Company Overview
602 Communications is a training company that specializes in research and consulting. We teach TV broadcasters how to expand their audience by amplifying social, web and broadcast interaction. We aim to turn casual viewers into passionate fans who spend a large chunk of their time watching TV.
We are workflow experts with decades of frontline station experience. We guide broadcasters as they build internal production systems that improve both their content and their ratings. We own a library of more than 50,000 examples of how best to manage your station. We don’t just tell you how to improve; we show you.
Check out our complete training list and research offerings for more information.
Our team
Doug Drew
Morning/Breakfast Television Specialist
Doug Drew is the Morning/Breakfast Television specialist at 602
Communications. Doug’s background is in journalism, and he is recognized
as an expert in understanding how viewers watch morning television. His
knowledge and experience as an Executive Producer have helped many
stations and networks significantly increase their morning ratings. Many
602 Communications clients have climbed to number one in the morning
time period or experienced significant ratings growth with Doug’s
guidance and workshops.
His insights into viewer attitudes make him a much requested speaker
for RTDNA and Promax conferences. He graduated from the Ohio University School of Telecommunications with a Radio-Television degree, and went on to a successful career in television news. Doug has been an on-air reporter and anchor, as well as a producer, assignment editor, Executive Producer, Assistant News Director and News Director at numerous network affiliated stations.
Doug has extensive experience internationally, helping re-launch and
re-brand a television network in Istanbul, Turkey. In addition, he was
part of the team that launched the Middle East Television Network, a
Washington DC based Arabic language satellite news channel. He has also
done workshops for CNN in London, for Network Ten in Australia, Citytv
and CTV stations in Canada, and for Mexicanal, a Spanish language
network which has numerous stations in Mexico. Doug lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Graeme Newell
Founder & CEO
Graeme Newell is a researcher, speaker and customer loyalty expert who teaches TV companies how to engage their viewers more often and for longer periods of time. He turns casual viewers into avid television lovers through amplified social, web, and broadcast interaction. Graeme has coached management teams on branding and marketing throughout the world.
Graeme is also an expert in the field of emotional marketing. He maintains a busy travel schedule, regularly speaking at conferences and events in Asia, North America, Africa and Europe.
Drawing from a library of 50,000 of the world’s most powerful TV promos and commercials, Graeme’s presentations are packed full of the very best marketing strategies in the world. He reveals the hidden dynamics that build strong viewer loyalty and increase repeat viewing.
Graeme is a graduate of the University of North Carolina with a degree in Marketing. Graeme spent most of his career as a TV manager in LA, Phoenix, Atlanta, and Columbus, OH. After years as a both a frontline producer and manager, he started 602 Communications in 1997.
Graeme is a slow but enthusiastic bicycler, a documentary lover, a cosmology & economics buff, and a lifelong tech gadget obsessive. Although many might argue that Graeme lives on an airplane, his actual home is in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Greg Derkowski
Marketing Specialist
Greg Derkowski is a marketing and brand strategist who has worked for several leading media companies, with over 30 years of experience. Some of the companies he had worked for include Clear Channel Worldwide, News Corp., Times Mirror, and Chris-Craft/United Television.
Greg has held several brand and marketing leadership positions throughout his career. He’s been a driving force behind highly successful brands in local television, cable, sports medicine, and specialty medical services.
Greg’s specialty is helping companies unlock and empower their brand potential by moving it beyond what the product does to what it means to consumers. Branding is all about perception, and Greg’s branding edge is rooted in his belief that companies do not own their brands – their customers and constituencies do.
“Companies own products, services, trademarks and other intellectual property. But your brand and the brand experience are owned wholly by the consumer. You have to understand and embrace your brand through the eyes of the customer. The brand isn’t what we tell them; it’s what they think it is. It’s what they believe it stands for. Successful brands embrace this reality – the values of their consumers – in everything they do,” Greg says.
Since a brand lives in the minds of its constituents, what do people who have worked with Greg think about his personal brand? “…a forward-thinking innovator, marketing strategist, team player, and strong leader.” – Brooks Hogg, President at Medford Ventures
“Greg’s creativity and energy work beautifully with his natural
penchant for developing, managing, and implementing strategy.” — Andy Shaw, SVP at Fleishman-Hillard
“Greg is a smart, intuitive big thinker. As a marketer, he has a special talent for seeing the world from the perspective of the consumer.” — Ginger Zumaeta, President at ZUMGI, LLC
“He casts away bias and approaches brand and marketing situations from the perspective of the consumer.” — Kurt Bartolich, Founder at Guts Branding
“He gets brand and brand consistency. He’s an expert planner and a fantastic organizer.” — Scot Chastain, SVP at NBC/Universal Affiliate Advertising and Promotion
Greg’s foundation is in branding and creativity: crafting messages that motivate customers to take action and resonate with them on an emotional level. He is a four-time Emmy recipient as an executive producer, director, photographer, and musical composer and arranger.
Greg is a Houston native, a graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University, and lives in San Antonio, Texas.
Mary Cox
Producing, Reporting & Digital Specialist
Mary Cox teaches news teams how to engage their audience through compelling storytelling, strong writing skills, and impeccable production.
Her workshops teach producers, reporters, and anchors how to identify appealing stories that can be conveyed clearly and concisely across all platforms.
Mary joined 602 Communications after more than twenty years’ experience as a news manager, producer, and reporter in some of the nation’s top newsrooms. As a news director, Mary created a successful newsroom at KNXV, the ABC affiliate in Phoenix. She oversaw day-to-day news operations at WSB in Atlanta as assistant news director and at KSAZ in Phoenix as executive producer. She also produced newscasts at WCCO in Minneapolis.
Mary worked as director of client services for Convergent Communications Consultants, where she tracked trends in television newsrooms and recruited top news managers, producers and on-air talent. Mary earned a master’s degree in journalism and mass communications from Iowa State University, with a BA from Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri.Mary currently teaches digital journalism classes in the School of Communications at Webster University in St. Louis.