Digitas’s Greg Verdino and

Online Industry Veteran Steve Coulson

Join crayon, New Marketing Innovation Company

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New York (June 18, 2007) – crayon, a “new marketing” innovation company, today announced that two renowned industry executives, Greg Verdino and Steve Coulson have joined the firm as Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Creative Officer respectively. Both are newly created positions.

crayon, a new kind of company specializing in “interrupting” the status quo, joining the conversation, and effecting transformational change through well-structured experimentation using a bold mix of alternatives to traditional advertising, helps clients leverage non-traditional approaches such as  social media, blogs, podcasts, RSS and wikis, experiential marketing, long form content, consumer generated content, open-source marketing, virtual worlds, gaming, mobile, and non-paid media digital solutions.  

“When crayon launched last year, we promised to help marketers, advertisers and public relations professionals better understand the complex world of fragmented attention, increasing consumer control and hardening attitudes towards marketing communication,” says Joseph Jaffe, crayon's President & Chief Interrupter. “Greg leverages over 16 years of experience in online media, advertising and technology and will  provide crayon and its clients with thought leadership on engaging consumers and creating transformational brand experiences and meaningful conversations through community, dialogue and partnership.

“Great ideas that are unable to be executed or worse still, poorly executed are poor ideas. Steve’s mantra is all about ‘flawless execution,’ which, simply put, is the kind of deep and meaningful follow-through that has the potential to be truly transformational in impact” concludes Mr. Jaffe.

For the past year, Mr. Verdino has been Vice President/Director of Emerging Channels at Digitas. His unique, sometimes controversial, perspectives on media and marketing -- presented daily at his blog (http://gregverdino.typepad.com) -- have attracted the attention of the social media elite and mainstream press alike, making him a rising star of the business blogosphere.

Prior to joining Digitas, Mr. Verdino served as Senior Vice President/Sales & Marketing for ROO, a leading Internet TV service, where he oversaw strategic alliances, business development, ad sales and marketing strategy. Mr. Verdino has worked in emerging media and new technologies since 1998 when, as Vice President/General Manager of Arbitron NewMedia, he produced a number of groundbreaking studies in consumer online media usage behavior and the impacts on convergence on traditional media channels. He has also held strategic marketing and sales positions at Akamai Technologies, Loudeye and Globix Corporation.

Mr. Verdino began his career as an advertising executive at Wunderman, Blau Marketing Technologies, Saatchi & Saatchi and Geer DuBois Advertising. In addition to blogging, Mr. Verdino has written articles for iMedia Connection, MediaPost’s OMMA magazine and MarketingProfs.com. Mr. Verdino is also an active speaker with recent appearances at Digital Hollywood Media Summit, several IAB Leadership Forums, OMMA Hollywood and Virtual Worlds 2007, among others.

Mr. Coulson most recently worked as Group Creative Director at T3 (New York), overseeing work for Marriott, The Wall Street Journal and MTV. Before that, he was Creative Director at JWT for six years heading up digital creative for all their clients, including award winning work for DeBeers, Ford, Cadbury-Adams and Pepsi-Lipton.  He has also worked as a Creative Director at iXL and McCann Erickson.

Prior to that, Mr. Coulson was a Director of Photography on music videos and EPKs for State Ltd, a production company headed up by world-renowned photographer, Anton Corbijn. Mr. Coulson also founded and edits YesButNoButYes, a pop culture blog that regularly attracts up to 1 million visitors a month, and is a correspondent on the seamier side of virtual worlds for The Second Life Herald, where he was also a contestant in the first virtual edition of reality TV show Big Brother. 

Mr. Coulson holds a degree in Film, Video & Television Arts from the University of Westminster, England, and lives in New Jersey with his wife, 3.9 children and extensive collection of original comic art.

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About crayon

Founded by Joseph Jaffe, author of Life After the 30-Second Spot (Wiley), crayon (www.crayonville.com) is a different kind of company that specializes in New Marketing for a New Consumer. It integrates the best of the consulting, agency, advisory, thought leadership and education worlds - a mash-up, in new marketing terms. crayon focuses on helping its clients identify, evaluate, implement, integrate and measure a bold mix of alternatives to traditional marketing, advertising and public relations into their existing plans and programs, in order to: Amplify, extend and enhance relevance, experience and value through bold, alternative and non-traditional approaches; Join the conversation; and Create disproportionate positive business impact.

crayon is structured as both a global and a remote company. Recognizing that the single biggest differentiator in a creative and strategic-driven business is that of talent, crayon brings the right people aboard, irrespective of their physical locations, with a primary presence in the virtual world of Second Life to conduct its business, presentations, brainstorms and pitches. Visit crayonville Island in Second Life.

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