Our Agency’s Leaders

Our team of professionals brings some of the best and most creative advertising experience both inside and outside of the agency world. Learn more about our team below and see why we have the nimbleness to take on your next marketing project.

Steve Smith

Owner/Creative Director

Steve began his career as a copywriter and worked his way up to become Creative Director at some of the largest advertising agencies in Pittsburgh before opening ity Advertising in 2015. He considers himself fortunate to have worked alongside, and then gone on to manage, some of the most talented creative people in the business.

His experience includes working with a long list of national brands, regional companies and local businesses. In fact, you would be hard-pressed to name a business category for which he hasn’t applied his advertising skills.

A constant source of innovative ideas, Steve possesses exceptional strategic insight and extraordinary creative vision. His focus is not only on the creative message, but also in bringing creativity to how, where and when that message is delivered. He is especially known for coming up with the big ideas that move businesses and brands forward. His work has been recognized in national trade publications and has won numerous advertising awards.

In his free time, you’ll find Steve—if you look really hard—paddling a kayak or casting a lure on the Allegheny River.

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Tom Higgins

Partner/Account Director

Tom has a diversified, 10-plus years of experience in marketing and has put his strategic expertise and advertising savvy to use for a variety of businesses and brands while working for agencies both big and small.

While he has an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh, Tom is a student of the world. For instance, he spent some time working as a ranch hand in Wyoming before becoming a marketing guru. He says that experience is quite helpful when wrangling those free-range creative folks to ensure that client work gets done on time and on budget. It’s also evidence that hard work is well within his wheelhouse—something that’s good to know when he’s working on behalf of your business.

Get to know Tom and he’ll tell you more about himself, including his year working for a non-profit in Africa, his two daughters and his love of yard work.

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Kaitlynn Ashby

Art Director/Designer

Any title we’ve come up with for Kaitlynn just doesn’t seem to do her skillset justice. In addition to being able to create beautiful and motivating layouts for traditional and digital mediums, she also designs websites and shoots/edits video for TV, web and social media properties.

Her versatility, mad computer skills and aesthetic eye make her a uniquely valuable contributor on any and all creative projects that come through our doors.

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Kevin Cochrane

Copywriter

A chance encounter with copywriting was all Kevin needed to jump in feet first. During his senior year of college, he came across David Ogilvy’s 1958 Rolls-Royce ad featuring the now-classic headline, “At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.” Already passionate about journalism and creative writing, Kevin found his niche in the art and science of copywriting.

He spent the next three-and-a-half years in the agency world crafting print, digital, and broadcast creative for clients nationwide. His portfolio includes campaigns in manufacturing, communications, automotive retail, and non-profit fundraising. Kevin’s favorite part of the gig is putting in the detective work to find the right message for the right offer to reach the right audience.

Talk to Kevin and he’ll tell you about his love for Biblical history, military biographies, and pro hockey.