About us.
Put our 50+ years of combined marketing, media and ad agency experience to work for you.
David Cutler
brand consultant
David Cutler is an experienced marketing, media and ad agency professional who's been structuring and refining brands for more than thirty years. Prior to relocating to the Greater New Haven area, he lived and worked for many years in Washington, D.C. There he learned two things: 1) never mix business with politics and 2) always keep an open mind.
"To be good in this line of work, it's important to be curious and consistent," he says. "To best serve any client, you need to learn as much as you can about who they are and what they do. By asking the right questions, the right answers lead to new insights. The rest is coming up with a great strategy, and consistently executing to elevate the brand."
A graduate of Carleton College (B.A. magna cum laude) and The University of Virginia (M.A. Graduate Instructor), David started his business career in the arts and tourism industries. At one point, he was writing, editing and producing 17 tourism publications a year for the city of Washington, D.C., managing an annual budget of more than $1 million.
In 1985, David opened his first marketing and media company. For the next ten years, David Cutler & Associates served the needs of more than 75 national corporate, association and private clients. In 1992, he also started Novus Communications Group, which specialized in legal PR and marketing.
When the first major Internet surge hit in the early 90's, David knew it was going to the "mother of all media." For the next ten years, he was VP Marketing & Business Development for two related web-based companies in the nation's capital. Both companies prospered, and David was hooked!
In 2005, David decided to leave D.C. and move to the New England area. After briefly returning to the academic life at Smith College in Northampton, MA for two years, he drove down to Madison, CT one fine day and decided to stay. He's glad he did.
Here are some other tidbits of potential interest. David speaks Italian, Spanish and French, sometimes moshing all three together in odd ways. He plays the keyboard and writes music. He is a published author and active freelance writer and blogger. At one time, he was vice president of Washington Independent Writers, and loved it. He was also once elected to serve as president of his homeowners' association for one year, and hated it.
David has two lovely daughters he adores. He also adores the other half of D2 (see below), who watches him like a hawk in mostly futile efforts to make him follow the rules.
Phyllis Carlisle
art director
Phyllis Carlisle is an accomplished graphic designer, web developer, illustrator and fine artist. Her designs and illustrations have been published online and in magazines and books. Her paintings and other works of fine art have been purchased by private collectors and gallery owners in the New England area.
A graduate of American Intercontinental University in Atlanta, Phyllis earned a BFA summa cum laude in Commercial Art in 1995. The University then selected several of her works for display in its permanent student collection.
Based on that recognition, the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games selected one of her works for display in Centennial Olympic Stadium. Four other works also went on display in galleries in Atlanta, Los Angeles, London and Dubai.
Over the years, Phyllis has helped many commercial businesses build their brands via innovative graphic design and illustration. But her passion also extends to creating paintings and drawings using various media, including watercolor, acrylic, gouache, marker, cut paper, charcoal pencil, oils, pen & ink and color pencil. On occasion, she also does three-dimensional work using paper mache, wood and found objects.
At D2, is the indispensable second "D" of our brand. She consistently D-livers ahead of schedule, she D-lights all our clients and her middle name happens to be "Dee." A native of Madison, CT, Phyllis is creatively inspired by the people and images she encounters living on the shoreline of Long Island Sound.
She has two terrific kids, and spends lots of time supervising the home life of her third (see other "D" above).