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Matt Rivitz
Founder, Rivitz & Magnusson
Professional Background
Matt Rivitz is an accomplished copywriter and creative consultant with a solid foundation in Mass Communication from Boston University. With years of experience in the advertising industry, he has collaborated with some of the most renowned agencies, demonstrating his expertise and adaptability in the evolving landscape of marketing and brand communications.
Throughout his career, Matt has lent his skills to numerous prestigious agencies, including Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Wieden + Kennedy, BBDO, and Saatchi & Saatchi, among others. His extensive freelance work as a copywriter has led to successful collaborations with major brands, where he has played pivotal roles in crafting compelling narratives and engaging advertisements. Matt's versatility as a creative consultant allows him to reflect brand values while delivering impactful messaging that resonates with audiences.
Education and Achievements
Matt Rivitz pursued his Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communication at Boston University, where he gained critical insights into effective communication strategies and media relations. His academic background has served as a springboard into a vibrant career characterized by creativity, strategic thinking, and a passion for storytelling.
In his professional trajectory, Matt has repeatedly achieved recognition for his ability to innovate and produce high-quality content across various platforms. Some of the notable brands he has worked with include Apple, Citron Haligman Bedecarre, and TBWA/Chiat/Day. As a creative director and senior copywriter, he has had the opportunity to lead projects that have garnered both critical acclaim and consumer engagement, solidifying his reputation as a trusted voice in the advertising world.
Achievements
- Diverse Freelance Experience: Matt has accumulated impressive freelance experience in various capacities, from copywriter to creative director, across numerous large-scale advertising agencies. His work has had a lasting impact on established brands, showcasing his effective messaging and creative prowess.
- Collaborative Projects: His extensive collaborations with leading agencies, such as DDB, Publicis Kaplan Thaler, and Mullen, have demonstrated his ability to work in diverse team settings and develop creative strategies that align closely with campaign goals.
- Client List: Matt’s portfolio includes lucrative and prestigious clients, illustrating his aptitude for adapting to different brand voices and creative needs. Working with companies such as Goodby Silverstein & Partners and Leo Burnett Advertising highlights his commitment to excellence and the depth of his influence within the industry.
- Leadership Roles: Matt has taken on significant positions as a creative director, including a role at TBWA/Chiat/Day, where he provided visionary leadership to teams and projects that pushed the creative envelope in advertising.
- Award-Winning Work: His contributions across various campaigns have not only garnered positive reception but have also received industry accolades, underscoring his role as a key player in shaping impactful advertising narratives.
Highlights
Last week, I was asked why you rarely see marketers touting their agencies anymore. It kind of blew my mind because I hadn't really noticed. When did people stop getting excited about advertising? Or even talking about it?
I totally get that we're in the middle of a now 2-year cycle of shitty news in the industry. There are staff cuts, hiring freezes and consolidation and that, of course, leads to malaise and a lack of motivation. But that shouldn't make an entire industry less interesting.
When I got into advertising seven bajillion years ago, it was at the start of a golden age of creativity in music, film, and, yes, advertising. We were in constant competition to see who could do something that would blow everyone's minds. Yes, the budgets were bigger, but so was the need to just do something, anything, different. There were rockstar writers and art directors. There were directors who you worshipped who would only do two spots a year. Even radio spots were fertile ground for embarrassing your fellow creatives. Clients put the work first and, when they bought something great, they couldn't wait to tell the world about it.
Today is, yeah, different.
If you read the latest article about Nike losing its way and its marketshare along with it, at least part of the blame can be laid at the feet of walking away from the brand (the work) that made them a juggernaut. You can say the same thing about our entire industry. We shifted our focus from building brands to increasing "performance," and with it, we shifted away from the real value that we bring: Excitement. And we're going to continue to go down that road with AI if we're not careful.
Performance marketing ain't going away. Budgets will likely never return to the levels they previously were. The ways in which we communicate are much more niche. But come on. We're the most creative people in the business world. We are more capable than anyone else of making things interesting at the very least.
I started The Quills because I thought writing was something that was undervalued in the business world. But I also started it because I was fucking bored by the industry's descent into data and analytics and robots and shit. I wanted to do work again. I wanted that exciting feeling of creating something new. Of building something from nothing. Of challenging conventional wisdom of what "works". And you know what's awesome? There are so many other people who are starting amazingly cool new models and even old school concept-first agencies who have the same idea.
Advertising and communications aren't dead. They're just lost. And while the holding companies are busy trying to compete in arenas that they have never even entered before to save some dough on staffing, the rest of us remember that feeling of making something that made our friends jealous, our rivals insane and our clients tell the world about us.
Let's, and excuse the inconvenient reference here, make advertising exciting again.
Marketing might be broken, but I'll bet you a million bucks that it will be the independent agencies, consultancies and freelancers that are going to fix it.
The contraction in our industry is real. Literally almost all of my friends are looking for work right now. But many of them are also considering how to make this business work for them and, really, work better for the industry. And they are succeeding. And it's awesome.
You can't escape the idea that what our industry has done to itself over the last decade is at least partially self-inflicted. We fucked ourselves by marking up our work to almost unbelievable levels against actual costs, we carried three times the staff we actually needed to create relatively simple work and we gathered a bunch of disparate agencies into holding companies that perform no actual marketing functions, just deal making.
Now, as the funding gets squeezed off, it has laid bare these colossal structural problems. Marketers need marketing. They don't need to pay for real estate holdings and dividend checks for shareholders. It doesn't buy them anything.
The independent models that are arriving on to the market make an almost ridiculous amount of sense for where we are now. They have light teams. They use the best talent on the market, which is mostly freelance right now. They are able to do the same work for a fraction of the cost. They enable clients to directly interface with the people directly working on their business. They are able to be more nimble because there are not a dozen layers on every project.
Don't get me wrong. I miss $2 Million productions and 8 week timelines for concepting. That shit was amazing. I'm so happy I got to live through that. But it's over. The new world moves much faster and leaner.
When I started The Quills last year, it was to harness all of the absolutely incredible creative writing talent I knew to handle work that was actually needed in the marketplace. Is it all sexy brand campaigns and product launches? No. Some of it is. And some of it is editorial, white papers, content curation, thought-leadership and web copy. The little stuff that companies need everyday. For our clients, it has been incredibly useful. Emphasis on the word "useful".
We, like so many independent shops, are able to do this because we were able to rethink what is needed for this market rather than keeping our shareholders happy. We also have a massive pool of talent that holding companies are unable to use as they've put an arbitrary cap on freelance workers because it's just not as profitable as full-time workers.
There are more models coming into the market everyday because there's an opening for innovation and, contrary to the doom and gloom we see on this platform everyday, it's actually really exciting. It's like a controlled burn to help us grow back stronger than before.
So shout out to all of the indies trying new things right now. Yes, even if you're our competition. You're okay, too.
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Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.