Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Vamosy.
Hi Michael, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
After graduating college on the east coast with a bachelor of science in graphic design, I headed out to LA with $300 and my portfolio. I was living in Pasadena and taking the bus to West LA for my first graphic design job. I was so excited I didn’t even mind the two different busses and a transfer downtown, except on rainy days.
I eventually saved up enough money to buy a car so I could start freelancing all over town. I eventually landed at a really cool shop that specialized in entertainment creative called Friedland Jacobs Communications. Ray Jacobs was a great design mentor, and I learned a ton from him and others like John Varvi, who was there running all the creative for the two partners. Friedland Jacobs got bought out by Rare Medium, a dot.com company on the rise. But soon after 9/11, the bubble burst and we were dismantled. We all went our separate ways.
I ended up freelancing inside FX alongside John Varvi. Together we launched THE SHIELD. We never knew this would be the epic start of FX. After all, I was designing motion graphics in the hallway and John was producing spots with an editor in a closet converted into the world’s smallest edit bay. I was rendering graphics, burning them to CD, and running them into the edit bay. But there we were, with a very small team creating all of the promotions and marketing for this new series… including the print and outdoor. Once The Shield hit critical acclaim, FX was on its way.
More series started to roll in and we built out StudioFX and expanded the team. I was working 12-16 hour days and truly loving it.
We created some amazing campaigns for series like Nip/Tuck and Rescue Me. I was at FX about seven years, when my two big bosses, Peter Liguori and Chris Carlisle made their way to run FOX as Peter became the president and Chirs led FOX marketing. I stayed behind for a bit and learned a ton from the new boss Stephanie Gibbons. She was a creative force who taught me so much. But I soon followed Peter and Chris to FOX as they offered me the role of SVP of Design for a major network.
At FOX, I brought print, on-air, and digital design into one cohesive team that shared creative ideas cross platforms. And we started to do some amazing work. During my four years at FOX, I came up with the ‘L for Loser’ campaign for GLEE, revamped American Idol, did some cutting-edge print design with Hugh Laurie for HOUSE and started racking up the awards.
After 4 years, I left and went to an agency called Stun, where I started the print and digital division while I was running on-air rebrands and 360 creative campaigns. A year and a half later, Starz called with an amazing opportunity to run their 115-person creative services division.
So I moved to Denver, re-organized the largest department in the company and started to shooting campaigns all over the world. We had The White Queen in Bruges, Magic City in Miami, Da Vanici’s Demons in Whales, Black Sails in Capetown, Outlander in Scotland and Power in NY. We made some amazing creative for the series and for the network. But LA was calling me home, so I returned to LA and went back to Stun. This time as the Chief Creative Officer.
I rebranded Stun, changed our work process and improved workflow, increased margins, redesigned our new offices and started to do some amazing creative work that was getting noticed. We won the PROMAX agency of the year 4 out of the six years I was there. I also rebranded Beyond Meat and helped take them to their historic IPO and helped get Stun to a place where they were bought out.
Once that merger happened, I left and started my own creative shop, Vivid Zero. Vivid Zero partnered with Smith Geiger, a data insight company. And together, we team up on projects where we offer data-driven creative. We work with ABC News Studios, ABC O+O, Showtime PPV Boxing, FOX Sports, NBC Universal, Headspace, Lifetime, PUBG, Velocity Global and others.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road has never been smooth. I think the only way to be successful is to never quit. When I first moved to LA, people were only hiring graphic designers from Art Center. I kept every single rejection letter I got, and I got a ton of them. A ton. It would have been easy to quit. But I didn’t. It just motivated me to work harder. And when I did get an opportunity, I worked harder to impress. If I was brought in as a freelance designer on an 8-hour day, I worked 12. When I was hired as a staff print designer, I stayed late every night to learn motion design. Always going above and beyond. And we continue to share that mentality with our team at Vivid Zero for the benefit of our clients.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I think I am known for conceptual creative that goes a little deeper, pushes a little further and breaks the mold. One of my best-known creative campaigns was for the Ryan Murphy series, GLEE. When I presented the key art in the room, I got a lot of negative feedback. “This will never work”. “It’s mean.” “Negative advertising doesn’t work.” “You can’t call our best new show a bunch of losers.” But I remember reading the research and saw 72% of viewers had a negative experience in high school. So, I tapped into the emotional drivers of our audience in a different way to trigger a response. Peter Liguori sat back in that room and let the naysayers speak their minds, then he looked at me and said “That’s brilliant. You’re gonna bully them and then endear them to the audience.” And it worked. But it takes a risky idea and a champion on the inside to fight for the good idea. I love to come up with simple solutions for complex problems. There’s always a solution, and sometimes it is right there in front of you.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
I’ve learned that COVID-19 leveled the playing field. In the past, to start an agency you needed office space, edit bays, design stations, and major infrastructure. So when I was approaching one of our first perspective clients they said “Can you put a capes deck together for us? We just want to make sure you’re not just a few guys in a garage.” I replied, “Everyone is working out of their garages, their guest houses, living rooms, kitchen counters, or their tree forts.” I’ve been running a team of 16-22 people from Paris to the Philippines for the last two years. Space and time have become a non-issue. Now it’s about the work. There was even an article that talked about what companies were doing different in Covid. They talked to Coca-Cola, MacDonalds and me. The playing field has leveled.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://vividzero.com
- Instagram: vividzero_sg
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057501037117
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vividzero/mycompany/?viewAsMember=true
Image Credits
GLEE Poster: FOX On Location in Scotland for Outlander/Starz with photographer Frank Ockenfels and Sam Heughan Tank Davis vs Role Romero Campaign Showtime PPV Boxing The Informant Key Art ABC NEWS STUDIOS Jake Paul vs Tyron Woodley Campaign Showtime PPV Boxing On set with David Benavidez for Showtime PPV Boxing On Location with ABC 7 NY Daytona 500 Key Art FOX SPORTS
