2008 · 2009
GREY
Account Service · Canberra
Where I first learned how agencies work, from process and client service to the role of market research and analysis.
WHY HUM DOESN'TWORK LIKE AN AGENCY.
I spent eighteen years inside agencies, from account service to running them. I learned what makes great agency thinking valuable, and what makes the model slow, layered and unnecessarily complicated. Hum keeps the standard and loses the theatre.
18+
Years across agency, client and founder leadership
24
Featured works listed on Best Ads on TV
7
Respected agencies, from independent shops to global networks
Selected brand experience across prior career roles
BIG BUSINESS.
HIGH STAKES.
Before Hum, I spent eighteen years at Grey, Lifelounge, Cummins&Partners, TBWA, Saatchi & Saatchi, VML and EssenceMediacom.
Big businesses call agencies like these when the problem matters. My job was to find the real issue, sharpen the strategy, improve the creative answer with the team and keep the work connected to the outcome.
I bring that same level of thinking and care to Hum. From the first question to the final result.
CAREER CHRONOLOGY
From my first account role to running agencies, then building Hum. The briefs became more complex. The commercial impact grew. So did the responsibility.
2009 · 2012
LIFELOUNGE
Digital Senior Account Manager · Melbourne
Former agency
My first full-time agency role, leading digital and social work when both were moving into the centre of marketing, while managing a national remote team of 32 student ambassadors.
2012 · 2014
.cummins&partners
Account Director · Melbourne
Leading flagship account growth inside one of Australia's most respected and fastest-growing independent creative agencies.
2014 · 2017
TBWA
Group Account Director · Melbourne
Leading the Nissan Australia account across brand, retail, design and social, with a team of more than 23 people.
2017 · 2022
SAATCHI & SAATCHI
Group Account Director · Melbourne
Leading Toyota, the agency's largest national account, through major brand, product and digital work, including Covid-period growth and pre-launch programmatic strategy.
2022 · 2023
At 36, running the agency across all clients, verticals and growth, for VML's largest Australian office by headcount and revenue.
2023 · 2024
essencemediacom
Business Lead · Client Partner · Sydney
Leading the WPP business relationship and remodelling the agency structure, team and brand portfolio around the work.
2024 · Now
Founder · Director
Now I bring senior strategy and marketing leadership directly into growing businesses.
A SELECTION OF CAMPAIGN WORK
FROM OVER MY CAREER
PARENT DAY.
The launch TVC for the new HiLux Rogue, Rugged and Rugged X grades.
Saatchi & Saatchi Australia · Damiano's agency role: Group Account Director
A national product launch built around a distinctly Australian reading of the HiLux audience.
View original video ↗BREAKING POINT.
A Toyota Australia film published through Saatchi & Saatchi Australia.
Saatchi & Saatchi Australia · Group Account Director
The product had a clear role. The idea did the rest.
View work and credits ↗HILUX RETRACE.
A Toyota HiLux film published by Saatchi & Saatchi Australia.
Saatchi & Saatchi Australia · Group Account Director
One simple idea held the product, emotion and scale together.
View work and credits ↗THROUGH THE PIPE.
A film following two tradespeople, a large metal pipe and an Australian outback road.
TBWA Australia · Account Director
A big production with a lot of moving parts and no room for loose ends.
Watch and view credits ↗HOW WE ROLL.
A bourbon film built from a simple product truth: the more the barrels are turned, the better the bourbon tastes.
CumminsRoss Melbourne · Account Director
A product fact turned into a creative world people remember.
View original video ↗OPEN UP.
A film series with Andre Agassi that turned a passive tennis sponsorship into content people chose to watch.
CumminsRoss · Damiano's agency role: Account Director
A tennis sponsorship turned into something people would choose to watch.
View original video ↗What the best agencies teach you
THE WORK
THE WORK
TEACHES YOU.
Spend long enough inside great agencies and you learn what a good brief looks like, how hard a simple idea is to get right and why the details matter. That standard still shapes how I work today.
01
DIAGNOSE FIRST.
The first problem you see is rarely the whole problem. Work out what's really getting in the way before spending more on marketing.
02
MAKE STRATEGY USABLE.
A strategy earns its keep when a team can make better decisions with it. The document isn't the outcome.
03
OWN THE OUTCOME.
If brand and marketing can't connect to what the business needs to change, it's just activity.
NO PITCH.
JUST A CONVERSATION.
If the business is growing but the strategy and marketing aren't keeping up, tell me where it's stuck. We'll work out what needs fixing first.
Book a diagnostic call