Today we’d like to introduce you to John Calvaruso.
Hi John, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was a commuter at 13. 17 stops one-way on the NYC subway to go to school from 10 to 4. Studied advertising at HS of Art & Design in NYC. No money for college so at 16, got a part-time job in a very busy design studio that designed and set up for print, energizer flashlight boxes and battery packs with crazy guys that yelled and screamed a lot. They changed made to Vinny because there was too many John’s. There was a couple Bobs also so one guy had to change his name to George. They were all crazy but they were perfectionist.
Left there and went to Warner Music designing music sheet covers and setting them up for print. Warner relocated to NJ. In 1986 I started working at big ad agencies. SSC&B was the first, by the UN, 7th largest agency in the world. Never know what time you’re going home till 6 o’clock. My boss was a Marine and then a fireman… and now studio manager so expected us to work lots of overtime every other night. He was used to not sleeping. Got burnt out at 23 and took off to my uncles house in California for a few months. Came back and got a job at LGFE, on Madison and 60th. Nice small agency, great studio manager, learned a lot from him, and we usually went home by 6 o’clock. They got bought out and I moved to Y&R and worked on the Camel cigarette account. Another crazy place, 120 billboards a week set up for print, crazy studio manager, but he was great also. Left there and went back to SSC&B and became a studio manager, which was now Lintas Worldwide.
Great job but had to move 100 miles an hour every day. It was a full service art department. 20 to 30 art directors bringing in work on a daily basis. We had IBM, Diet Coke, MasterCard, Maybelline, Johnson and Johnson, Chesebrough Ponds, Van Munching & more. I knew how this place operated so I staffed up with some heavy weights I knew from all the agencies, and not to burn anyone out. We lost three big accounts in one year and merged with another company and we all got laid off.
I left with a couple creative directors and set up a new art department for them at Warwick Baker O’Neill in Soho. Three years later they folded and I went to Deutsche Inc in 1999. Another great boss that I would do anything for, but he passed away and when I went back it wasn’t the same. I quit ad agencies on September 10, 2001, one day before 9-11. I moved out to Long Island and started GraphicHeadquarters.com selling business cards and brochures, then vehicle graphics and seo websites, and here I am today 42 years later and still going strong. It’s been a bumpy, but great ride.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I am not a graphic designer, I am an ad man, a copywriter/creative director. This means I have to be able to do everything, seo websites, vehicle graphics, brochures, business cards, window graphics, TV commercial script writing, trade show display design and printing, logos and tag lines, product packaging, and anything else you can think of.
Also, my clients don’t have to give me anything, it’s my job to research their company, products or services and propose to them what they need. They really don’t know so I educate them on what’s good what’s not and why and they are very appreciative. I have to be a mind reader and get as close to what I think they need on the first shot can I been doing it very well for 20 years.
Pricing:
- There is no set pricing, every job is different and custom estimated based on many factors, including the clients budget.
Contact Info:
- Website: GraphicHeadquarters.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/graphicheadquarters/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/graphicheadquarters/
