Management Team

John Cole — Creative Director

John Cole has been in the communications and marketing industry for 25 years. He started the company in 1978 as an environmental film and photography production house — working for clients such as Bose, Nikon, and Polaroid. Responding to the growing needs of his customers, he expanded the firm throughout the 1980s and 1990s into a full-service marketing and communications organization. John graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with dual major degree in Photojournalism and Graphic Design.

John's point of view: The test for every project we undertake is relevance. Our goal is to develop and deliver relevant communications. So we ask ourselves: Do we know the target audience? What is their pain? What is the compelling message that will get their attention? Nearly 80% of a program's effectiveness is based on those factors alone. A recent study noted that 84% of all marketing goes un-noticed. That's staggering! That’s not a road we’re going down.

Cole Creative has also applied the enormous benefits afforded by digital production printing. We have developed a powerful new tool — called “Marketing to the Extreme” — which enables relevant, one-to-one messaging and direct marketing. The result? Higher response rates for clients, increased order size, and greater customer retention. Click here to find out more.

Erika Petersson — VP, Production

Erika has worked in visual communications of nearly every form for the last 20 years. Her career began in book production at Houghton Mifflin, and progressed to book design and art direction for other firms and publications. After several years in the graphic arts, she chose to shift careers, and quickly established herself in the film and television industries. She worked in set design, decoration and art direction on numerous feature films and television spots (such as “The Good Son” and “Jumanji”).

As a globetrotting, worldly-wise video producer for Cole Creative, Erika has line produced and art directed a host of award-winning corporate and documentary productions and continues to develop television programming. In charge of production at Cole Creative, she also offers clients advanced expertise for all print and new media projects. Erika is a graduate of Tufts University, in Medford, Mass.

Paul Gattuso — President, Paul’s Place

Paul has been one of Boston’s top video and film editors for the past 15 years. His talents, professionalism, and creativity have helped earn him several major industry honors including — The “Best of Broadcasting” award from the New England Broadcasting Association, the Hatch Award from the Ad Club of Greater Boston, as well as awards from the International Film and TV Festival of New York. His clients include Boston’s biggest advertising agencies, international production companies and broadcasters, and his credits include work for BJ’s, Comcast, EnergyStar, Hood, Nikon, The Samaritans of Boston, and Volkswagen. Paul is involved with every step of the job: from preproduction through the editing process, which results in a seamless, creatively optimal final product. As a client service bonus, Paul maintains an excellent in-house collection of vintage electric guitars… which he can’t play, but you can. Paul is a graduate of Emerson College, a premier creative and communications arts school in Boston.

Bob Boucher — VP, Creative Services

Bob has been in marketing, advertising and communications for 25 years. Starting out with a career in journalism, he worked as a reporter and editor for newspapers and magazines throughout New Hampshire and Massachusetts. He went on to work as a public affairs director for the Boston School Committee and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Bob entered the world of advertising and marketing in the early 1980s — working as a creative director, copywriter and communications manager in a variety of industries, including biomedicine, imaging/photography, financial services and telecommunications. He's earned several prestigious awards for his work in direct mail and print communications.

Bob is the principal copywriter for Cole Creative, working with clients such as Hewlett-Packard, Polaroid, Nikon, LoJack, XTech, Clean Cities of Massachusetts, The Samaritans of Boston, and others. He graduated with a BA from Wesleyan University and an MS degree in communications from Boston University.

Amanda Coggin — Account Supervisor

Amanda Coggin holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University, where she began her visual arts career as a fine art and documentary photographer. She joined Cole with a background in 2D and 3D design management, coordinating branding, print, web, film, post-production and interactive projects for a variety of clients. Amanda is responsible for managing project budgets, schedules and overall workflow; as well as trying to entertain her colleagues with a daily riddle.