Katie Tuttle
President, Mascola Advertising
When you work with Katie, you know you are in good hands. Katie is the glue that holds Mascola together, our diligent organizational and operational leader. She directed the growth of the company from just 4 employees in 1994 to the 20+ people who work here today, and has mastered the architecture of the agency-client relationship. And she skis better than anyone you know.
A conversation with Katie
As a kid, did you ever think that you would end up working at an ad agency?
When I was in 5th grade I declared that I was either going to be an architect or work in advertising. And since you can’t be an architect with a degree in English and Art History, advertising won.
What makes a great client?
Clients who are really open and honest. Clients who will bring you into something more than the tactical marketing challenge and will actually paint you a picture of what’s going on in their company and what they’re facing. At the end of the day, they let you run with that challenge and great work comes out of it.
So if you could tell a client one thing, it would be…
Be honest. Clients need to realize that a good agency is curious. If they just give us a flat assignment, the curiosity is killed. But with a broad spectrum of information and background, it’s more likely that we’re going to uncover something interesting and intelligent.
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve ever faced?
I hope my children don’t kill me for this, but I have to say it was having children. I used to work crazy hours, was here early in the morning, stayed late at night. And having children forced me to more effectively do my work in a defined time frame. So I had to learn the art of delegation. It made me learn to focus on what was important.
You’re a great leader, and a great mom. How do you pull that off?
I’m obsessively organized. I would say that coupled with exercise lets me stay… stable.
What motivates you?
The next challenge. Always knowing where I’m going. I need to have purpose. If a client has a problem to solve, that gets me focused.
What campaigns have you taken notice of recently?
The HP campaign. Particularly the Shaun White ad, because I happen to love skiing. When agencies make recommendations to use spokespeople, it’s often a decision driven by a client. But in this case I feel as though using a celebrity makes sense. I actually believe that Shaun White is personally interacting with HP products. It’s believable and the technology they brought into the production is just amazing.
Any others? Any that stand out negatively?
Oh, so many of them. But I’m not going down that path.
What talent do you wish you had?
I wish I had musical talent. When I was in fourth grade I tried to play the violin and I failed at that. Then when I was in sixth grade, I tried the flute, and I was horrendous at that. I blame it on my asthma. And finally I decided to try the oboe because no one played it. And I didn’t do that well either. After that I threw in the towel.
What is your favorite web site?
I love Google Maps. I think it’s just because I always like to know where I’m going.
Can you describe your best moment on a sailboat?
I was 15 years old, and a friend of mine decided that we were going to the 420 Nationals, which was in Newport, RI. We didn’t own a boat, so the club we were sailing at lent us a very old one. We entered the race, and we were terrible. The boat was slow, and everyone was looking at it like it was the Anti-boat. Out of 95 or 100 boats we finished 80th on the first day.
Then, on the last day of the regatta, I don’t know what happened but all the stars were aligned. We rounded the windward mark, and knew we were in first. We got the spinnaker up, and we were breathing heavily because we couldn’t believe we did it in this old, slow boat. Anyway we looked at each other, and even though you’re never supposed to look backwards in sailing, we did. Just for a second. When we did, we saw 94 other sailboats with their spinnakers up. We just looked at each other and said, “Holy sh-t.” That’s all we could say.