DECIBEL IS AN INDEPENDENT MEDIA PLANNING, BUYING AND FULL ANALYTICS AGENCY

We work directly with brand advertisers, and also collaborate seamlessly as a media partner for creative and PR agencies

We built a company adhering to passionate principles of integrity, transparency, and creativity. We’re collaborative, enthusiastic, and we succeed by the achievement of each client’s results.

MEET OUR TEAM

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Tim

Tim Davies

President, Chief Media Officer

‘Why?’ This is the single most motivating word in the English language, according to Tim. “Why can’t we build a media strategy, buying and analytics company that is nimble, creative, steeped in analytics and focused on results”. So that is what Tim did. Tim has a well-earned reputation for smart, creative media solutions driven by sophisticated analytics, and highly personal client service. Having dedicated over 20 years managing local and national brands at Mullen, Arnold Worldwide/Havas and Blitz Media, he understands how to bring a greater level of media expertise to solve business challenges. Tim’s love for the word ‘why’ in helping solving client needs is often followed by the single most rewarding phase in the English language, ‘Thank You’.

When not focused on helping the company grow and others around him succeed, Tim can be found experiencing life with his wife Mary and two children. Why not!

Tim Davies

President, Chief Media Officer
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Melissa

Melissa Chase

Managing Director

Trust is both an emotional and logical act. But trusting Melissa to lead our client accounts as the Managing Director, is both emotionally and logically a no-brainer. Melissa has experience on both the agency and client-side where she managed businesses such as Carbonite, TJX, Boston Children’s Hospital, Peter Pan/Greyhound, RI Tourism and National Grid. Melissa’s drive to push her own boundaries of experience presents clients with new perspectives, strategic approaches, and greater knowledge-creating enduring relationships built on trust. And because that wouldn’t be enough, Melissa manages and mentors the team with that same level of deep knowledge and caring, knowing that their success will be her own success.

When Melissa isn’t taking responsibility for our client’s needs she is quite the foodie. Next stop for Melissa, food critic. Feared and loved by every restauranteur. Let’s just hope, not too soon.

Melissa Chase

Managing Director
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Sadie Barlow

Media Director

As Sadie told us as she took our Media Director's reign, “I’m a lifer! How could you get more enjoyment than a media planning and buying career.” That life decision has proven to be a great career choice for Sadie. Years ago, she cut her teeth as a media buyer and quickly moved up to leading teams within small to large agencies. The thrill of learning new industries and brands such as Keebler, University of Phoenix, Eastern Bank, Qdoba, and UMass Memorial Health, just to name a few, has established a substantial understanding of media channels and how best to apply that knowledge for successful client campaigns.

But it’s not just the clients that make Sadie unique; it’s her dedication to cultivating smart, supportive, and collaborative team members. Sadie’s inspiration and personal achievement come from her grandfather's sage advice, “Stay curious, be good to others, and strive to be better each day.” When Sadie isn’t inspiring our clients or team, she spends time with family and friends, usually near the beach and buried in her Kindle, planning her next great life adventure.

Sadie Barlow

Media Director
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Emily

Emily Donahue

Associate Director of Search

Curiosity. A word that has created the most significant technology invention in digital marketing – search engine marketing. And Emily continues to thrive off the excitement of that curiosity as she manages our client’s SEM campaigns. Her willingness to learn and grow with the team and our clients is the driving force behind her success. Emily’s past experience has included a strong background in real estate for Greybeard Realty and J. Barrett and Company as well as marketing for Bob’s Furniture. Words that Emily lives by spoken so well by Roald Dahl, “If you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it at full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be.”

Emily Donahue

Associate Director of Search
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Sky

Sky Drazek

Media Supervisor

Some have said that The Sky is the limit. But not those who know Sky Drazek! In fact, her boundless energy and endless desire to learn more as a Media Supervisor – new questions, new platforms, new data sources, new publishers – only fuels her drive to find out more and develop her skills in her craft. Prior to joining the Decibel Media team, Sky worked with Merck Pharmaceutical on multi-million dollar spending campaigns and excelled in target audience research and deployment. Competitive is an understatement, as most teammates realized at her college when she competed as a Division 1 athlete – ON THE MEN’S TEAM! Inspiration comes to Sky from her father who once said, “No matter where you go, there you are”. Well, we are a lucky team to have Sky right here.

