I believe in connections. I believe marketing is a two way conversation between brand and consumer, people and other people, and a set of one to one, one to many, and many to many conversations & interactions that influence, inform, and inspire. I am a former VP and senior leader at two of the worlds largest and successful digital agencies, Digitas & Razorfish, and thrilled to be part of the a&g team, where we are fiercely independent.

I am a hockey player and coach. I drive a pickup truck. I love my wife and three boys. I have a creative soul with a passion for business and innovation. I toggle between left & right brain on a daily basis. I am excited about the convergence between entertainment, media, advertising, marketing, and technology, and I am looking forward to seeing and inventing whatever comes next….

Meaghan LePage, Marketing Campaign Producer & novice photographer & control freak & recovering Diet Coke addict.

Knowing that a friend is having a party in a few weeks is more than enough information for most. Not me. I want to know exactly when it is, where it is, what time it is and what I can bring at least 2 months out. It’s critical I’m aware of who’s attending, what we’ll be doing, what kind of music will be playing, what kind of food will be served, how I should dress or which shoes I should wear (sporting spiked heels at an outdoor wedding on the grass is a recipe for disaster).

I am a stickler for details and an information junkie. I want to know every aspect of my clients’ business down to the maiden name of the receptionist who answers when I call the main line. The better understanding I have of their business and marketing efforts, the better the solutions I am able to offer and service I am able to provide.

I’ve held client service and project management roles in advertising and marketing for over 7 years now and have been fortunate to work on strategies and executions for several companies including: Citizens Bank, Fifth Third Bank, Garelick Farms, AAA of New England, Cintas Corporation, Milton CAT, Yale-New Haven Hospital and Salem Hospital.

Neil Cleary, VP Director of Audience Intelligence & rider & dad & retired gypsy & perpetual questioner & tech geek & always taking things apart & sometimes putting things back together.

Apparently it’s an affliction I’ve struggled with since childhood. I was constantly taking things apart to figure out how they worked and sometimes putting them back together. It first manifested itself with my toys, they my brother’s toys, bikes, radios, cars, motorcycles, and buildings.

Another of my afflictions is the need to explore. I’ve lived in seven states, spent three months traveling in Europe, and worked on clients that have taken me throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia. I’ve uprooted myself from the familiar & re-rooted in new cities where I was lucky if I knew one person five times (three without a job). The first was after college, when I decided that not knowing what I wanted to do with my life was as good a reason as I was likely to not find a job, so I loaded up the Jeep I’d resurrected from a junkyard and headed left with plans to check out the West Coast.

I got as far as Vail. For the next year I careened down the mountains on skis, bikes, and Rollerblades (and of course spent a good deal of time trudging back up to collect my gear). Two of the more important things I learned during my year in the mountains:

1. Each season is better than the last (which may explain why there are so many ‘accidental’ ski-bums)
2. Do what you love/love what you do

I returned to Boston not knowing what I wanted to be when I grew up, so found work as a builder…homes, offices, McDonald’s drive-thrus; which fed the need to make/fix/improve things, but after one particularly long, cold winter and too many near industrial accidents, I decided to find a career where my curiosity and skills could be applied without risk of (permanent) bodily injury.

Thus began the journey into advertising and planning, which started with an internship at Mullen. When BMW jumped ship for Fallon, I decided it was time for California and headed San Francisco. The next few years were spent at Y&R then Lot21 Interactive. When the bubble ruptured it seemed a good time to get east; this time to Atlanta to work at Grey on BellSouth. When SBC purchased AT&T I headed to St. Louis & Rodgers Townsend to work on the merger then north to Chicago & Leo Burnett where I spent the most of my time working on McDonald’s, Samsung, and Hallmark.

Last Spring, the phone rang and the voice on the other end asked if I’d be interested in getting back to Boston. Where it all began. How could I refuse? I jumped at the chance and haven’t looked back. The Channel and The Rat may be gone, but the Middle East and Redbones…. it’s great to be home!

Ben Daly, Digital Art Director & photography junkie & Macintosh disciple & gadget hound & planning a wedding.

I’m a believer that a design aesthetic is not medium-dependent, that a strong UI will out-duel the largest photo gallery, that there is no “fold” on the interwebs and that serif fonts are slowly growing tired. There is a harmony, now, between design and technology and true art direction is in the creative union of them both. I came to Allen & Gerritsen from several agencies in the Boston area and have worked on Progressive Insurance, RadioShack, TRUTH (American Legacy Foundation), Samsung, Titleist/FootJoy, Salem Five and Zildjian.

What I love the most about Allen & Gerritsen is the constant, never-ending supply of cereal.

When I was 14 years old, I was skinny, awkward and curious. (That much of me has pretty much stayed the same.) During my first week of high school a new friend asked if I wanted to go to an after school meeting about the speech team. “Lame,” I thought. But I went anyway because I was 14 years old and didn’t know how to say, “no” to new friends. Two and a half years later, I was standing on some stage somewhere in Chicago receiving some recognition as the National Champion because some judges apparently thought I was a decent competitive public speaker. Just like that, a communicator was born.

