Chuck Mascola
Chairman, Mascola Group
Chuck began his career in a 5,000-watt radio station in Dayton, OH. But he quickly realized that advertising was much more fun. So he took a $10,000 pay cut, gave back the company Audi and started work as an Assistant to the Account Executive at a regional agency in Ohio. Since then, he’s worked at several shops, including Chiat Day, where he got to work on brands like Royal Caribbean and Ricoh. When he heard the call of home, he came back to his native New Haven and built Mascola, right here in his grandfather’s building.
A Conversation with Chuck
Where did you grow up and how has it taken you to where you are today?
I grew up right here. This building goes back to my grandfather. My father ran his business here, and at one point I was occupying this building residentially. So I’m fond to say that I haven’t gotten very far in life because where I came from is where I’m sitting.
And how did that influence your career?
This part of New Haven is a very unusual place and it has a certain pull. I was commuting to Madison Avenue and I came to a point where I asked, “Am I finally going to get off the train, buy a place, and be a New Yorker?”
My future wife was living in Manhattan and it would have been easy to make the jump. But it was the pull of this place that made me say, “No I want to try and do it here.”
Talk a little about your history in radio.
Back in Catholic school, I was always in plays and did church readings. So I didn’t mind being in front of microphones. And my grandparents used to call me “Chiacchierone."
What does that mean?
It literally translates in Italian to “Talking Machine.” So I thought radio would be a pretty cool thing to go into.
Then in my sophomore year at college, I interned at a radio station in Ohio. And I got so into it that I got thrown out of school. Because I spent all my time at the radio station and none in my classes. I ended up one semester with a .75 grade point average. And I got a letter saying, “As you know, your grade point average does not meet the requirements that allow you to remain here at The University of Dayton. You know, the good Lord (this was a Catholic school) sends us on different paths and perhaps yours is not one that includes college academics.”
So how’d you get back?
I had to go to the Dean and literally throw myself on his desk and beg. So they reinstated me, and I went from a .75 to a 3.6 in one semester.
At graduation, the radio station gave me a sales job. And when I went to visit ad agencies, I would sit with the Media Director and think: wow this is a lot more fun. I’m doing radio, and they’re doing television and billboards and print ads. And I ultimately convinced the president of one of those agencies to offer me a job.
What was your most embarrassing moment in this business?
I was presenting to the New Haven Symphony. And the Chairman of the Board of Directors just happened to be the President of SNET, so I was trying to be extra impressive. Well, during my pitch, I got up and knocked over my cup of hot, black coffee. It spread across SNET’s enormous, beautiful wooden conference table, like a spider web. When we finally got it all sopped up, we realized it had actually melted the wax on top of the table. So there was this outline in a different color in the center of it. Everyone’s face was frozen. And I looked up at them and said, “I’m willing to bet that you’re never going to forget me.”
And did they?
I don’t know, but we didn’t win the business.
What’s the most important thing you’ve learned about advertising?
(Brief silence). It’s just not that important.
Really?
It’s advertising. And if you take it too seriously, you’re not going to do it right. It’s taken me a long time to realize that. It is not curing diseases. It is not saving lives. And if we start to think that this is really that serious, then we lose the whole point that it has to be entertaining.
What are your plans for “after” advertising?
There’s no such thing.
What was your finest moment? Or the thing you’re most proud of?
Both are my wedding day.
What’s with the antiques?
I said earlier that I hadn’t gotten very far in life – geographically speaking, of course. Anyway, it’s because I value the past, the history of something. I like that a piece of furniture is banged up. If a chair has a burn mark on the arm, I like thinking about the guy who put his cigar there when it was in the pool hall. And I’m very comfortable with it all because I don’t buy fine antiques. If somebody picks something up to admire it and they break it, it’s okay. It’s not about fine art. It’s about living the past.