Doner Media

Jennifer Deutsch, executive VP and general manager of our Cleveland office, was recently recognized by Kaleidoscope Magazine as a woman who gives back to the community. Jennifer is involved in a myriad of volunteer organizations including Susan G. Komen for the Cure, The Cleveland Foundation Innovation Lab, and the U.S. Tennis Association. Throughout her career, Jennifer has also made it a point to mentor students just starting out in marketing, and has taught marketing classes on the high school, college and graduate levels. In addition, she is a valuable member of our team, bringing nearly 30 years of experience to her role at the agency along with a spirit of collaboration. 

Congratulations, Jennifer!

To read the full article that recognizes Jennifer for her accomplishments, click here.

This year, Doner went all out with Halloween. The buzz started last week, with the introduction of a Murder Mystery interactive game, where all employees could participate in order to uncover the truth behind Rob (Zombie) Strasberg’s murder! A collection of videos, investigations, and clues were sent out in the morning of Halloween, and it was up to Doner Detectives to unravel the mystery. Brent Hodge, Scott King, Kerrin Kramer, Ryan Michaelski and Rachel Sokolewicz were  the first to successfully identify the culprit.

Meanwhile, the Halloween committee was making their way throughout the spookified halls. Departments battled against each other to win the grand prize for the Halloween Decoration Contest. From cubicle graveyards, to creepy Christmas theme, to haunted stables, it was an all-out effort to step up on the scary podium. The winning team, the Chrysler Crazies, included Craig Conrad, Nicole Pesale, Brett Miller, Chris Parker, Melissa Tremblay, Julia Seeley, Kristin Haag, Paul Smith, Robert Wantin and Kerrin Kramer.  The group impressed the judges with their pumpkins carved into Chrysler brand logos and a Haunted House maze to walk through.

At lunch, the festivities came to a culminating point, when over 40 employees strutted down our Black Carpet. They displayed scary, creative, and some really bad (in a good way) costumes! Pizza was served while our emcee Phenecia, dressed as Frankenstein’s Bride, led the way through the party. Amy Swain and Ron Sheffield who were dressed as the Red Queen and Mad Hatter won for best group costume, David Wysocki dressed as a Zombie Golden Girl won for scariest costume, Emily Desmond dressed as Melanie Daniels from “The Birds’ won in the most creative category and dressed as the game Operation, Katie Gerdes was Rob’s pick.

The day was a haunting success and Halloween 2012 can’t come fast enough!

Check out pictures from the wicked event in the slideshow below.

We’re pleased to announce two new employees who have recently joined the agency, Matt Casselton and Gary Gonya.  Matt joins Doner as executive VP, director of digital strategy where he’ll serve as a key member of our management team. His focus will be on enhancing the agency’s digital resources and programs with an emphasis on our approach to social media.  Gary holds the position of senior VP, director of account planning where he is responsible for consumer and business insights along with creative inspiration for several of the agency’s accounts. Matt and Gary will both play a role in our new business efforts.

Matt and Gary each bring a unique strategic point of view and a strong understanding of the consumer. We look forward to drawing upon their experience and insight from working on world-class brands to apply a fresh perspective to our work.

For more details from the press release click here.

                        Gary Gonya                                                        Matt Casselton 

As the advertising agency of the Northeast Ohio chapter of Susan G. Komen, Doner supports the non-profit with marketing efforts throughout the year. In addition, the employees within our Cleveland office have joined forces to make up a team that will participate in the 2011 Race for the Cure.  With a pledge goal of $15,000 the office has developed various fundraising events in order to help them reach this goal.  One of those events, the Komen Carnival and Bake Sale went off without a hitch this past Friday, Aug. 12.  The event was a huge success full of fun games and, of course, Komen’s signature color, PINK! The Carnival and Bake Sale helped Doner raise more than $1,500  for the cause.

The Burning River Roller Girls, Cleveland’s roller derby team, skated around during the event, adding to the excitement.  The Flower Clown was also a huge hit.  He made balloon animals for children and adults alike to enjoy. 

Cleveland’s local news, NBC affiliate WKYC 3 and Fox 8, covered the event. Both sent reporters that produced news segments for the evening news.  In addition, Doner employee family members and neighboring business employees stopped by the Carnival to show their support. 

As Komen Northeast Ohio Affiliate’s agency of record, Doner manages all of the collateral development and distribution for the organization’s annual Northeast Ohio Race for the Cure. In 2010, Doner created the “Twenty Ten Challenge” to encourage an increase in fundraising efforts of race participants. Throughout the partnership the success of Northeast Ohio Race for the Cure has grown in number of participants, fundraisers and money raised.

To celebrate and thank our interns, Doner hosted Intern-Palooza yesterday where the interns were invited to head to Comerica Park to enjoy a Tigers game.  The idea for the celebration stemmed from the size of the summer internship program, which has 26 participants this year in our Southfield office.

The interns come from schools all over Michigan including College for Creative Studies, Michigan State, Grand Valley, Central Michigan, Calvin College, Wayne State, University of Michigan, Lawrence Tech, Western Michigan and Bowling Green.  Each intern is placed into a certain department of the company: Creative, Media, Project Management, IT or Production and is expected to work closely with full-time employees as well as the other interns in their respective departments. 

“Since they’ve all been working so hard together throughout the summer we thought this would be a great opportunity for them to spend some time networking outside of the office,” said Isabel Nelson, Recruitment Coordinator, who helped plan the event.

Despite the intense heat and the Tigers falling apart in the top of the 7^th it was a wonderful afternoon spent enjoying the city and company.

Check out pictures from the game here.