John Penney, Founder & Creative Director of BlackDog Advertising
John, a graduate of the University of Florida with a BFA degree, founded BlackDog Advertising in 1989 with the foresight of using technology to help facilitate his creative ideas.
Prior to founding BlackDog Advertising, John worked under Alex Bogusky, creative director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky. CP+B has been named “Agency of the Year” 13 times in the trade press.
Throughout his 25-year career in Advertising, John has managed brands for a diverse group of clients representing industries ranging from healthcare, financial services, technology and food service to travel and leisure and many in between. John has helped such clients as ADT Security, Northern Trust, Jamaica Tourism, Del Monte Fruit, Pillsbury, Burger King, Taco Bell, Baptist Health Systems, Miami-Dade, Crystal Springs, Smirnoff, Historic Tours of America, Fury Water Adventures and many more to successfully build their brands.
His forward thinking, creative insight and vision have given him the capability to provide clients with results-driven, innovative marketing solutions.
John has won numerous industry awards for both his online and offline advertising.
Kathy Penney, VP / Strategic Marketing Manager
Kathy is a graduate of the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with an emphasis in marketing. Her strategic planning and competitive analysis skills have helped numerous clients gain an edge in their marketplace. During her more than 13 years at BlackDog, she has served in various positions, including Account Executive and Graphic Designer, which she feels give her greater insight into her current role as Vice President and Strategic Marketing Manager.
With training from several industry leaders, including a top AT&T executive and an economic advisor to several U.S. Presidents, Kathy applies her knowledge and expertise to develop and implement better, more efficient and innovative marketing plans for our clients.
Erika Jacoby, Art Director, Print
Erika Jacoby has been with BlackDog Advertising for 13 years. She’s a graduate of Flagler College with a Bachelor’s Degree in graphic design. Early in her career, Erika spent much of her time designing advertising and marketing materials including direct mail, posters, brochures and ads. Although print has been her passion in the past, she now enjoys using her artistic abilities and marketing sense to create effective web based campaigns including Enewsletters, email blasts and more.
Erika has won several Addy Awards as well as International Communicator Awards for her print work at BlackDog Advertising.
Proficient in: Design: Adobe Creative Suite 4 (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, Acrobat, Dreamweaver and Flash) & Quark Express; Business: Microsoft Office (Word, Powerpoint, Excel), Google Adwords & Analytics
Peter Amador, Senior Designer
Peter is a graduate of the Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale. He brings more than 20 years of advertising experience to BlackDog. Peter has been with BlackDog for 12 years. Peter has a sincere passion for creating graphics that communicate the message and/or brand of our clients in the most intriguing manner. During his years in advertising and marketing, he has earned a reputation for his talents in typography, logo design and print.
Peter has won several Addy Awards for his print work at BlackDog Advertising.
Proficient in: Design: Adobe Creative Suite 4 (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, Acrobat, Dreamweaver and Flash) & Quark Express; Business: Microsoft Office (Word, Powerpoint, Excel), Google Adwords & Analytics
Jessica Tomlin, Art Director, Online
Jessica is a graduate of the Miami International University of Art and Design. Her artistic and advanced technological talents range from creating brand identity and marketing initiatives to web design and development. Her design and website development specialties include Web User Interface Design, User Experience Design, Web App Design, Information Architecture, Graphic Design, Web Design, Front-end Development, Web 2.0 and SEO Implementation.
For Jessica, there is nothing more gratifying than creating successful websites for our clients to help strengthen their online presence. She’s also a serious advocate of Social Media and stays on top of today’s cutting-edge media tools to secure our clients’ online real estate in the various social media networks. Jessica has been instrumental in the success of a variety of projects for many of our clients.
Jessica has won several Addy Awards as well as International Communicator Awards for her online work at BlackDog Advertising.
Proficient in: Design: Adobe Creative Suite 4: Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Flash, InDesign, Acrobat, iSkysoft Video Converter, Screenium, DiffMerge, Apeture, Quark, Coda, iMovie; Business: Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), CuteFTP and Filezilla; Programming: XHTML, CSS, PHP, Javascript, Jquery, ActionScript 3.0, MySQL; CMS Platforms: WordPress, WP Commerce; Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Vimeo, Flickr, FourSquare, LinkedIn, Google Places, Google Maps, Facebook Places, Bing, Yelp, HootSuite, Twitter Manager, Tweet Deck, Social Search via Social Mention; Frameworks: Twitter API, Facebook API, WordPress; Email Managers: iContact, Constant Contact and Mail Chimp
Jason Carbonell, Interactive Developer
Jason is a graduate of Miami International University of Art and Design. As a member of our interactive media department, he uses today’s most robust interactive technology on a diverse array of web development projects. Throughout his career he has spent extensive time researching and applying different technologies that affect web development as an industry. Jason is dedicated to ensuring that BlackDog remains on the cutting-edge of today’s marketing technologies.
Jason has won several Addy Awards for his online work at BlackDog Advertising.