Ever since then, I have been helping people communicate—most of the time without realizing it. That meant editing friends’ term papers and being the “presentation guy” in group projects in college. It means volunteering time as a speech coach at a local high school. It meant choosing Public Relations as a major at Boston University (despite the fact that I was initially inspired by the movie Anchorman to pursue Broadcast Journalism).

So that’s where I am now. Fresh out of college and working hard in the areas of communication I see people needing the most help: new media and technology. It’s all moving so quickly & I love helping people keep up.

From 2007-2009, we experienced double-digit annual growth during an unprecedented industry downturn.

2009 industry award show accolades include:

Andrew Graff
CEO
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Gary Greenberg
Chief Creative Officer
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Catherine Kolodij
SVP, Strategy
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Peter Alemian
SVP, Consumer Marketing
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Scott Sneath
SVP, BtoB Marketing
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Chris Donnelly
Managing Director, Brand Promotions
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Basil Dixon
Managing Director, Connections Planning
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Joel Idelson
SVP, New Business Development
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Paul Allen
Chairman, Agency Founder

It’s the season for summer internships and Allen & Gerritsen’s latest crop of interns is fully immersed in the day-to-day activity of our agency. We’ve seen all types of interns here at a&g (and nearly all of us have started out as interns ourselves, including the most famous intern, CEO Andrew Graff). We have found that successful interns share the same traits.

Interns that make an impression are hungry. They dive into their assignments and ask for more work.

Interns that are successful are curious, they like to discover and learn new things. They ask questions.

Interns that are memorable embrace the culture of the company: they believe in the company, are proud to be a part of it and most importantly, advocate for the company.

Interns that receive recommendations have the traits described above but are also on time, buttoned up (appearance-wise and work-wise) and take good care of their borrowed workspace.

Interns have to make themselves vital to the company. There will be opportunities for challenging projects, but everyone has to spend some time in front of the copy machine or entering data into a spreadsheet (and may of us still do).

Employers who foster successful interns provide a comfortable environment for interns to ask questions and learn.

Employers should only take on the responsibility of an intern if they have a role to fill and work for the intern. Prior to each semester, we evaluate our intern needs and fill them accordingly.

Employers can help interns contribute to the agency by mentoring and remembering that there are “coachable” moments every day.

Employers can empower their employees to learn about management by taking on an intern: they will learn hands on how to delegate work and give and receive feedback.

At Allen & Gerritsen, we receive an average of 500 internship applications per semester. We make sure we hire smart, passionate interns and sometimes are lucky enough to have them return for another intern stint and in a few cases, join our agency full-time.

For 25 years, Allen & Gerritsen has been redefining the traditional branding model. Always focused on what’s next, Allen & Gerritsen (a&g) strategically combines technology, creativity, media and analytics to develop digital, experiential and traditional branding experiences. With a balanced mix of business-to-business and consumer accounts, we are poised to continue our growth by building our clients’ businesses.

I’m a writer, so it’s not exactly a newsflash when I tell you I love stories.

I love everything about them. Hearing them. Reading them. Watching them. Telling them. Sharing them.



The first story I remember hearing was about… well, me. My mom used to say that very soon after I was born, my dad woke up in the middle of the night in a panic and he jostled my mom awake and said, “Honey! Why in the world did we name our son CARL? It’s a TERRIBLE name!”

My mom replied sleepily and not a little angrily, “CARL??? Our son’s name is CRAIG!!!”

My dad breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank god. That’s a MUCH better name,” he said and went right back to sleep.

My mom did not.

I wrote my first story when I was about four. I called it “Eddie the Rat & Gus the Ghost.” That’s pretty much all I remember about it — the title, and that at least one of them didn’t make it out of the story alive.



Later, in first grade I think it was, my teacher asked everyone to write a letter to someone famous or someone they wanted to meet or whatever. You know, one of those kind of assignments.

Most kids wrote to the President or Santa Claus or David Hasselhoff.

Not me. I wrote to a guy who told some pretty good stories.

Dr. Seuss.

And guess what?

Dr. Seuss wrote back.

Seriously.



What did he say, you ask?

What pearls of wisdom did he impart upon me, grownup to little Falzone, doctor to student, master storyteller to wannabe scribbler?

Did he mention whether his life — the life of a writer, the kind of life I wanted, surrounded by letters and words and punctuation and all those awful blank pages just sitting there, mocking you, waiting to be filled — was it all worth it?

Well, what Dr. Seuss wrote is…

I have no goddam idea.

Because I can’t remember what he wrote and I don’t have the letter anymore because our school closed for good at the end of the year and we all went to a different school from then on and since I was kind of a quiet kid back then I didn’t exactly make a fuss about not getting the letter back.

But I should’ve.

For the love of Cindy Lou Who, I should’ve.



So if anybody out there who knows the whereabouts of a closet or a storage locker or, hell, even a landfill stuffed with the contents of Mrs. Schick’s class, Pasadena Drive School, Plainview, New York, circa 1978 — you know where to find me.

You might say this is one story I hope isn’t over yet.