Larry DeVincenzi, Martin Amba, Mike Van Houten

Have an idea or question? We have the right team for your specific needs. (click on our photos to email us)

Larry DeVincenzi | brand strategist | SmartBrand LLC

For over two decades, Larry has enjoyed building and rejuvenating brands by identifying the market opportunity, crafting a vision, developing core strategies, hiring and training talent, and leading high-performing teams to measurable goals.

He has a deep passion for the full range of branding skills, including marketing planning, brand repositioning, creative advertising, Internet and direct marketing, marketing communications, public relations, social media marketing, business development and account management.

Throughout his career, Larry has helped create successful brand platforms and projects for Fortune 500 and internationally recognized companies such as Caesars Palace, Cox Communications, Discovery Channel, ESPN, Grand Sierra Resort, NBC Sports, Microsoft Licensing, The Montage, MGM Grand Hotel, Porsche Cars North America, Southwest Airlines and the Universities of Nevada in both Reno and Las Vegas. He has also provided consulting/production services for regional development organizations such as the Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority and the Northern Nevada Development Authority.

Larry's dedication to giving back to my community continues through my volunteerism with the United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra and the City of Reno Arts & Culture Commission, the Downtown Improvement Association and numerous other nonprofits.

Larry has been recognized with over 75 national, regional and local awards for professional excellence including numerous Addy's, Telly's and Communication Arts design award. Larry enjoys blogging about branding and all it's interconnected components on his blog aptly named smartbrandblog.

Martin Amba | creative director | AMBA Creative

Martin has gained invaluable experience with many of the region’s most prestigious advertising agencies, including the Glenn Group (formerly Rose-Glenn), BBC (formerly DMBB), the Estopona Group (formerly EnVision), Art Associates and Global Studio.

Throughout his advertising agency career, Amba has developed, directed and managed many of Nevada’s most notable accounts, including the Eldorado Hotel Casino, Caesars Palace, RSCVA, Incline Village Crystal Bay Visitors Authority, RTC, Carson-Tahoe Hospital, PolyPhaser, Reno Diagnostic Centers, King 888 Energy Drink, Howard Hughes, Summerlin, Nevada State Bank, Wells Fargo, and Greater Nevada Credit Union.

Since moving to Northern Nevada from the California Bay Area, Martin has consistently proven himself as one of the area's most successful advertising professionals. His creative direction has garnered over 120 local, regional and national advertising and marketing awards for both effectiveness and creativity. Amba has also been sought out as a highly qualified judge for many professional advertising award shows; such as the Honolulu Advertising Club's PELE Awards and the Silicon Valley Advertising Club's ADDY Awards.

Martin is co-founder of the Advertising Association of Northern Nevada (A2N2) and has served on numerous boards of directors, including the American Advertising Federation (AAF) Council of Governors, AAF District 14 Governor, Advertising Reno Advertising Club President, Truckee Meadows Community College Graphics Communications, and the Sierra Nevada Girl Scouts.

When he’s not “making the world safer from bad advertising”, Martin is has developed his skills as an accomplished martial artist. As a two-time national black belt sparring champion, he continues his dedication as a member of the world championship martial arts team, “Team Proper”, which competes throughout the United States.

Mike Van Houten | interactive media designer | JM Studio

As the CEO of JM Studio, Mike has gained a wide range of skills that have enabled him to design and program a wide range of web sites and interactive media projects.

From small-scale, budget-friendly web sites to intensely large corporate portals with over a thousand pages of manageable content, Mike combines an intrinsic sense of good design with innovative user interfaces that both please the eye, and the web search engines.

Mike is admittedly fanatic about usability and build user-centric websites that combine great timeless, cutting-edge design skills with common sense functionality.

In his "spare" time, Mike is the author of northern Nevada's #1 blog - downtownmakeover.com, and has been recognized for his dedication to providing the most comprehensive resource of current reporting and information about Reno and the surrounding area.

Have an idea or question? We have the right team for your specific needs. (click on our photos to email us)