Chief Digital and Analytics Officer
While he may not be best known for creating countless successful campaigns for big-name clients (even though he has), Steve Carbone is one of advertising’s most prominent digital pioneers.
An original founder of Grey Interactive, Steve was one of the first to start and run a digital agency. He also launched some of the first websites for major brands like P&G, built the first transactional website to accept a credit card application for Chase and developed some of the first ad models in the industry with Yahoo.
Currently running a massive practice covering all digital and analytics for MediaCom in the US, Carbone began his career in 1990 with Grey where he transformed a traditional in-house creative team into a fully-equipped digital production studio and founded Resolution Graphics, an independent service bureau that provided Grey’s clients with extensive technical support.
After driving revenue growth from $0 to $9 million in only four years, Steve was named CEO of Grey Direct and built two additional subsidiaries (Grey E Marketing and G-Mail) on top of Resolution, ultimately producing $25 million in incremental revenue.
Then, after guiding the business successful through the dotcom meltdown and global recession, Steve was promoted once again to President of G2 Direct & Digital in 2004, managing over $120 million in billings and more than 300 employees in New York, San Francisco and Atlanta.
By re-engineering the agency into four specialized verticals – B2B, consumer, wellness and financial services – he won 12 of 15 new business pitches and $27 million in billings in just the first year.
Steve continued to generate 10% revenue growth year-over-year, while managing major accounts including Adobe, BellSouth, Cheap Tickets, Xerox and Nestle Waters.
In 2007, Steve left Grey to become North American President of Nurun, quickly turning this IT production shop into a full-service strategic digital agency and adding $5 million in new business within months of his arrival.
In 2009, Steve he was one of four founding partners of UMarketing Digital, a full-service marketing agency. As President, Carbone led the agency’s expansion from four to thirty people and beat new business goals by 35% among Fortune 250 clients in less than 18 months.
Today, Steve oversees 225 digital and analytics practitioners at WPP’s MediaCom, which has the largest digital practice of any major media agency in the world. An involved member of the agency’s Executive Committee, Carbone was recruited in 2013 as part of the media shop’s vision to produce the most innovative digital work in the media sector. Today, Steve leads digital for some of the biggest advertisers in the world, including Volkswagen, Subway, Shell, Revlon, Dell and Bayer.
With a star that continues to rise, bigger clients than ever and a reputation for always being on the cutting edge, it’s not hard to see that Steve Carbone is nowhere near finished revolutionizing the digital marketing industry.