Today we’d like to introduce you to David Greelish.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I began working for a New York based marketing company on some project in the late 90’s. My job was a mobile tour manager promoting a credit card. We would set up events in markets at big festivals throughout the country. I did this for consecutive years and met local event managers in each market. Several of them asked if they could hit me up if a project came to the Boston market. Eventually I started running projects for several different companies in the Boston market while working from home. Eventually some of these companies would ask me if I could run programs in other cities. I eventually would put budgets together for multi market programs. Eventually I realized one day that I had written $28,000 in checks out of my personal bank account in a month and thought it may be a good idea to make this more of a formal business. I incorporated and got all of the proper business insurance and created a website. A short time after that I secured a small office on Boylston St in Boston and it kind of grew from there. We landed a couple of big national programs and it went from there!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Definitely a lot of ups and downs over the years. The nature of the event business is project based work so good years and down years over the last 20 years. Cash management can also be an issue as winter time is generally a bit slower than the warmer months. Finding reliable solid people to work on these projects is always a challenge as well. Despite being very well paid part and full time jobs they are still defined periods of time and therefore lose out on a lot of talent to those looking for more permanent work.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
On The Mark operates in a lot of different spaces currently. We produce large scale events such as conferences, summits and meetings. It is a relatively new space for us in the last 5 years or so. We also run large scale mobile tours for different national brands. For instance, for the last 10 years we have produced the contestant search for “Wheel of Fortune”. We have a full time road crew that travels across the country setting up large scale events in different venues for crowds that can be into several thousand people. We run a mock version of the show and the producers of the show fly out and select a small percentage of the attendees to make them offers to appear on the show. We love the Wheel folks they are like family to us!
On the Mark also provides event staff for numerous different types of events. Currently for Brown Forman and several other liquor brands we provide staff to head to on and off premise locations (bars, liquor stores, etc) to promote different liquor brands in their portfolio to generate trial and awareness of these products. We are working with a new brand called Ghost Tequila as well. It is a ghost pepper infused tequila. We are supporting them in several markets across the country. Give it a try it’s a great product!
We have a tremendous relationship with our clients. We try to be more of an extension of their team than just an agency. We are very transparent with financials and we are very flexible when it comes to how to best serve their needs.
On The Mark has also been involved in producing major events all over the World for the White House, The Clinton Foundation and the Michelle and Barack Obama Foundation. I have personally traveled to more than 50 countries planning events of different types for Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack and Michelle Obama and Joe and Jill Biden. These events are covered by international media and have attendees in the tens of thousands and often times other major international celebrities. There is no room for error on these types of events because the entire world is watching. On the Mark staff handles the majority of events that the above mentioned dignitaries take part in in Massachusetts as well.
What were you like growing up?
I was a pretty shy kid growing up but always had a knack for sales. I can remember in high school we needed to sell candy bars to raise money for our ski team. I was always the top sales person or right near the top. I was also deathly afraid of public speaking back then as well which is something now that comes a lot easier.
Contact Info:
- Address: On The Mark
18 Commerce Way
Suite 2800
Woburn, MA 01801 - Website: www.otm-events.com
- Phone: 617-716-0312
- Email: david@onthemarkpromotions.com
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/onthemarkboston/
Image Credit:
Michelle Obama photo Getty Images
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