John Howlett, President

My very first job was selling and delivering newspapers, one of the purest forms of advertising. Looking back I feel like I was destined to work in the advertising business. It was a great job for a twelve-year-old boy with an interest in making money. I learned a lot about how to manage a business from delivering a product, to offering great customer service and to balancing my account receivables and payables.

Since then I have been fortunate to have a multitude of jobs in a wide range of professions: A high school teacher in one of New Jersey’s premier districts; co-owner of a specialized real estate company; sub-contractor/distributor of personal baby products. Although at the time I didn’t realize how valuable that vast work experience would be until I opened my own advertising agency over twenty years later in 1986. It kept me in touch with the average man, a very important thing for doing effective advertising.

During the next twenty years, I owned and operated a successful advertising agency. I worked with some of the smartest, creative and most successful people in the advertising business. On the client side it was my good fortune to work with clients that included Kodak, Newsweek and Johnson and Johnson and a host of other companies that made great products. I cultivated friendships at the client and agency side and developed a strong network of talented people in a multitude of disciplines who made advertising “work.” They included creative, planning, media and production professionals.

Although I love advertising, about two years ago, I voluntarily closed my advertising agency. I opened a consultancy business called AvizaGroup that specializes in comprehensive reviews and evaluations of advertising programs. My core business is to offer a second opinion on companies’ ad programs and suggest ways to get a better ROI. Aviza has a network of twenty-four strategic partners who specialize in specific disciplines of advertising and marketing.

So how do I wind down? I paint, help my three children anyway I can and I attend International soccer matches – a sport I have come to enjoy later in life.

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