Meet Kevin Smith, Interactive Manager
It was not a traditional career path that lead Kevin Smith to the position of interactive manager at Gragg Advertising. A journalism major in college, Kevin spent many years as a newspaper sports journalist. He covered the small state universities in the MIAA conference and other division two conferences. During the time that the internet was evolving rapidly, Kevin took on the challenge of building the first website for the newspaper he was working at.
“I was the kid fresh out of college and had taken a basic web design class and knew very rudimentary HTML but that was enough to qualify me for the position,” Smith says. “I loved the project and got out of the newspaper business and went to work for an agency.”
That agency was focused on the e-casino market and the position allowed him to be at the forefront of the changing landscape of the internet. The agency worked on event marketing, branding, direct mail and interactive tasks including email campaigns, pay per click and the early stages of what would become social media.
He moved on to e-commerce with Brown Shoe Company which owns the URLs shoes.com, famousfootwear.com and other footwear related sites. Eventually he became an independent online marketing and e-commerce consultant.
Smith recently relocated to Kansas City from St. Louis. As he settles into his new city and new role at Gragg he looks forward to the new challenges and being part of developing successful campaigns for new industries.
“I am looking forward to helping grow the interactive department to one of the best in the Midwest, broadening our scope of work and bringing new channels and tactics to our current client base. I also look forward to seeing our group lead the charge and embracing best practices across verticals and touch points,” Smith says.
In his free time you will find Smith at The Cauldron. He is an avid soccer fan and has season tickets to Sporting KC. A former high school soccer player and St Louis native, Smith likes to point out one of the highlights of his younger years.
“I am proud to say that in 1993 my high school soccer team, DeSmet, beat Park Hill South in the state championship game. Anytime I can bring that up to a Park Hill South grad I will.”
