About Us
– Who we are –
Converze Media Group was founded in 2009 by Tedd Barr and Philip Yancey. Together they built one of the nation’s top direct-response radio buying agencies, located in Orange County, California.
With roots in radio and the ability to strategize and implement campaigns across any media channel to exceed any client objective, brings forth a rare and valuable, holistic marketing perspective. Our clients benefit from having highly educated and big agency experienced veterans at boutique agency costs.
Converze Media is much more than a group of ROI specialists, we are a group of talented media professionals that come from a variety of different experiences. From coast to coast, and occasionally across the pond, we’ve gathered a talented pool of innovative, smart thinkers. Thinkers that come from all sized agencies and thinkers who are well-rounded as marketers AND as human beings.
Resilience, humility, grit and the ability to endure through any challenge are a few of the qualities we value in our team members.
“Hire people who are better than you are, then leave them to get on with it. Look for people who will aim for the remarkable, who will not settle for the routine.” - David Ogilvy
Converze Media Group was featured as one of the fastest privately held companies in Orange County, CA in 2016, certainly a testament to the fact that our clients are not only satisfied, but long-term partners. Retention of our client portfolio coupled with less than 10% employee turn-over annually, only shows that Converze Media Group is a company that is driven to produce client ROI AND driven to nurture the experts who make it happen!
From branding to direct response, from TV to interactive bus shelters and everything in between, we are a group of experts who continually bring novel ad notions to our clients. It’s our duty to stay abreast of the industry and technology, keeping consumer behavior trends top-of-mind and bringing the very best to the converzation.
There is no doubt that together we’ll lift your company to new heights.
– Meet the Team –
Tedd Barr
Partner
Having over 15 years of industry experience, Tedd started his career at Far West Media, a boutique direct response agency based in Long Beach, CA. After running sales for several years, Tedd founded Pacific Media Group in 2004. For over nine years, Tedd oversaw all aspects of the business including sales, media buying, creative, and account management. During this time, he managed many successful campaigns and became an expert in direct response radio and TV campaigns. In March of 2012, he successfully merged PMG with Philip Yancey to form the current Converze Media Group. Since the merger, Converze has rapidly grown into one of the leading direct response agencies in the United States.
Philip Yancey
Partner
Over 20 years of success in the advertising/marketing industry. Throughout those 20+ years Philip has worked for some of the largest radio stations in the country and built multi-million marketing campaigns for some of the best know companies in the world.
Industry experience, knowledge and personal competitiveness, plus client first approach has given Philip the ability to build one of the most successful direct-response advertising agencies in the country. His desire to deliver the best analytical platform for Converze Media clients, has established CMG as a unparalleled partner in the DR space.
Philip believes the way to being the best is to be client focused, innovated, and have great people around you on a daily basis.
Daniel Williams
Controller
Daniel has been with Converze Media since 2014 and comes to us with extensive experience with both Fortune 500 companies and small smart ups. Daniel leads the finance group for the agency and has done a terrific job managing hundreds of millions of client dollars over the years. He has developed great relationships with both clients and media partners. His unique attention to detail has proved invaluable as the agency has dealt with tremendous growth. Daniel is an alumni of Eastern Michigan University.
Jennifer Miller
Senior Account Manager
Jennifer LOVES Direct Response (DR)
She began her career in 2009, starting at a DR Agency and never looked back! She has managed accounts of all sizes, ranging in categories from Retail, E-Commerce, Financial Services, Medical, and Education- just to name a few…. For her clients she wears many hats, but none more important than Strategist. With ample data and a passion for growth, she meticulously OPTIMIZES campaigns, scales industry share, all while delivering reliable, replicate-able, consistent results.
Regardless of the medium (Radio or TV) and the demo (General Market or Hispanic,) Jennifer partners with her clients to understand their business and meet return.
Chris Mullane
VP of Sales
Chris Mullane is native to Buffalo, N.Y and attended Daemon College in Buffalo N.Y. in 2000. He has several years experience in sales and management. Chris has worked with several clients across many vertices from inception with rapid growth by managing costs, goals and delivering ROI. Chris oversees the ConverZe Media sales team and focuses on new client relationships. Chris is also involved in the ad creative development of ConverZe Media clients assisting with the creation of effective ads in order to boost performance. He has played a substantial role in the overall growth of ConverZe Media over the past several years, helping them become one of the Nations top DR media planning and buying agencies.
Jason Zimmerman
Senior Account Manager
Jason brings over 23 years of media experience to Converze with a unique background in both radio programming/production and advertising. For the last 12 years Jason has been developing and growing advertising campaigns from the ground up using a diversified portfolio of radio, TV, podcasts and digital components to exceed the clients metrics in an everchanging media landscape. Having run campaigns for almost every category and every size budget, he knows how to maximize the clients dollars to get the highest ROI. Jason holds a degree in Film and Electronic Arts with an emphasis on electronic media from Cal State Long Beach.
Julie Figures
Senior Media Director, TV
Julie brings experience, passion and dedication to our TV division. Julie has over 14 years of experience launching and developing national television campaigns with a strong background in direct response. Julie brings a level of service and value to Converze with her wide range of experience by managing a media department at a large independent buying agency in which she focused on controlling all national rate structures, pricing needs and strategic planning for all brands within the agencies portfolio. She has played a strong role with the success of brands such as Priceline, eHarmony, Ancestry, Overstock, Angie’s List and Lifelock. The most rewarding clients she’s worked on have been the brands that she helped grow from inception to large multi-million dollar advertisers. Since Julie has such a strong background in pricing, buying the most efficient media at competitive or better than marketplace costs is her goal. Her relationships and partnerships with the media brings a high level of value and quality to her clients. Julie focuses on a hybrid buying model in which she looks to utilize buying media in both the general and direct response marketplace by finding the strongest media mix that will yield the best results for each individual clients success. No matter what brand she works on, she stays true to her roots focusing on cost efficient DR pricing but with a branding mentality. Exposing her clients to efficient broadcast, syndication, integration opportunities and premium added value are just some key areas in where she likes to grow her clients. Julie is persistent and goal oriented, all while making the client the top priority no matter what the challenge. Exceeding ROI expectations will always be her focus, all while having fun with the endless possibilities and opportunities the TV space has to offer.
Looking for a career at Converze Media Group?
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