Michael Gambino

Adjunct Instructor | Advertising and Digital Design

Education

AAS, BFA, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York

Biography

Mike Gambino has worked in marketing for agences such as BBDO, DDB, and McCann since 1995. He has created campaigns for many of the world’s great brands like Visa, FedEx, Coca-Cola, Bud Light, McDonald’s, Mars, AT&T, and Verizon, winning virtually every award: Gold Cannes Lion, Gold One Show Pencils, D&D Pencils, and even a few Effie Awards. Gambino's Visa commercial, "Broadway Tribute," was nominated for the EMMY Award.

Gambino cut his teeth at DBB Chicago, working on McDonald's and the "Make it a Bud Light" campaign. After DDB, he moved to McCann as a senior art director on the launch of the famous MasterCard "Priceless" campaign. During eight years at BBDO, Gambino worked primarily on the Visa “It’s everywhere you want to be” campaign and its many sponsorship campaigns for the Olympics, the NFL, the TONY Awards, the Triple Crown, and NASCAR. While at BBDO, he also worked on Cingular/AT&T, M&Ms, and Milky Way for Mars, AOL, Armstrong Flooring, and the New York Yankees. His work on the “Relax, it’s FedEx” campaign was highly awarded, garnering a Gold Cannes Lion and Gold One Show Pencils.

In 2007, Gambino became a Group Creative Director at McCann on Verizon FiOS, co-creating the popular Cable Guy character. Each regional launch included a fully integrated campaign, an extensive digital push, quarterly web redesigns, social media, events, store redesigns, van redesigns, and a huge TV, radio, print, and OOH push. In 2012, Gambino was named the Executive Creative Director of The Halo Group. Halo was an agnostic agency, working seamlessly in every media—digital, social, and traditional. His work for St. George’s University and Halo’s in-house promotions garnered 8 Telly Awards in 2014.

Currently, Gambino is a freelance consultant for New Yorker Bagels, Nerai Restaurants, and SuperSonic Music Search. As a painter, sculptor, and photographer, he has exhibited work with solo shows in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and New Orleans. He also wrote the film "Space Cadet," which premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.