About

A seasoned trans-media professional, I’ve built creative capabilities and teams at two global agencies, Ogilvy and Edelman, delivering award-winning work, new revenue and clients.

Breaking News - Currently building an instagram channel devoted to my journey as a father, one illustration at a time. Search for The Jeff and Joey Journey.

At a Glance Skills - Concept Development. Brand Strategy and Articulation. Design Direction. Copywriting. Messaging. Senior Client Counsel. Team Leadership. Written and Oral Presentation. Business Development.

Takeaway Approach - Great work that starts with concept, not an execution. This idea should be on strategy and on brand, and when it is coupled with great design it will always produce results.

On Brand - Creative gains power and gets better results if it is on Brand, and if it builds to a Brand. I have a lot of experience building brands and strive to develop creative that is on Brand Strategy and tells a Brand Story, every time.

Backstory - My experience is cross-media, cross-industry. It includes digital/social content marketing, broadcast, advertising, print and packaging in Retail, Advertising, Public Relations, Publishing.

How I’d approach your creative - With a handful of principles: 1. Great creative always delivers great clients. 2. Cool is always good. 3. Smart is always good. 4. Great creative always requires risk. 5. Great creative always requires overtime. 6. Great creative always makes more money. 7. Creative should have the last word, but not the only word, on creative.

How I define “great creative”- It’s beautiful. People share it. And it delivers the client objective.

How I’d lead and inspire your creative team - By example. By working shoulder to shoulder with them - “Do as I do” trumps “Do as I say”. By listening. By ignoring ego and focusing on the work. By investing in them and growing their skills. I’m most proud when my team is stronger, more talented, more amazing than me. When I left Edelman, several members of my squad became strong creative leads in their own right - I love this and it is exactly the path to scaling creative capabilities in an organization.

What I’ve done that you may have seen - Freight Rail Works Campaign for the Association of American Railroads. Trader Joe’s. Marine Corps Marathon. PropertyRoom.com.

What I do best - Deliver ideas that solve a client challenges, then craft form to that vision.

What I’m most proud of at my former job - In May of 2014 I was the only full-time creative team member in an 18MM annual revenue digital practice at Edelman. In 3 years my team grew to 18 people and we brought in 3.6MM in revenue/year. That number grew to 7.2MM with my promotion to ECD and leadership of a united trans-media creative team for the Edelman DC office. Along the way we won 13 gold/silver ADDYs. The takeaway is I built what they asked me to build, brought in the business they wanted to win, and left a strong foundation for future growth.

What we both want - Anyone who is talented and takes pride in their work wants the same thing - to do something remarkable, to do something best-in-class. That’s what makes work not seem like work, what weaves a team together, and what delivers value that keeps current clients and wins new ones, building the business year over year.

TIMELINE

ICF Next - January 2020 to Present - Senior Partner, Executive Creative Director

Currently leading a talented. award-winning powerhouse team on ICF’s public sector marketing work. Numbering at 150 people and doing about 18 million in billable revenue each year (up from 8 million when I started, with about 80 folks), this is the largest creative team I’ve managed. Starting this job during a Pandemic was an additional challenge that taught me a lot and only underlines our remarkable success in growing the capability and the business for ICF. I love this job and the people I work with, amazing opportunity I’m thankful for each day.

EDELMAN - 10/2013 thru 6/2019 - Executive Vice President, Executive Creative Director

Almost 5 years ago I was asked to build the a digital creative studio for Edelman's successful and growing DC digital practice. Little did I know at the time there was a sister creative team in the Edelman office, the "traditional" creative group. Fast forward to now - the teams have been combined and I'm leading a unified cross-media creative super-group for Edelman here in our nation's capital. Honored to take the reins and work alongside such talented, positive and committed people.

It is an exciting time for Edelman and marketing: fake news, native advertising, social platform algorithms, political and social movements, a savvy and distracted audience and more - all hugely influence both the craft and impact of creative – so much change, so much at stake.

Luckily I have a team that is hungry and building their hustle as we fall back on some constants to design and build creative work that makes a difference – to the client and the people we’re trying to reach: Know who you’re talking to, Inspire them with a great idea and great execution, Constantly optimize in the face of new information.

Sounds simple but walking that talk is exactly my challenge and mission in this role and for my team. Blessed to have the opportunity, the partnership of my peers, and the backing of a solid brand like Edelman.

Ministers of Design - 12/2012 thru 10/2013 - Creative Director

Ministers of Design is a digital marketing startup. We build brand in the digital space on big and small screens starting with solid marketing and social media strategy straight through to digital design and build (website, online advertising, mobile dev). In a few short months we’ve grown our client list to include an eclectic mix of big and small, across industry and media - Sackler Gallery, Weber Shandwick, Smithsonian, Social@Ogilvy, Right Proper Brewery, ThunderBay and online retailer The Property Room. At MoD I lead creative and company brand and design development. Additionally I provide new business development, senior client counsel, and team leadership.

Bates Creative Group - 5/2011 - 11/2012 - Creative Director

Bates is an award-winning publication design company that wanted to expand to become a complete marketing agency. At Bates I built the company brand, and led efforts to build their brand practice. Additionally I spearheaded design and development for a diverse set of clients that included YMCA, FedEx, Marine Corps Marathon, Square 1 Bank, Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative and Freedom Works. My brand and messaging work here was just as rewarding, standouts include Capella Tax Network, Mercuto Financial Management, and Bates Creative Group itself.

ZilYen - 2010 – 2011 - Vice President/Creative Director

At ZilYen I put a finer point on my brand know-how with exposure to and education on the Pearson/Mark Archtypal Branding Model. This tool is simply the best approach I’ve seen, with several advantages - quickly getting to the core of an organization’s brand, building brand consensus in an organization, and making it easy to communicate and disseminate that brand to audiences.

Ogilvy Washington - 2005 - 2010 - Vice President/Creative Director

At Ogilvy I provided leadership for our “agency within an agency” the Ogilvy Creative Studio. With up to 9 direct reports and a 25-30 person team, I built award-winning creative in branding, advertising, campaign and cause initiatives for commerical, non-profit and government clients. Report Card: 1. Raised the bar on strategic creative - we won several awards including PRSA THOTH, and ADDY Gold and Silver. 2. Development of a specialization in advertising specific to the DC landscape and contingent on a concurrent expertise in cause development on the Hill - we called it “Advocacy Advertising”. 3. Ogilvy dropped “public relations” from its name during my tenure, because everything now falls under Communications (with a capital “C”), my studio was influential in that change. Clients included the Ford, AMEX, Dupont, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health and Human Services, Novartis, Association of American Railroads, American Society of Association Executives, National Journal, Society of American Florists.

Trader Joes - 1999 - 2003 - Creative Lead

My first creative lead position, headed this creative department, introducing the quirky and hard to define Trader Joe’s brand to markets in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest. Focused the team on the chain’s private-label packaging, which numbered fully 85% of the SKUs on shelf. The insight here was that this billboard-like impact of the packaging was the main vehicle for promoting the company’s brand. Reworked and reinvigorated packaging increased sales as much as 25%. My work is still on the shelves 10 years after I left, coast to coast.

Info

Jeff Caporizzo

Silver Spring, MD

caporizzoj@gmail.com

jeffcaporizzo.com

617.899.2928