What You Need to Know.

The media and marketing landscape is in the midst of a major transformation. The unfamiliar, multifaceted method of advertising is upon us. Without cutting edge technology and a staff that knows how to interpret the data, your advertising dollars will most likely come up woefully short. All media will soon be bought, planned and optimized on audience and we are uniquely positioned to guide our partners through this change. Identifying who and where your audience can be found is usually the most difficult challenge that a media agency has. For instance, what do Lady Gaga and Sarah Palin have in common? According to Nielsen they are both Woman 25-54. Obviously, these similarities cease to exist after age and gender are removed from the equation. I’ll go out on a limb here and guess that they do not share the same political convictions either! Not all impressions are created equal.

Our Specialties Are:
  • Growing Brands
  • Video Advertising
  • Exceeding Expectations
  • Attribution
  • Measurement
  • Audience Targeting
  • Happy Hours
  • Accountability
  • Relationships

Meet The Team

Our dynamic staff is comprised of a highly efficient, friendly, seasoned group of industry insiders that will bend over backwards to get you results.

Stacy Durand

Head Honcho

The Gig: Stacy has been the CEO of MDG since its inception and her passion for the job is fueled by her pure love of the media business. Her career has always been about facilitating business growth exponentially and maximizing the potential of any campaign that runs through her company.

Preferred Social Media Platform: Facebook/Instagram
TV Show You Would Binge Again: Curb Your Enthusiasm
Favorite City: Florence, Italy
Desert Island Disc: Jack Johnson, Bubbly Toes
App You Use the Most: WAZE
Person You Would Most Like to Have Lunch with Living or Deceased: My kids
Weirdest Thing You’ve Ever Done: Made a whipped cream toupee.
Something About You People Would Be Surprised to Learn: My crazy upbringing.

Ben Zimmerman

Direct Response Savant

The Gig: His moniker is MDG’s Prez, (which in translation simply means that he is the guy in charge of the agency’s client services and media planning teams). Ben is perpetually searching for ways to improve procedures, systems, and negotiating acumen.

Preferred Social Media Platform: Instagram
TV Show You Would Binge Again: Breaking Bad
Favorite City: Florence, Italy
Desert Island Disc: Foo Fighter, Foo Fighters Greatest Hits
App You Use the Most: WAZE (I would be a lost soul without it)
Person You Would Most Like to Have Lunch with Living or Deceased: My Grandpa; I wish I had a little more time with him.
Weirdest Thing You’ve Ever Done: Rode on the back of an elephant through the streets of L.A.
Something About You People Would Be Surprised to Learn: Earned a Black Belt in Tong Soo Do when I was 12 years old.

Derek Shipp

THE MATH MAGICIAN

The Gig: As MDG’s Director of Media, Derek has been keen on growing & optimizing campaigns to hit client’s objectives.

Preferred Social Media Platform: Instagram
TV Show You Would Binge Again: Seinfield & The Office
Favorite City: Los Angeles, (minus the traffic)
Desert Island Disc: Rick Ross
App You Use the Most: Apple Music
Person You Would Most Like to Have Lunch with Living or Deceased: Kobe Bryant (to learn the Mamba mentality)
Weirdest Thing You’ve Ever Done: MDG Christmas party 2019 lol 😊 (fun event though)!
Something About You People Would Be Surprised to Learn: I have more shoes than most…

Martin Melgoza

The Detective

The Gig: Does large volumes of data make you queasy? Don’t worry, our inhouse data detective can slice and dice any data set and provide valuable insights that will guide our efficient media execution.

Preferred Social Media Platform: Instagram
TV Show You Would Binge Again: Billions or Ballers
Favorite City: Ventura, CA
Desert Island Disc: Tupac, All Eyez On Me
App You Use the Most: Chrome and Instagram
Person You Would Most Like to Have Lunch with Living or Deceased:Tupac and Elon Musk
Weirdest Thing You’ve Ever Done: In Thailand, I ate a whole scorpion. Definitely not the best tasting insect.
Something About You People Would Be Surprised to Learn: I was a car and diesel mechanic for 3 years before going to college.

Kristofer Johnson

Pitch Perfect

The Gig: As Veep of Sales, Kris first conducts a diagnosis of what a prospect’s response and financial aims are, then works with the team to ensure those goals are met. Never one to ‘set it and forget it’, Kris proactively consults with both client and agency as campaigns rollout to help achieve the best possible result.