Sky Drazek

Media Supervisor
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Mae Martin

Mae Martin

Media Supervisor

When Mae walked into Decibel Media, she rocked it! Which was music to our ears. After spending her earlier career in the service industry and event sales, she turned her talents towards media planning, where she worked in LA with Starcom on Lionsgate Film Studios and Best Buy. But the allure of home was strong, so Mae found her way back to the genuineness of Minnesota to work on Essentia Health with Flint Group.

If Mae isn’t Supervising our team on all aspects of media planning and buying, you will most likely find her fulfilling her dreams by shredding on her guitar while belting out tunes to some of her favorite classic rock songs. The Rolling Stones once said, “Lose your dreams, and you will lose your mind.” Mae is a dreamer. And we love that about her.

Mae Martin

Media Supervisor
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Caity

Caity Duquette

Media Planner

I’m Caitlyn Duquette, but you can call me Caity!

Being real drives Caity and what she brings to the Decibel team and her client relationships. This mantra of life that Caity strives to emulate was best articulated by Maya Angelou, the remarkable poet and activist who said, “People forget what you said, and people forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Caity’s experience and past client recipients of her authenticity include Jack Daniels, Ulta Beauty, Netflix, MTV/VH1, and LL Bean.

Her interests are just as authentic and inspiring, including international travel, musical theater, RuPaul’s Drag Race, and most of all, Family. I think we can say with great assurance, "now that is real!"

Caity Duquette

Media Planner
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Kendal

Kendal Elithorpe

Media Planner

Perspective. We embrace each employee's perspective. Especially when it is fuel for optimism and motivation, Kendal brings that optimism and passion to our team every day. Kendal reminded us, “ You can complain that roses have thorns, or you can rejoice that thorns have roses” Kendal takes time to smell the roses, and we appreciate that!

Kendal graduated from Bentley University with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and built her initial experience before joining the Decibel Media team with TechTarget as a Brand Campaign Manager. She worked closely with major B2B brands such as IBM, Dell, Cisco, and PwC, to name a few, implementing innovative solutions and monitoring campaign performance.

Even though Kendal prides herself on helping create a close-knit team collaboration, her real personal passion is related to needlecraft and crocheting. But when crochet becomes too sedentary, you’ll find Kendal active on the slopes with her snowboard as she practices her Tail Grab, Front Roll, or darting in and out of the stores of Boston looking for the following great fashion find.

Kendal Elithorpe

Media Planner
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Abraham

Abraham Parvin

SEM Coordinator

Decibel Media searched country-wide to find someone who can develop a search campaign for our clients. And we found him in the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia. After graduating from Penn State University, Abraham found the perfect post higher ed career, working for Duffy's Tavern in Boalsburg. Who could resist complimentary DuffyBurger meals in a quaint 1819 tavern? Abraham spent the next 2 years at CMI Media as an Associate Analyst working on SEM and Programmatic campaigns, including J&J, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Clovis Oncology. Abraham follows the advice of Mr. Science himself, Bill Nye, "Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't." We sure have learned a lot from Abraham already, as he has shown us how to discover new, innovative ways to engage audiences.

Abraham Parvin

SEM Coordinator
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Ethan

Ethan Landon

SEM Coordinator

How do you take a young employee dedicated to the boundaries of Search Engine Marketing and let them cruise beyond and break down those boundaries for an exciting life in advertising?

1st you find the right person to work on your business. And that would be Ethan! Then you let them cruise beyond those boundaries and encourage an engaged exploration in their role but open the flood gates to expand and excel in their craft with a deeper understanding of a client’s campaign and insights.

Maybe the experience of working on the Royal Caribbean business gave Ethan the desire to

cruise. Or his passion for setting goals by hiking all 48 4000 feet plus mountains in New Hampshire? Whatever drives Ethan to cruise beyond the boundaries, our company is there to support his journey. And our clients will benefit from that quest for achievement and expansion beyond the expected.

