employee happiness, productivity and motivation. The solution was to start a two-month lunch program that gives employees the opportunity to go to lunch with one another. Each lunch you get thirty dollars to spend with your buddy and the only guideline is that it should be with someone you don’t know very well.
Being one of the newer employees at DiGo, I wanted to take advantage of this fantastic opportunity. My work life was very separate from my personal life when I first started in May, and although I loved my new role, I wasn’t as friendly with my coworkers as I had been at previous jobs. This new company program gave me the confidence and opportunity to reach out to coworkers in various departments including creative, strategy, operations, media and production. This also opened the door for me to reach out to senior staff members that I didn’t otherwise interact with on a regular basis.
There are so many reasons I have enjoyed this program, aside from my love of free food. After speaking with different people from different departments, I learned more about how each department functions on a day-to-day basis and ways the account team can better work with them. Having a reason to get out of the office and get some fresh air helped me focus better in the afternoon and increased my productivity level. I noticed I feel much more comfortable walking around the office, chatting with people before meetings or even bumping into them in the kitchen. Most importantly, I had the opportunity to ask advice from people with valuable experience which will not only help me grow at DiGo, but also as young person in the advertising industry.
When introducing this program to the company, Mark DiMassimo explained that the goal was for everyone to be able to say they have at least six friends in the office. After speaking with some of my new lunch buddies, I can confidently say that many of us have accomplished that goal and then some.
And they say there’s no such thing as a free lunch…
-Morgan Kelly, Brand Manager
SOURCE: http://www.fastcompany.com/3051290/lessons-learned/why-having-friends-at-work-is-so-important
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Team DIGO | 05/14/2013 | in
Because clients that are really fulfilled — fulfilled as people, professionals and clients too — will become life-long clients. And in turn, recommend us. That’s how we grow. Great Clients, Great Work and Great People.
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.
know me, but that’s why I’m emailing you. Should we get some lunch so that we can learn each other’s names?” Didn’t exactly work. Luckily enough, some kind soul in the office saved me from my own awkwardness and invited me out to lunch. If you know anything about DiGo’s employees, you’ll know that this display of kindness is par for the course. To no surprise, it was a great time: flowing conversation and plenty of laughs over a pizza that was definitely fit for more than two people. Was I sure this was the dreaded “work” that all my employed friends were warning me about?
