Christopher Dean has joined leading independent agency Marcus Thomas as media director. He reports to partner/chief media officer Raphael Rivilla and works on the agency’s Stanley Black & Decker business.
The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) graduate started his career as a wardrobe stylist commuting from Baltimore, Maryland, to New York City, New York, working at The Source magazine where he collaborated closely with the advertising department and became familiar with media spends. Most recently serving as the director of integrated planning at Cincinnati-based Empower – America’s largest woman-owned media agency – Christopher is also a former professor at his alma mater FIT and veteran of Response Media and GMLV LLC.
“Chris has 15+ years of management and planning/buying experience within the advertising and marketing space, and he is already making his mark at the agency,” said Raphael. “He’s exceptional at communicating to various audience segments, having worked in the food and beverage and retail categories, and he will fuel-inject Stanley Black & Decker activations for brands including CRAFTSMAN® and DEWALT®.”
A driving force for Christopher entering the industry had to do with diversity, equity, and inclusion. “I fell in love with media planning from the first course I took at FIT and haven’t looked back,” said Christopher. “After researching and realising that less than 3% of the field was comprised of African American men, I knew I had to penetrate the industry and make a difference. Bringing more Black men into the field of advertising and marketing remains a giant ambition because representation matters and seeing myself or my culture in agency structures has been limited.”
A proud culture connoisseur and fan of affinity groups, Christopher lives in Atlanta with his partner and their three sons. When not working, Christopher volunteers with the Baltimore Youth Alliance and other hometown/national organizations that support underprivileged youth, such as Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc. Whether prepping teens for SATs or to secure scholarships, Christopher is a role model who is excited for his experiences to collide at Marcus Thomas.
“I loved working at Empower, and when the chance to join a cutting-edge, burgeoning media team at one of the industry’s leading independent ad agencies arose,” said Christopher, “I knew this was an opportunity I just had to take.”