Great to have you aboard, Ethan!

Ethan Landon

SEM Coordinator
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Olivia

Olivia Palumbo

Ad Operations

You could say that Olivia is firing on all pixels. And as the person within our company managing ad operations, that’s a pretty good thing to be doing. A large portion of Olivia’s time is spent troubleshooting as she sets up campaigns for our clients. And Olivia looks no further than Einstein to guide her, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” Before joining Decibel Media, Olivia was a Client Onboarding Specialist at C-4 Analytics, helping clients onboard and launch their 1st campaign with the agency. With certifications in Google Analytics, Google Adwords, and HubSpot Marketing, Olivia can assist with any campaign setup to ensure campaigns launch smoothly. When she is not tagging sites and trafficking creative, you can find Olivia working out, dining in and around the great restaurants of Boston, or on one of the many beautiful Cape Cod beaches.

Olivia Palumbo

Ad Operations
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Linda

Linda Nott

Finance Manager

Debit, Credit, Receivables, Payables, Revenue, Expenses, Invoicing, Reconciliation, Profitability - Linda is the master for all of these financial terms for our company. After several years of contracting our financial responsibilities during those early years of company growth, we convinced Linda to be our Finance Manager. And we sure are glad we did. Our agency machine could not run without the talents of Linda and her ability to stay on top of all financial matters. Linda lives in Hanson with her husband Rodney and their two children, Cian and Eirinn.

Linda Nott

Finance Manager

OUR CAPABILITIES

We are media agnostic and have full traditional and digital capabilities. The solutions we provide are built on achieving goals for our clients

Consulting

We will improve specific business indicators: profitability, profitability, efficiency, liquidity, and market value. We are committed to bringing our clients the highest level of consultation and advice. Because we are highly focused on our core competency, Decibel Media brings forward our industry insights and trends in the media marketplace before clients see and respond to news-related items.

What the team thinks

Tim Davies
President

We pride ourselves on being your Go-To for any marketing and media needs. And that means delivering on what is asked, attentive to the details, think critically about the work, and being resourceful by asking the hard questions. To put it simply, we help you grow your business.

Strategic Planning

Servicing various client needs requires the infrastructure and expertise in multiple channels that allow for the dedication and flexibility to alter and measure media in a fluid, decisive manner. As an agency entirely agnostic to the recommended channels, each option is evaluated to design the best outcome for the client. Consumer behavior drives channel adoption; as we all understand, consumer preference is varied and complicated. Each channel has strengths that can create emotion, community, belonging, trust, and belief. Clients who adopt a longer-term commitment to support their brands and products with media campaigns realize the strength of paid media campaigns.

What the team thinks

Melissa Chase
Managing Director

We identify industry, brand, and competitive insights and design inventive solutions with our targeting and channel allocations. Be first, be original, and create an advantage for the brand.

Non-Digitized Display (Traditional Media)

When reaching various influential audiences, Broader channels have a vital role in media planning and buying. Channels such as linear TV, terrestrial radio, out-of-home, and print help brands take an essential part in their communities and bolster the performance of more targeted and efficient digital efforts. Time and time again, brands prove how traditional media can be highly effective and memorable and can achieve results.

What the team thinks

Sky Drazek
Media Supervisor

We approach every campaign with a completely media-agnostic starting point. Once we determine the client goals and KPIs, we isolate and refine our channel selection to meet those goals as effectively and efficiently as possible. This leads to opportunities that are inventive and highly strategic. Decibel Media leads our creative partners to the optimum path for development with specific creative asset requirements.

Negotiations

Our media buyers have the experience and relationships to negotiate the campaign to ensure that our clients get the best rates and most added value while ensuring that our media partners and those relationships fully deliver on the agreed terms. The key is to have high-intensity, passionate negotiators with an eye on the future partnership potential. A continuing process where every campaign evolves, and we leverage continually towards the client’s Key Performance Indicators or KPIs.

