Family Brand: Advertising Maven Kim D'Aloise Follows in Grandfather's Footsteps

Lawrence D’Aloise Sr. made a career as a creative advertising executive in the “Mad Men” era of the 1960s, working at such prestigious New York City firms as J. Walter Thompson and Dancer, Fitzgerald and Sample on Madison Avenue. He was a creative force, working on and developing numerous well-known campaigns. He was the brainchild of the simple yet memorable “Kodak Moments” advertising slogan.

Tales of working in the glamorous advertising environment regaled and inspired his granddaughter Kim D’Aloise ’97, who grew up just north of the Big Apple, to develop a strong desire to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps.

“I’ve wanted to work in marketing and advertising since I was in high school,” D’Aloise said. “He was my inspiration.”

After graduating from Radford University with a degree in media studies and concentration in advertising, D’Aloise worked with several top tier agencies.

“I started off in direct marketing and direct mail, back in the day. That evolved into public relations, promotions, branding and repositioning,” she said.

You probably know many of the brands D’Aloise has worked on. It’s an impressive and exhaustive list that includes Diageo, Snapple, ESPN the Magazine, American Express, Verizon, Beech-Nut Baby Food, Equinox, Reebok, Sallie Mae, SC Johnson, the NFL and a campaign for Acapulco, Mexico.

“Then I eventually got into digital,” she said.

These days, D’Aloise plies her advertising and marketing chops as a manager in digital marketing in the global marketing communications department at New York City- based Colgate-Palmolive.

Which means … “I wear a lot of different hats,” she said. “I’ve mainly been working on developing and driving digital marketing capability within the company, and a lot of that has to do with digital education and training.

“We make sure we’re developing people and arming them with the foundational knowledge to build and execute digital programs within marketing plans.”

Colgate-Palmolive is a worldwide consumer products company focused on the production and distribution of oral care, home care, pet and personal products, such as soaps, detergents and oral hygiene products.

Motivated by her grandfather’s inspiration, D’Aloise began building her portfolio at Radford University, particularly through her efforts on a senior independent study project. Working with a faculty member, she developed an advertising and branding campaign for the Radford Heritage Foundation.

“I learned a lot in the classroom at Radford, but the hands-on experience was the most helpful,” she said. “A lot of times you need to learn by doing, trial by fire.”

Now, deep into the fire of her career, D’Aloise continues to take on educational experiences. She was one of only 45 Colgate-Palmolive executives chosen to participate in the prestigious Stanford University Leadership Business Program. Colgate-Palmolive identifies some of its high-potential employees to send to the program, and last year, D’Aloise was selected.

“It was a week long, and it was a pretty intense schedule of classes with Stanford’s top professors,” D’Aloise explained. “There was a lot of teamwork, collaboration and innovative thinking with really engaging faculty and speakers.”

Her education and climb up the ladder of the advertising world were a source of tremendous pride for D’Aloise’s grandfather, who “ironically enough,” she said, also worked on the branding of Crest, a main competitor of Colgate.

“It makes me proud to follow in his path, and when he passed away a few years ago, he was proud I was working here,” she said, sitting in her New York office. “He knew that working in marketing and advertising was something I wanted to do since high school, and he was a major influence.” ■