Citybiz Interview with Michael DeMos, CEO of The C-360 Agency

Michael DeMos has a 30-year successful track record of building companies from ideation to profitable ventures. His very exciting career has included a diversity of roles and responsibilities providing him with a unique perspective on problem solving innovation and industry disruption.

His experience includes a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, followed by a career in print and mail manufacturing, ROI driven direct marketing, market analysis, integration of emerging technologies, fundraising, logistics, business process improvement, and retail operations and sales.

A United States Army Veteran, DeMos served for five years, being promoted to the rank of captain. He graduated from the U.S. Army Chemical and Airborne Schools, where he focused on nuclear, biological and chemical warfare and executed a variety of specialized leadership and staff assignments.

After the Army, DeMos worked in executive sales and management positions for Fortune 100 organizations including Chicago Bridge and Iron’s Liquid Carbonic and Airgas, Inc., suppliers of industrial, medical, and specialty gases and related equipment.

In 1998, DeMos and a partner launched a print, mail manufacturing and logistics startup —CMS (Corporate Mailing Services, Inc.) — and profitably built the company to more than $20 million in sales and more than 200 employees.

DeMos branched out in 2012 to startVictory-360, LLC, a direct marketing and consulting firm that develops comprehensive solutions by combining the right mix of technology, print and creative to achieve superior results for client marketing campaigns. Victory-360 serves direct marketers, specializing in insurance, continuing medical education, online education, and in-home services. Victory-360 features a client base of well-known companies and national brands.

In 2013, DeMos created V360 Fundraising, LLC, a full-service fundraising company, successfully raising much-needed funds for military non-profits. V360 Fundraising delivers above industry-average returns for its clients. In 2021, DeMos sold this firm to his number 1 what-employee, and the company continues to flourish and support veteran’s causes around the US.

Adding to his portfolio, DeMos’ acquired Clapp Communications in January 2019. Rebranded as C360 Agency in 2021, DeMos now leads a full-service award-winning marketing agency, whose expertise spans digital and traditional advertising, public relations, media planning and buying, brand development, social and digital media, event planning, marketing strategy, product launch and creative development.

Interview questions:

Q1:  Introduction: You have a very diverse background; would you mind sharing some of the details?

  1. It’s been an amazing life so far! Many challenges, some wonderful wins, and as most entrepreneurs will tell you, plenty of hard times as well. At this point, I am blessed to be surrounded by a phenomenal team of people and super fun customers and supported by a wonderful family. I love where we are, doing what we are doing.
  2. And yes, I have had a very exciting career, with a diversity of roles and responsibilities, often giving me a unique perspective on problem solving innovation and industry disruption.
  3. I have a college degree in chemistry, did a 5-year stint as an army officer, spent 10 years working in 2 different fortune 500 companies as an executive in sales and management, and have spent the last 15 years as an entrepreneur.
  4. Early this year, I was running 3 companies:
    1. Clapp 360 Communications (Traditional PR and communications firm acquired from Barb Clapp in 2019, who recently retired, by the way), Victory-360 (Direct Marketing Agency) and V360 Fundraising (A DM fundraising agency supporting military nonprofits).
    2. Recently I sold the fundraising company to my #1 there and enjoy watching their continued success and launched C360.
  5. It has been a lot of fun!

Q2:  In October 2021, you launched the C360 Agency.  Can you share your plans?

  1. The question I get most often is why C360, and why now?
  2. The name C360 reflects our evolution from a traditional PR firm to a full-service marketing agency integrating big data into our unique approach.
    1. With the ongoing talent tsunami, it has become very difficult for companies to hire a seasoned chief marketing officer, or they don’t need a fulltime CMO. But they do need to ramp up their marketing to compete and win in today’s environment.  C360 provides customers with access to a fractional CMO who is supported by an internal team of SME’s and external team of vetted contractors that deliver great outcomes.  We are often seen as an affordable alternative to the costly overhead or many layers of the traditional “Mad Men” era of agencies.
    2. That’s a little about what we do but to answer your question – what is our plan?
      1. We have created an environment that attracts the most talented team of professionals and contractors to support an amazing group of customers doing good things in the world! With an amazing team, everything else is easy!

Q3:  What is the 360 Degree Approach?

  1. Our 360 approach is a complete view of your brand – is everything and everyone aligned?
    1. How do you view your brand?
    2. How do you want your brand to be seen?
    3. How do your employees and vendors view your brand (is everyone aligned internally?)
    4. Most importantly – how does the audience view your brand?
    5. Then what do we need to do to get you where you want to go – that’s the superpower we bring to the table.
      1. We do the discovery first
      2. Then we clarify your message and update your collateral
      3. And turn on the channels that work.
  1. Let’s break those 3 steps down quickly:
    1. Discovery – interviews with folks inside the organization and out. Most importantly – we rely on transaction data combined with big data and analysis to guide our decision process
    2. Clarify your message – consumers are bombarded with messages each day. How do you stand out? The days of features and benefit selling is over – you’ve got make a connection quick or you’ll lose the opportunity – that’s the importance of a clear message and brand.
    3. Turn on the channels that work – You know the adage, if you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail.  Well in our industry, if you’re an advertising agency, everything looks like an ad.  We are different.  We focus on the channels that will deliver.  We don’t come into a relationship with pre-determined products and services – our discovery process will determine the most impactful path to follow.
    4. We are often called in to support Crisis Communications, Press and Event Planning. Having public relations as part of our offering  provides a  solid foundation to support our clients’ success.

