I am John Sampogna, the Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Wondersauce, an award-winning agency specializing in brand storytelling, paid media, e-commerce, and digital experiences. With over 15 years of experience in digital marketing and advertising, I’ve had the privilege of creating and leading work for a diverse range of clients, including L'Oréal, Scott’s, Brookfield Place, Sixpenny, Chandon, Golf.com, Grubhub, and Subway, among others.

Early in my career, I was honored to be featured in Business Insider’s “30 Most Creative People in Advertising Under 30.” Since then, my insights have appeared in multiple renowned creative outlets. Recently, I also had the opportunity to speak at the 2024 Brand Innovators US Open.

Today, I lead a team of over 100 creatives, strategists, producers, and technologists at Wondersauce. I’m passionate about taking an innovative approach to digital marketing and brand storytelling, which has earned recognition across the industry.

I don’t see myself as a creative in the traditional advertising sense, but my mom encouraged me to explore my creative side early on, starting with music and learning to play guitar as a kid.

Wondersauce specializes in advancing clients’ businesses in two critical areas: brand storytelling with paid media, and e-commerce with web and brand experiences.

It’s about taking the essence of what makes you or your business unique and figuring out how to package that back to the audience. Sometimes it’s through the lens of your product, and in other instances, it’s around the story of your brand.

A creative idea takes something common and basic, like most UVPs, and presents it in a way that resonates more deeply with people and feels distinctive.

This starts by learning the essence of what makes your business unique - or your clients’ - and then figuring out how to package it effectively.

It all starts and ends with understanding the user and customer—their interests, habits, and behavior as they navigate the internet, shop, and engage with brands. Our process focuses on truly understanding this behavior so we can develop communication, marketing strategies, and technology that align naturally with how they interact.

The goal is to ensure our approach feels both organic and authentic, mapping our brand initiatives back to the customer’s real-world behavior.

I love the iterative nature of the creative process and the chance to work with such a variety of businesses and industries. Learning from different experts and our clients allows us to build cross-industry expertise and produce truly unique work.

I see it as a partnership—an opportunity to gain a window into new worlds, to dive deep and learn about different fields, whether it’s for a few months or a couple of years.

Our edge is not having a style. A good agency shouldn’t have an aesthetic; it should be able to create what makes the most sense for the client and their audience.

Our creative and strategy teams have deep range and can create work that resonates with people from different walks of life.

Of course, human beings who live in the United States have trends and behaviors. They’re susceptible to news/trends etc., and you have to be aware of all of the things to be able to market towards those people.

At Wondersauce, we aim to show that brands can achieve high-quality results without having to work with 2-3 specialized agencies. This campaign exemplifies the importance of truly thinking about your creative and media as a single concept.

Our Dairy Farmers of America’s "Go All In" DairyPure integrated cross-platform campaign illustrates how we are redefining the industry's notion that brands need to split their spending between specialized agencies or that full-service agencies can’t deliver high-quality campaigns across all services.

DairyPure sought a 5% sales lift for heavy cream and half & half in a fiercely competitive market dominated by milk alternatives.

By leveraging consumers’ cravings and highlighting dairy’s pure, single-ingredient nature, the campaign exceeded expectations, achieving a 30% increase in sales volume during the off-season, effectively winning back audiences who had shifted away from dairy.

The award validates that our work is resonating with brands and businesses, and underscores our primary objective as an agency - help our client’s grow.

I appreciate that our industry offers the opportunity to engage with diverse individuals and interests, explore new sectors, and work in real-time to navigate emerging trends and technologies.

The United States is the most dynamic media and tech landscape in the world.

Change is inevitable—it always happens—but this time it’ll be much quicker. With tech and AI accelerating everything, the evolution is picking up speed, and I think that’s a good thing.

As technology democratizes creativity and innovation, more people will be able to get involved, which only strengthens the industry.

Make sure you’re getting into the industry for the right reasons—because you’re genuinely interested in it. Spend your first few years at a solid company focused on learning as much as you can, not just chasing a paycheck. If you’re only here for the money or because you heard it’s a hot job market, it’ll be tough to last.

This industry is challenging and will only get more competitive, so staying curious and invested is key. By choosing something you’re passionate about, you’re less likely to fall behind.

The internet is a magical place ripe with resources, so that’s where I would start. I have always found myself to be a very curious person. I like to go deep on random topics from various sources, and that random info I build up becomes part of an idea. It’s all about doing widespread research.

My parents and their upbringing. They are hard-working individuals who have always stressed the importance of being reliable, having a strong work ethic, and being good to people, and I’ve always tried to apply that to what I do.