What the team thinks

Sadie Barlow
Media Director

We deploy our campaigns with detailed, passionate negotiations and an expectation always to exceed our client goals. We are continuously focused on results, with real-time planning and buying our standard operating procedure.

Data Driven Digital

Digital display encompasses most digital media ranging from traditional banner advertising, video, email, streaming TV and radio, and digital out-of-home. The most significant growth has been in the digital display area as a tool for effective communication. Not only can digital be highly targeted, but also, due to tracking and remarketing, it can be a tool of engagement. With the option for multiple screen exposure (computer, phone, tablet) and the ability to connect virtually anyone, it’s hard to ignore, such as pervasive and influential channels. Usually not a channel that performs as well as lower funnel channels such as SEM but can contribute substantially to attribution for other channels. However, the targeting and tactics are unmatched by any other media channels.

What the team thinks

Sky Drazek
Media Supervisor

As data management and algorithms improve and targeting capabilities evolve, programmatic buying becomes more effective for advertisers. We take an audience-first approach, allowing the data to guide placement and intercept users when they are most receptive to our messaging.

Social Marketing

Incredibly, one of the least trusted channels could be the most engaging and entertaining. Our team offers extensive experience in social media, whether it be Facebook, Instagram, Linked In, Tik Tok, Pinterest, or other social media channels. We work closely with clients on their own organic social media needs. Organically, social media offers a community for like-minded individuals, and paid social allows our team to build prospecting for like-minded individuals who can be valuable new customers or visitors. Social media can offer awareness and engagement to any campaign.

What the team thinks

Mae Martin
Media Supervisor

Social marketing has forever changed the capability of engagement and brand relevancy. From the smallest local companies that rely on social platforms to build and maintain their businesses to the largest organizations that influence people worldwide, social media will have an important role in our campaigns. Our social media experts' team leads our clients from brand and promotion to e-commerce within the many social platforms.

Search Engine Marketing

Search Engine Marketing, often confused with Search Engine Optimization or SEO, is essential to most brands. It allows a brand to be competitive and is critical to reaching those who are capable and ready to learn and take action. Google, Bing, Amazon, YouTube, and other search platforms make up most of the advertising due to their highly effective and efficient ability to drive lower funnel results. Of course, they are powerful on their own, but the true benefit of search is when they are used with other upper and mid-funnel channels that feed demand awareness. Not only will this channel be a strong performance driver, but it can be a substantial prospecting tool to build a website with new users and, eventually, new customers.

What the team thinks

Emily Donahue
SEM Specialist

SEM is an essential, vital media channel for businesses worldwide and will be an important conversion driver for any campaign. Our search professionals team will leverage every tactic to capture the greatest level of real estate for every search engine query. We design complete SEM campaigns that will generate immediate results and get brands to the top of their search engine results pages or SERPs.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Organic search is often one of the most underutilized investments by clients and offers some of the most critical insights. The benefits of optimizing your website through improved link performance, keyword relevance, site behavior flow, content analysis, on-site technical fixes, performance speed, directories, and domain rating and improvement should be a continuous process of improvement for most websites. Google search is constantly changing, and so shouldn’t your website.

What the team thinks

Sadie Barlow
Media Director

SEO is just one additional component of our results reporting for our clients. Each reporting presentation includes insights on Google Analytics reporting, organic keyword success, content recommendations, competitive evaluation, and any on-site technical alerts and solutions. We partner closely with website developers to help support all tracking pixel placement.

Analytics

A robust performance tracking mechanism for all campaigns is essential to any advertising campaign. As we do for our clients, we encourage all clients to establish a custom-designed, real-time dashboard that allows for API connections from each channel so that the client has immediate performance measurement and analytics. Our client dashboards, designed and built by our team, include the performance of websites, paid media campaigns, and CRM data specific to each client’s business.

What the team thinks

Melissa Chase
Managing Director, Partner

Analytics is the core capability that drives all of our decision makings. Our world-class analytics accommodates existing and evolving data sources and can provide a single point of truth. A real-time dashboard visualizes performance and impact with AI-powered insights. Together with clients, we can make faster, smarter decisions to optimize performance and drive business success.