Digital Media Venturer

When Alumni Affairs met with Geoff Crain ’05 via Zoom in August, he had just been invited to join the Forbes Agency Council as a respected senior executive in the PR, media, creative and ad agencies industries. The council was created in partnership with Forbes.com and connects exceptional business owners and executives with people and resources to help them thrive. He recently participated on a panel of twelve experts to discuss “newsjacking,” a media strategy that has brands putting their own spin on current events or trends by expanding discussions or starting new ones. Geoff’s topic was how to reach specific audiences, and he certainly applies this tactic as Senior Director Sales and Marketing at Kingstar Media.

Geoff was an employee of Kingstar in its infancy as a grass-roots DRTV, media buying environment. Concurrently, he was a student at St. Francis Xavier University in the Business Administration program. He graduated in 2010 and began work as a digital strategist at McCann Media. He managed the Johnson & Johnson and Coca Cola accounts. He returned to Kingstar for a brief stint as a digital media manager before he moved to Mundo Media Ltd. as a senior media buyer, gaining experience and a reputation as a savvy specialist in purchasing digital ad inventory. In 2019, he returned once again to where his career started, this time as Senior Director, and he continues to excel as a leader in the business of digital media.

Geoff detailed the value of digital marketing for the 21^st century, “It is all consuming, always changing, and unpredictable. You can target specific demographics and create niche audiences.”

When Geoff is not strategizing for his clients, he can be found golfing in the summer, playing hockey in the winter, and vacationing with his family – all activities he enjoyed while he was a student at VC. Geoff’s most recent trip was to London with his brother, Nicholas ’08, his mother, Viveca, his stepfather, Dr. John Banducci, and his fiancée, Inez. After attending Wimbledon, Geoff and Inez traveled to Champagne, France where he proposed to her at sunset in a vineyard. They are planning a destination wedding in the Bahamas for April 2023.

Family is at the heart of Geoff’s accomplishments, and he fondly remembered the days with his VC family, “The community, the friendships, the connections with faculty and staff are what I always valued. The support I received in sports, in student council, and in academics were excellent.”

Geoff also enjoyed team sports in all three seasons at VC: football, basketball, and golf. And we loved to hear him as a regular broadcaster on the after-school announcements – a foreshadowing of his career in digital media, perhaps?

In November, Geoff will be attending the Digital & Affiliate Marketing International Expo 2022 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Alumni Affairs wishes Geoff continued success in his work and personal accomplishments.