Q4:  Who are the key members of your team?

As every business owner knows, companies have to offer a great workplace culture to attract top talent.  We use an alternating 4/5 work week and a hybrid virtual office model and have an attracted amazing crew.  And we are not a bunch of new kids on the block.  We have all worked on both the client and agency side.  Our key team members include Account Executives (seasoned and experienced marketing professionals who function as a fractional CMO for our clients), a Public Relations Team, a Creative Team, a Traditional Media Buying Team, a Social Media Team, and an awesome Business Development Team.  We are having a ton fun right now!  We get along great and get a lot of work done!

Q5:  Data/Platforms:  How is C360 using big data to drive better client outcomes? 

We love data!  We often analyze years of customer transaction data and append consumer attributes (mostly coming from Experian and their Mosaic profiling).  We’ll run the appended data through our proprietary models to establish statistically relevant action points.  This helps distill the data down to manageable pieces to drive marketing direction and improve response rates.

It’s exciting to see the response from our customers when we do this work.  Most company owners think they know all they need about customers to go to market.  After running a deep analysis, customers are amazed at what they didn’t know and how important it can be to their marketing ROI!

We are working with a company in the Mid-West, Aquarius Home Services – Tim their Marketing Manager said recently when we presented our initial findings – “We didn’t know he had all this data or how insightful it could be.”  I am excited to help them drive their business growth.

Q6:  Advertising Channels:  Which advertising channels are you seeing the strongest results?

I hear this question a lot, with everyone wanting the silver bullet.  There usually isn’t just one.  Most often, it’s the combination of different channels working together.  Last click attribution can be deceiving, so it’s important to measure everything.  Channels being used are driven by our analysis and where the target audience spends their time!  It’s different for every client.  That’s why we don’t sell cookie cutter solutions.

Q7:  Case Studies:  Are there any case studies that you want to share? 

A most recent success that may resonate locally is our work with a Len The Plumber.  In the simplest terms, we used our data modeling suite to identify that many of their past customers valued quality of price.  By segmenting the messaging by DMA and targeting consumers based on their preference, we were able to double response rates in direct mail.  More importantly our work influenced their messaging across the brand and continues to drive higher lead volumes and lower cost per lead.

Q8:  Growth:  What are the growth plans for C360 Agency?

Most businesses want to grow, and we do too.  We are very selective about new clients, and only work with clients who have two main characteristics:

  1. They are willing to give us a seat at the leadership table. We often have tough conversations and need to break institutional paradigms to drive progress. We value relationships with owners and marketing professionals who are open minded and willing to dig into the work with us.
  2. We like to have fun and want that of our clients as well. Life is too short to work with personalities that don’t understand that work can be fun!

In a nutshell, we are offering clients an alternative to the big agency model by using big data previously only available to fortune 500 companies.  We use our analytics process to quickly build a strategy, and understand your customers’ buying behaviors, clarify your messaging, update your collateral, website and public relations strategy, and turn on the advertising channels that deliver measurable results.  That’s C360!

Connect with Michael on LinkedIn

The C360 Agency: Tired of marketing jargon? So are we! A lot of agencies can deliver a strong sales pitch, but can they deliver new business? At C360, we don’t sell cookie-cutter solutions or services you don’t need. We help grow your brand and your business by listening, updating your copy and creative assets, and using the most cost-effective channels to communicate with your customers.

Our agency was founded to provide marketing that drives business and brand growth for our clients. We are a full-service marketing agency using a 360-degree approach that connects your customers to your brand with measurable results, while working in a fun and collaborative environment.

In the context of the talent turnover tsunami, it has become very difficult for companies to hire a seasoned chief marketing officer or senior marketing professional, or they don’t need a fulltime CMO. But they do need to ramp up their marketing to compete and win in today’s rapidly changing environment.

C360 provides customers with access to a fractional CMO who is supported by an internal team of SME’s that deliver great client outcomes. We are often seen as an affordable alternative to the traditional “Mad Men” era agency. We have created an environment that attracts the most talented team of professionals to support an amazing group of clients, who are doing good things in the world! With an amazing team, everything else is easy!

Our approach includes 4 strategic phases:

a. Discovery – interviews with folks in and outside the organization. And importantly – we rely on customer transaction data combined with big data and analysis to guide our decision process.
b. Clarify your message – consumers are bombarded with messages. How does your brand stand out? The days of features and benefit selling are over – messaging from your customer’s point of view drives success.
c. Turn on the channels that work -. You know the adage, if you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Well in our industry, if you’re an advertising agency, every solution looks like an ad. We are different. We focus on the channels that deliver. We don’t come into a relationship with pre-determined products and services – our discovery process will determine the path to follow.
d. We are often called in to support Crisis Communications, Press and Event Planning. Having public relations as part of our offering provides a solid foundation to support our clients’ successes.


Edwin Warfield, CEO of citybiz.co, conducts CEO Interviews.

If you’re interested in a citybiz CEO Interview, please contact
Edwin Warfield – edwin.warfield@citybizlist.com