Young Innovator Nominee: Joseph “Fitz” Maro, 360i

Why he’s nominated: I joined 360i, as a technical director after years at Microsoft and Adobe. In the following three years I became the defacto go-to for all things that involved creative and unexpected uses of technology.

When I met Fitz he was just a junior strategist following his graduation from the renowned VCU Brandcenter’s Masters program two years before. It was clear Fitz wanted to push the agency’s digital thinking and creative work forward. He was taking on ton of extra work to show that.

His graduate degree in Creative Technology plus a couple of years in the strategy department complimented my own technical and creative background. After working together on a ad-hoc basis for some time, Fitz helped spearhead the effort to formalize our new Innovation approach. We pitched the idea of formalizing the practice to 360i’s C-suite, and in 2015 the 360i Innovation Lab was born.

Following early wins it was clear the work Fitz put into the initiative was paying off. His co-leadership of the Innovation team has pushed the agency and it’s thinking forward – from collaboration/concepting with traditional creative teams to educating our clients and other internal teams. The first year in his role as an Innovation Strategist Fitz’s efforts led to one of 360i’s most award years in the agency’s history. On four separate campaigns, for four separate clients, work bearing Fitz’s name earned a total of: Three Cannes Lions, 2x Cannes Lion Shortlists, a One Show award, 2x OneShow Shortlists, an AdWeek Project Isaac Innovation Gold, an iab.MIXX Interactive Gold, a Creativity Online Editor’s Pick, an ARF Grand Ogilvy, and a Shorty Awards finalist. In fact, 360i was the fourth most winning agency of the Cyber Lions in 2016, a correlation I think is strongly tied to Fitz’s involvement.

For all the success in this new, forward-thinking role Fitz was named by Advertising Age as one of just 11 global “Creatives You Should Know” in June 2016. He is helping push our team, our agency, and the industry by extension, forward in a way few – if any – others are doing right now.

I’m proud to be submitting Joseph “Fitz” Maro as a nominee for The Advertising Club of New York’s – with the support of Google and The Drum – fourth Young Innovators Award. I can’t think of anyone more deserving of such a title or recognition.

The Young Innovator Award celebrates excellence and innovation by young professionals. See the other nominees and their backgrounds and check back to learn who has won this prestigious honor from The Advertising Club of New York and Google, with support from The Drum.