Chicago restaurateur, club owner, media personality, actor, and all-around Renaissance man Billy Dec has launched a new Windy City-based marketing agency called COACT.
Boasting of capabilities in strategic concepting and multi-channel creative ideation, the company is staffed by an impressive group of marketing veterans with an abundance of experience working on top national brands.
Dec made the announcement today in an email to friends and family. Referring to the launch as “a longtime dream,” he explained that the agency allows him to “share my experience, resources and relationships with all — to act and work together… to COACT.”
He continued to declare that COACT’s model offers a “new world marketing, advertising, and production services,” and described the name as a portmanteau of COllaborative ACTion.
In closing, Dec urged recipients to “coact with us!”
As guests of frequent Chicago creative community events held at Dec’s clubs like Rockit and The Underground, many have already done just that.
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Leadership
CEO/CCO Dec is a two-time Emmy Award-winning entertainment TV personality, producer, actor, attorney, restaurateur, and Contributing Lifestyle Editor at Esquire. With an educational background that includes Harvard Business School, Dec serves on the White House Advisory Commission of Asian American & Pacific Islanders & Bullying Prevention Task Force. He is also the CEO/Founder of Rockit Ranch, a premier hospitality and entertainment company specializing in the creation, marketing, and management of award-winning restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. Besides appearing in several films, Dec is regularly featured on NBC’s TODAY Show.
Other key leaders include:
EVP/Managing Director Kevin Diedrich, a marketing executive with 20+ years experience enhancing top brands for global advertising agencies like Leo Burnett, FCB, Havas, and Cramer-Krasselt;
VP/Creative Director Tony Maro, a design, photography, and illustration veteran with more than 14 years of experience working on entertainment, hospitality, and lifestyle brands including HBO, Showtime, Comcast, Corona, Macy’s, All Saints, Urban Outfitters, Bud Light, and Grey Goose; and
Community manager Stacey Efstathiou, a marketing and creative professional with over ten years experience working alongside companies such as Lettuce Entertain You, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Roti Mediterranean Grill, and Rockit Ranch Productions.
Pictured at top: Billy Dec in ‘Rockit Relaunch’
Send your agency updates to Reel Chicago Editor Dan Patton, dan@reelchicago.com.
