Credit Crunchies

This is meat99 who resides in . meat99 interests . You can find more at http://www.madewithcomputers.com.

Hi there. First and formost, the best place to read about/understand me is my blog (link above). Go ahead and take a peek.

So who am I?
Haha. Good question! I've been called all kinds of interesting stuff in my career. "Strategist, Entrepreneur, Designer, Creative Director, Geek, Developer, Recruiter, Social Media Guy"... I'm not convinced that any of those titles even work and I love all aspects of what I do here, so I'll usually just avoid giving one - or resort to something easy like "Founding Partner, POKE New York."

I am an Interactive Specialist and have dedicated my career to focusing on the development of interactive/digital products including experiential marketing strategies for honest brands. I enjoy consulting with those who care to make waves and are ready to truly embrace creativity and technology.


Who is POKE?
POKE is another difficult one to define...or at least we're afraid to define ourselves! We're a creative and technology company first - that's for sure. Some define us as an advertising agency - but we're scared of the "agency" stigma. If you ask my partners, they'll tell you "POKE is a leading digital strategy, content, marketing, and business development company that blends creativity and technology to deliver impact and results for brands/clients and partners in a wide variety of categories and industries."

I have no idea what that means.

Honestly, this place is more like a learning institution than anything else (at least that's what our team tells me). POKE is interesting that way. We're small and passionate are really trying to play the line between making beautiful shit and making beautiful shit that actually does the job it intended to do.

We're always learning and launching new interactive experiments that aim to get tons of people playing / talking. Our most recent thing is UPL8.tv which you can read about here: http://tinyurl.com/595qa5


I went to your site. What's up with the Don't Give Up sign?
I find myself in a bit of a cheerleader role with our clients and with the team here at POKE quite often. Pretty much - It's just fucking hard to do awesome work. And when the odds are stacked against you (clients/politics/daily BS), the only thing you can turn to is your Passion. Don't Give Up. :) There should be a medal for those who are able to protect their idea all the way to the goal line. That's what the sign is for. Interesting post on it here: http://tinyurl.com/c7u3oo


What am I looking to get out of Credit Crunchies?
Well, it's too early to tell, actually. I am a founder of a start up, looking to be more efficient and stay afloat during these difficult times. I also do a lot of Innovation Consulting so that could be something cool I can offer a lot of you. I'm also constantly looking to grow and meet all kinds of new and interesting people. Perhaps this is the place more interesting people congregate? We'll see!


The fine print:
Tom is a Founding Partner and Creative Director of POKE New York - a leading digital strategy, creative content and product development company.

Tom's award-winning conceptual development, marketing strategy, insight and campaign delivery for clients such as Delta Airlines, Song Airways, British Airways, Heineken, Coors, BBC, Dell Computers, Johnson & Johnson, Snickers, Turner Networks, Discovery Networks, eTrade, Choice Hotels and eBay have won every industry award including The Cyberlion, The Webby, The Effie, @dTech award and the Insight award.

Tom presents regularly at industry conferences and has earned top honors from multiple industry shows including the ADDYs, AD:TECH, Eyeblaster and DoubleClick Insight awards. He has a bachelor's degree in Communications and the Arts from Marist College.

When Tom isn't trailblazing the crossroad between technology and creativity, he is being a new father (see http://enzosfirstwebssite.com or http://ginosfirstwebsite.com for more), remodeling an "charming" fixer-upper (http://sallyandtom.com/hackley) and spending time with his wife Sally, two dogs, and a prized lunch box collection in Bridgeport, CT.

Tom is an avid participant in podcasting, blogging, and social networks related to creativity & emerging technologies.

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