Ellis Verdi

Ellis Verdi
Born (1955-12-11) December 11, 1955
Nationality American
Alma mater Brandeis University
Years active 1978 - Present

Ellis Verdi (born December 11, 1955) is an American marketing and advertising executive based in New York City, New York. He is the founder, along with Sal DeVito of the DeVito/Verdi advertising agency.

Early years

Verdi was born at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City and grew up in Switzerland and France until teenager and then moved back to New York and attended school in Manhattan.

Career

In 1978 Verdi started his career with C&W working on Procter & Gamble's Folgers coffee account.[1] In 1980 he became a brand manager for American Home Products. In 1982 Verdi became a product manager for PepsiCo working on the different diet brands and Mountain Dew accounts. In 1984, Verdi became vice president of account management for the Grey Group where he stayed for four years before founding DeVito/Verdi in 1988.

DeVito/Verdi

A piece from the campaign for Daffy's clothing.
A piece from the campaign for Daffy's clothing.

In 1988 the origin of the DeVito/Verdi agency was opened as Follis & Verdi by Ellis Verdi and John Follis, partner and creative director. In 1991, DeVito joined the firm as a second partner and creative director and the name becomes Follis/DeVito/Verdi.[2]

In the fall of 1991, Verdi came under criticism for running a print ad for a discount clothier named Daffy's that showed an image of a Straitjacket with the tagline: "If you're paying over $100 for a dress shirt, may we suggest a jacket to go with it?" Groups in New York City, were the ad ran, petitioned the city's Commission on Human Rights to treat the ad as a bias case. The advertisement was reviewed by the American Association of Advertising Agencies and they concluded that Verdi's agency did not knowingly offend anyone.[3]

In July 1993, Follis left the firm citing philosophical differences, and opened his own New York agency, now known as Follis Advertising. In 1993, the firm was renamed DeVito/Verdi.[4]

During the first years of the agency, Verdi worked in his home living room and made more than 100 cold calls a day and ended up being hired by the South Street Seaport was well as Solgar Vitamins.[5]

In the 1990s, Verdi was credited with coining the marketing term, "top-of-mind awareness".[6]

In 1993, DeVito/Verdi won the CarMax account and Verdi helped to create a national retail brand for this chain of used automobile dealers. The agency was hired even before the first location opened and Verdi executed the campaign and additional television advertisements over the course of a number of years in support of the launch and the initial wave of stores.[7]

By 2001, the agency had approximately $134 million in ad billings and 64 employees.[8] The firm was voted the best small advertising agency and one of three finalists for best mid-sized firm.[5]

Since the firm's beginning, the staff devoted 15 percent of their time to pro bono work.[5]

In 2009, Verdi was behind the Duane Reade series of outdoor, radio, and print advertisements that were inside jokes to fellow New Yorkers and to view the umbigious drugstores as a hometown favorite. An example was: “Get everything you need in 15 minutes. Or as New Yorkers call it, lunch hour.”[9]

In October 2016, Ellis' firm won eleven television and print Hatch Awards for using vintage stock film from old black and white movies with dubbed and updated dialogue to pitch a furniture retailer, Bernie & Phyl's.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Various, Authors (1982). Marketing & Media Decisions. 17 (8-13 ed.). Decisions Publications. Retrieved 2017-10-20.
  2. ↑ Kanner, Bernice (1992-05-11). "Advertising's Newest Bad Boys". New York Magazine. Retrieved 2017-10-17.
  3. ↑ Kanner, Bernice (1992-10-26). "The Taste Police". New York. p. 40. Retrieved 2017-10-20.
  4. ↑ Elliott, Stuart (18 July 2001). "THE MEDIA BUSINESS: ADVERTISING; DeVito/Verdi, on its 10th anniversary, makes some changes". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-10-17.
  5. 1 2 3 Aron, Laurie Joan (2001-08-13). "Creativity succeeds ad infinitum". Crain Communications. Retrieved 2017-10-18.
  6. ↑ Hancock, David L. (2003). The Secrets of Master Marketing. Morgan James Publishing. p. 19. ISBN 978-0974613307. Retrieved 2017-10-20.
  7. ↑ Wernle, Bradford (1998-04-06). "BUILDING DESIRE FOR CARMAX: ELLIS VERDI, PRESIDENT, DEVITO/VERDI, NEW YORK. CARMAX OFFERS RESPECT TO WIN TRUST: ELLIS VERDI TALKS ABOUT CHALLENGES RETAILER FACES AS IT CARVES AN AUTO SALES NICHE". Advertising Age. Retrieved 2018-01-27.
  8. ↑ Elliott, Stuart (2001-07-18). "The Media Business: Advertising– DeVito/Verdi, on its 10th anniversary, makes some changes". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-10-18.
  9. ↑ Clifford, Stephanie (2009-07-08). "Everywhere You Go, a Duane Reade Ad". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-10-20.
  10. ↑ Whitman, Richard (2016-11-01). "New York-Based Devito/Verdi Wins 11 Hatch Awards For Super-Cheesy Furniture Retailer". MediaPost. Retrieved 2017-10-20.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.