Proficient in: Design: Adobe Creative Suite 4 (Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, Acrobat, Dreamweaver and Flash); Business: iWork, Microsoft Office (Word, Powerpoint, Excel), Google Adwords & Analytics; Programming: HTML5, CSS3, PHP, MySQL, ActionScript 3.0, XML, basic ASP.NET, JavaScript, AJAX and jQuery Library, FLAR toolkit/AR toolkit; CMS Platforms: WordPress, Tumblr, eCommerce sites; Social Media: Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Linkedin, TweetDeck
Wendy Vogeley, Copywriter
Wendy is an award-winning copywriter who has been writing for a wide range of clients for 25 years. Before joining the Blackdog team, she was a Marketing Manager for Tradestation Technologies and Air Jamaica Vacations, the Associate Marketing Producer for PBS Public Television in South Florida, a copywriter for Federated Department Stores and GS&B Advertising and an independent marketing consultant/copywriter for numerous clients.
Wendy graduated from Florida State University with a Bachelor of Science in communications with a major in advertising. Throughout her career, she has enjoyed writing compelling copy for a diverse group of clients including Hilton Hotels, Hotels.com, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Club Med, Johnson & Johnson, FPL, United Way of Miami-Dade, Sprint, Citigroup International, PRC, Vitas Healthcare, Simon Malls and more. Wendy’s greatest thrill comes when she’s able to transform the written word into a visual image for the reader and then move them to think, feel and ultimately react.
Peter Kirill, Assistant Art Director
Pete brings a broad range of experience and talent to the BlackDog team. After earning a degree in Fine Art and Design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Peter worked as a designer and illustrator for a Chicago agency where he designed print ads, posters and storyboard illustrations for various clients, including the Chicago Bulls and the White Sox. He was also an interactive designer for one of the largest .com (EthnicGrocer.com) companies in Chicago.
Pete excels in multiple disciplines; he is a web designer, illustrator and fine artist. As part of the web design team at BlackDog, Peter is diligent about creating advertising that not only look good, but also achieve the goals of our clients. Whether it’s building an online presence, implementing a new brand or establishing brand identity, his technological and artistic abilities offer our clients an unparalleled level of service.
Pete is an Addy Award winner.
Proficient in: Design: Adobe Creative Suite 4 (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, Acrobat, Dreamweaver, and Flash); Business: iWork, Microsoft Office (Word, Powerpoint, Excel); Motion: Action Script 2, After Effects, Premier, Final Cut Pro; Audio: Pro Tools, Audacity, Sound Studio, Peak; Programming: XHTML/CSS, HTML & JavaScript
Whitney Manson, Online Marketing Specialist
Whitney is a graduate of the University of Southern California. She is an SEO expert certified in Google Analytics and Google Adwords and spends her time researching and analyzing how to make sure your audience will find your website. Utilizing the most advanced analytical tools, Whitney tracks a myriad of vital data about our clients’ websites—including where visitors are coming from, what they are searching for, how long they spend on each page they visit and much more.
Proficient in: Business: Google Adwords certified, Google Analytics certified, Google Webmaster Tools, AWR, ALM, Microsoft adCenter, Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel); Social Media: Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Hootsuite, LinkedIn, Quora, & Twitter
Kevin Liotti, Video and Motion Graphics Designer
Kevin is a graduate of Savannah College of Art & Design. He is a motion graphics designer and video editor. His specialty is finding an ideal balance between design, animation and the more technical skill-set of 3d, editing and compositing. Kevin has worked with BlackDog for 11 years.
Kevin’s advanced knowledge and expertise in Macintosh, Windows, Final Cut Pro, Cinema 4d, After Effects, Mocha, Motor, Illustrator and Photoshop allow him to offer our clients high-end video and motion graphics, print and web graphics that are unsurpassed in the industry.
Kevin has won an Emmy Award as well as several Addy Awards for his online work at BlackDog Advertising.
Mylene Valerius, Production Manager/Estimating
Mylene began her career in advertising in the marketing department of the Miami Beach Convention Center/Jackie Gleason Theater. Her varied experience also includes several years at UPS Latin America and working as an Account Executive at TAG Advertising in Miami.
She is a graduate of Florida International University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Advertising.
Mylene prides herself on ensuring that each of our clients gets exactly what they contracted for and that it’s within the budget that they approved. She utilizes her organizational abilities and her meticulous attention to details to make sure our clients are always in the loop when it comes to cost. If third-party outsourcing is necessary, Mylene makes it her mission to get the highest quality for the best price.
Proficient in: Business: Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) & Function Point – Ad Agency Management System.
Kathy Wonsik, Traffic Coordinator
A graduate of Florida International University with a Bachelors Degree in Advertising and a minor in Marketing, Kathy is committed to ensuring the seamless and timely flow of every BlackDog job. Her detail-oriented and methodical approach to traffic allows each department in our agency to do what they do best—while delivering on time, every time.
Proficient in: Business: Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) & Function Point – Ad Agency Management System.
Marcy Russillo, Media Manager
Marcy Russillo has 20 years of experience in advertising. She began her career at BBDO learning as much as she could about media and broadcast traffic. From the very beginning, she knew that she wanted to be a top-notch media buyer.
As a Media Manager for Tinsley Advertising for more than 9 years, Marcy supervised buyers on the Paramount Pictures account and planned and bought media for numerous retail accounts. She also worked for 7 years at JL Media, a national buying service, and was responsible for placing media throughout Florida and in other markets for a variety of clients.
Marcy’s extensive knowledge in the media landscape and her tough negotiating skills allow her to get the best rates and added value for our clients. Her genuine love of her job combined with her personal approach ensures that we are able to maintain strong relationships with the media.
