Uprising: Why Dan Trimarchi Has One of the Best Jobs in the World

“I definitely think there were some signs that I might end up in a creative career,” says Dan Trimarchi, now an associate creative director at McCann New York. Tracing his love for art and creativity back to seeing Alexander Calder’s mobile art on a school field trip, he also grew up with his guitar-playing dad, submerged in the influence of his music. 

While he enjoyed experimenting with instruments in the family’s ‘jam room’, he also had a somewhat portentous fixation on ads. “Those old Got Milk, Nike, and MTV spots from my childhood,” he says. “I didn’t even consider that there was a career in making them, I just thought it was funny when the guy was trying to say ‘Alexander Hamilton’ with a mouthful of peanut butter sandwich.”

Coming from a big Italian American family in upstate New York - with three older brothers and over 25 first cousins - he says the more neighbourly, working-class culture and busy Sunday pasta dinners at his grandma’s certainly left its mark, despite having lived in the Big Apple for a decade now. “I’ll always try to hang onto that Upstate work ethic and congeniality.”

Currently based in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, he says, “It is definitely a place that keeps me creatively inspired. There are new amazing restaurants popping up all the time, great dive bars, boutiques and galleries. [It’s] really a wonderful place to live and enjoy life.”

Dan’s 10-year creative journey had originally begun not far from his current locale, finding his copywriting calling at New York’s Pace University. Ignoring a brief misadventure as a finance major, he then sought to get his foot in the door post-graduation in the city.

On the advice of a friend in PR, he cold-called creative directors at their desks before 9am, most of whom weren’t interested. “But one morning,” he says, “I called a CD at Story Worldwide, who I’m extremely grateful to for giving me my start in this industry.”

After interning there for a few months, Dan was hired as a community manager at VaynerMedia, where he picked up any copywriting task on offer, and soon was promoted to associate copywriter. However, despite writing for a year, he says he still felt “pretty clueless” at the time - even turning up to a dream interview with a top agency’s CCO without a portfolio to show.

“She very kindly told me to make one immediately and not to show up to any more meetings without one. They passed on me.”

“All of this is to say, I have about as non-traditional a path to this industry as one can have,” he adds. “I had no idea what I was getting myself into, and I probably benefited from that lack of awareness. I’ve sort of uncovered it all, almost as if peeling back the layers of an onion. And I’ve failed massively on more than one occasion. But I think I’m pretty solid proof that if you want to be a creative, and you’re open to feedback, and you’re willing to grow and work hard, it can be done.”

One of the biggest lessons he’s picked up along the way, passing through SundaySky, Geometry Global and Wondersauce before reaching McCann, has been the effectiveness of ‘just getting to work’. This simple act of starting a task and working at it, he says, is what he’s noticed separates successful people from the rest, whether it’s “writing that film script you’ve been talking about for three years” or “painting that series and sharing it on Instagram”.

Throughout his eight years as a copywriter, he says he also spent a lot of time with his nose in advertising annuals, studying the work of DDB co-founder Bill Bernbach and legendary adman Howard Gossage. Through this, he developed both his writing and conceptual creativity, helping him adapt to the ACD role he eventually assumed in 2021.

Above: Last Prisoner Project - 'Richeda's Letter' (ACDs: Dan Trimarchi and Camilla Ciappina) 

“Growing into this, I’ve found that you’re trusted and expected to uphold the creative standard much more. So you learn to be a little bit more critical of your own work, and how to help elevate the level of work of those you’re managing.”

He adds, “I’ve enjoyed the experience of mentoring younger creatives, helping the really motivated ones go further and giving a little boost to those who need it… It’s all equally challenging and rewarding. And it might even be true that the bigger the challenge, the bigger reward.”

Reflecting on his own time as a newcomer to the industry, he highlights his first professional project, a social media campaign for Axe at New York Fashion Week. Titled ‘Stand out. Be basic.’, he says it made the event accessible for men by showing how basics and a solid grooming routine can be ‘NYFW-level’.

“It was my first taste of real conceptual, campaign-level thinking and production. So I was really excited to be making a whole campaign that I came up with and helped develop,” says Dan, explaining that he entered adland when social media was all the rage. “It was all about authenticity, relatability, and real stories,” he adds. “These days, it feels like the pendulum is swinging with more and more brands embracing comedy, which I think is exciting for a lot of creatives.”

Another more recent point of pride has been his work on the Smirnoff ‘We Do We’ campaign, including a brand film called ‘Atomic’, a highly crafted piece that he and partner Camilla Ciappina developed for over a year with Riff Raff Films, The Sacred Egg and The Mill UK. “We wanted to create a metaphor for the energy that sparks when humans connect,” he says. “We came up with the idea of showing the innate human need to mix, share and bond with each other.”

Above: Smirnoff - 'Atomic'

Looking at this work, he says, “This is one of the best jobs in the world. How many people can make a career out of coming up with ideas, writing and collaborating with interesting people?” 

He continues, “I love the moments just after you get a great brief, when thoughts are racing through your mind and the possibilities feel endless. And spending hours and hours trying to come up with ideas that make you go ‘woah’. I love the nitty-gritty craft of writing, and rewriting - and rewriting the rewrites. I love the process of fine-tuning an edit.”

Outside of his work, Dan fills his time with films - both watching them and writing them - as well as seeing live music wherever he can. No longer with the luxury of his own ‘jam room’, apartment-living in Brooklyn does restrict his own musical endeavours to a point, though he still manages to play guitar. 

Above: Dan's AI Short Film - 'Love and Lethal Endings'

Cooking is another one of his hobbies that feels like an “antidote” to advertising’s long creative processes. He says he appreciates the instant gratification (and sometimes disappointment) he gets from cooking, while experimenting in the kitchen or taking inspiration from NYTimes Cooking and J. Kenji López-Alt.

On top of his professional work, he’s developed these hobbies to satiate not just his hunger but his creative appetite too. “I’ve always liked to follow the things that spark my curiosity, or make me feel inspired, or that I find to be beautiful (or delicious),” he says. “So that’s what I do, as much as I can.”

“And I’m excited about the future of this industry,” he adds. “I think there are so many agencies of all shapes and sizes that are focused on creativity first. It seems like the trend is towards more creatively interesting work, and I’m all for it.”