I'm the proud co-founder of Blue Plate Media Services, but our clients and friends like to call us BPMS.

BPMS is a leading, global, full-service media planning buying agency, an advocate for helping toy and youth marketers understand and navigate the shifting media mindscape when connecting with Kids and Families. We're celebrating 25 years of best-in-play, and I couldn't be prouder.

Our agency focuses on play...and the joy of living. We are a pioneer in marketing toys and games through digital and integrated media marketing - while leveraging technology and people power to get it right. We help our clients plan, buy and manage their paid media across their portfolio of brands.

How did I get into toys? Good question. I love toys. Who doesn't? If you saw my office, you'd think I'm crazy. I'm surrounded by toys. Toys that we helped market and bring into the homes of kids and families. And toys that I simply enjoy. We started as an affinity partner with Toy Industry Association (TIA) a quarter of a century ago and focused on educating the industry about trends, changing consumer behavior, and media insights. We're big on sharing our knowledge and educating the industry. This is as important to us today as it was when we began. We're a small community of like-minded professionals. Let's stick together and help one another.

BPMS helps youth marketers (toddler and adult marketers, too) plan and buy smart, strategic media and maximize spending and audience engagement across screens and consumer platforms.

A little background. Our first agency was Yellow (Yellow Advertising & Design), which we started after leaving the comfort of Weiss-Watson, a BBDO agency. We later formed Blue (Blue Plate Media Services) to help our Yellow clients buy their media more opportunistically, strategically, and affordably. We had the penthouse at 1140 Broadway, in NYC, for a dozen years, before coming to our senses and relocating to beautiful, downtown Summit, NJ. While operating in New Jersey, we work with clients across 15 countries.

My background is not what you might expect. Advertising was always in my blood. My father was a partner in a leading billboard company that eventually sold to Y&R. So, I grew up in advertising (reading Ad Age when my friends were reading comic strips). I fell in love with advertising, product development, and importing. I invented an assortment of products (you'll have to ask me sometime); imported and packaged grapevines from France and Cinnamon from Sri Lanka (#1 item in Target's "home" line); developed an app; wrote a book about Life Appreciation; and was awarded The New York Young Entrepreneur of the Year (way, way back when), presented by Preston Robert Tische.

At BPMS, we work collaboratively with leading toy, game, and entertainment companies, and iconic characters you know and love, and help them to grow their respective brands and IP in North America and around the globe. We have 30 years of experience in advertising and branding across a range of industries - from play, entertainment, electronics, and education to apparel, publishing, licensing, and consumer package goods. We help companies impact the market through smart thinking and a “collaborative, cross-screen approach to brand building". We work with our partners to help drive retailer sell-in and consumer sell-through.

I love this industry and the people in it.