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Welcome to Slightly Mad Communications.
A place where Madison Avenue meets Main Street. Where simple, engaging
truths, begin a conversation and friends are made. Where strategy, creative
and media come together to tell a story and build a brand.
Strategy
We begin client engagements with our Brand AssessmentTM process. It provides
actionable insights and reveals what your brand stands for, whom it naturally
connects with and how people would like to interact with it.
Creative
We seek to create work people want to have a relationship with. When it engages
and inspires, it will always be effective.
Media
We create media-agnostic marketing solutions that connect people with
brands. Technology continues to transform the way companies communicate
and interact with the world. Brands need to continually evolve with media
trends and stay culturally relevant.
Client Service
We are extremely passionate about what we do and the companies we serve.
That's why we tend to attract clients who are also very passionate about
what they do. Our best work is created with people who embrace us as true
collaborators and seek to accomplish great things.
What We Believe
Throughout time, basic human needs haven’t changed a whole lot. We still get
hungry, need shelter and seek human contact. Back in the stone-age (a
really, really long time ago B.C.) life was a lot simpler. If you needed
something to eat, you killed it with a rock, if you had to hide, you crawled
into a cave and if you wanted to communicate, you made some noise.
Then life got a bit more complicated. Technology forever changed the way
we interact. The advent of the printing press, telephone, radio, television,
personal computer, internet and mobile phone have all fundamentally transformed
human behavior, especially the way we communicate.
Today, people are inundated with an abundance of product choices, media channels
and advertising clutter. It's simply harder and harder for brands to be
heard. At Slightly Mad, we believe the best way for a brand to stand out
is for it to be authentically human. We love or hate brands for the same
reasons we do people. That's why the most successful brands in the world
have the most well defined personalities. We can help you find yours.
The most important thing to remember is be true to yourself. You can’t
appeal to everyone, so why not speak to the people who are naturally attracted
to you. They are the ones who become your best customers and biggest fans.
Who We Are
Paul Levine, Strategic Director
Paul entered the media world in 1988 with International Thomson's online
division. In 1990 he launched and published a marketing newsletter for
top agency and corporate marketing executives with the former editor-in-chief
of the Adweek Magazine Group.
He was then recruited in 1993 by advertising agency Warwick Baker &
Fiore to manage business development and corporate communications. Paul
worked with clients such as Fruit of the Loom, American Home Products,
Schering-Plough, Reckitt & Coleman, Heineken, Amstel Light, F. Schumacher
& Co, Parade Magazine, L.I.S.B. and the Tennis Industry Association.
In 1996, Paul was recruited by Mad Dogs & Englishmen as General Manager
and Head of Client Service. During his tenure Paul saw agency billings
triple and revenues more than double and was made Partner. Clients managed
included AOL's Moviefone, BMG Entertainment, ESPN, Viacom, Time Warner
Cable, Road Runner Internet Service, Coors, Kobrand Corporation, Louis
Jadot Wines, Alize Liquor, Fortant, St. Francis, Canadian Club Whiskey,
Yoo-Hoo Chocolate Drink, Haribo Gummi Bears and Discovery Communications.
In 1999 Bates Worldwide (Cordiant Communications) recruited Paul as CMO
for North America. Paul spearheaded a global repositioning and development
initiative, resulting in his promotion to CMO Worldwide, appointment to
the WW management board, and responsibility for Cordiants other marketing
service companies. A true champion of creative excellence, Paul established
the first ever "Bates Student Portfolio Competition" to nurture
the development of creative talent in North America.
In 2004 Paul became a marketing, advertising and emerging media consultant
serving clients such as LG Electronics, Hyundai, Panasonic, Bed Bath &
Beyond, The Dux Bed, The Frick Collection, The Guggenheim Museum, The
Apollo Theater and The American Ballet Theater.
This led to Paul being retained in the role of President of Agent 16 in
March of 2006 to re-engineer the agency's product and service offering.
Their client roster consisted of one client in a single category. By developing
a series of strategic partnerships in the areas of urban entertainment
(Scratch DJ Academy), food and beverages (Danyelle Freeman a.k.a. Restaurant
Girl), and multi-platform digital content (Res Media Group), the agency
built its content capabilities and repositioned itself as an expert in
emerging culture. Through Paul's leadership the agency was able to attract
clients from the video game, beverage, publishing, paper and cosmetics
industries. Paul also managed the reorganization of the agency's custom
publishing group. He then created and launched a syndicated and custom
research division in partnership with the Scratch D.J. Academy called
Scratch 16. Its first research product, the Scratch Monitor featured consumer
trend insights from a national network of 400 cultural influencers. Within
6 months a charter group of fortune-500 subscribers including Pepsi were
secured.
Paul then consulted with online publishers such as the fast growing multi-platform
online media property, Pocket Change, an irreverent lifestyle destination
covering the most exclusive products and services in New York and Los
Angeles. It has generated an unprecedented amount of national press attention.
He also was retained by start-up film publisher Cinelan (a collaboration
between a multi-national media firm and award-winning documentary filmmaker
Morgan Spurlock) to develop their brand architecture and manage the creative
development process for their corporate identity. In Spring 2008 he partnered
with Dawn to to launch Slightly Mad.
Paul serves on numerous corporate advisory boards, is a GLG Council Member,
has been on the Board of Trustees of the Advertising Club of New York,
a AAAAs committee member and has served on the Board of the National Autism
Coalition (which became Autism Speaks).
Dawn Amato - Rudolph - Creative Director
A
sculptor, painter and fine artist, Dawn brings a diverse perspective to
the world of advertising.
For the past 22 years, Dawn has been the President of Sidewalk Designs,
Inc. - a successful Long Island based advertising agency. Dawn has built
a solid company that reflects her creativity, work ethic and her commitment
to excellence. The company focused on delivering a combination of sound
advertising, design and Internet strategy. In 2008 Dawn partnered with
Paul and they re-launched Sidewalk as Slightly Mad Communications. "We've
always tried to be in step with our clients marketing needs in the rapidly
changing media environment. Slightly Mad will bring a new level of strategic,
creative and interactive capabilities to the Long Island business community,"
says Dawn.
Dawn graduated cum laude from Long Island University - C.W. Post College
- with a degree in Fine Arts - painting and sculpture to be precise. Back
then (1985) there was no World Wide Web and computers as we know them
now were science fiction. Like many designers and web professionals of
today, Dawn's professional career began in a different field. Showing
in galleries and selling her works were exciting in the beginning but
soon lost their appeal. She founded Sidewalk Designs as a Visual Merchandising
Company in 1986. Traveling the New York Metropolitan area-designing award
winning displays and exhibits for high profile clients, the company grew
quickly. In the early 1990s, Dawn expanded her horizons to the new media
of Computer Aided Design (CAD) and by 1991; she was devoting her creative
efforts exclusively to advertising.
Dawn is passionate about brands and the value that a well crafted identity
creates for a company. A visionary with a unique perspective, Dawn manages
to deliver against complex challenges to ensure that her clients have
the tools that they need to distinguish themselves in their market.
Contact Us:
slightly mad communications
81 scudder avenue
northport, ny 11768
toll free 800.279.2971
inquiries@slightlymadcommunications.com
www.slightlymadcommunications.com
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