Preferred Social Media Platform: Instagram
TV Show You Would Binge Again: The Shield
Favorite City: Vancouver, BC
Desert Island Disc: Metallica – And Justice for All, Pearl Jam – Ten
App You Use the Most: Waze (not even close)
Person You Would Most Like to Have Lunch with Living or Deceased: Dave Chappelle
Weirdest Thing You’ve Ever Done: The Ironman triathlon in Coeur d’Alene, ID, with my wife and son joining me on the trip.
Something About You People Would Be Surprised to Learn: I was all district chorus every year I was in high school.

Bernadette Abasta

Doctor of DR

The Gig: What do Walgreens, Phillips, Kaboom, and Zulilly have in common? They’ve all benefited from the same Branded Response Media formula that Bernie brings to the table as MDG’s Vice President of Client Strategy & Marketing.

Preferred Social Media Platform: Instagram, but I stalk on Facebook
TV Show You Would Binge Again: Game of Thrones, The Crown, Stranger Things, Downton Abbey. I am obsessed with BBC produced shows that take place during the Victorian Era through the 1920’s!
Favorite City: All the big cities in Europe but probably Paris
Desert Island Disc: Ray Lamontagne’s Trouble
App You Use the Most: InstaCart, I dislike going to the grocery store but LOVE to cook!
Person You Would Most Like to Have Lunch with Living or Deceased: Coco Chanel or John F Kennedy
Weirdest Thing You’ve Ever Done: I’ve eaten a lot of insects: ants, ant larvae, crickets, and beetles. NOT my favorite!
Something About You People Would Be Surprised to Learn: I speak Spanish fluently and make my own cheese and tortillas from scratch.

Meet The Team

Our dynamic staff is comprised of a highly efficient, friendly, seasoned group of industry insiders that will bend over backwards to get you results.

Stacy Durand

Head Honcho

Ben Zimmerman

Direct Response Savant

Bernadette Abasta

Doctor of DR

Jeff Mandell

Ruler of Results

Sheb Alahmari

Spot-on Wizardry

Kristofer Johnson

Pitch Perfect

Culture

What makes us so damn special?

We look at every client engagement as a partnership.

Let’s break it down.

part·ner

  • A partner is a valued relationship
  • A partner is someone who adds value, ideas, & thoughts beyond the exact words of a contract, where a vendor does exactly what they’re told and nothing more
  • A partner is willing to say “no” and willing to fight for ideas and engage in intelligent discourse
  • A vendor fears conflict and does what they’re asked, even if they don’t believe it’s the right thing to do

But make no mistake – MDG is out to kick ass for our clients. Partnership is a word that gets thrown around a lot these days, but for us it is truism. We are only successful if the brands, products and services we collaborate with are making money. We never take a budget for granted and make every move as if we are investing our own capital. That’s why we’ve been able to sustain many long-term relationships, while other agencies see customers come and go.

Our technology and ingenuity is second to none and we continually strive to improve in all areas. We have assembled a stellar staff of like-minded, aggressive professionals that work together on behalf of our common goals.

We take pride in our proactivity, but if there ever is a problem, we’ll handle it with enthusiasm and a focus on creative problem solving in a timely and professional manner.

Lastly, we do our best to make MDG an enjoyable place to spend time, allowing us to accomplish exceptional things.

View Our Careers

How do we do all of this?

It’s a combination of art and science.

The art is human ingenuity and creativity backed by 25 years of media buying expertise.

The science is our proprietary platform called the SmartMedia Stack. An end-to-end audience activation and buying platform leveraging an integrated customer data management, attribution and business intelligence suite.

Call it what you want, MDG rewriting the technical standards for audience based buying and helping our clients, prospects and partners leverage data in the ever changing media world.

Proof Positive

They say the proof is in the numbers. Discover just how we’ve helped a variety of campaigns elevate their bottom line.

Our Services

Forget about spots and dots. We’ve taken TV advertising to an entirely new level of target-ability and accountability.

Careers

Ready to ditch you ‘job’ for a career that offers a daily challenge with is both dynamic and fun? You supply the talent. We’ll supply the coffee.