From Billboard Top 10 to Manayunk: Meet D4 Creative Group

Kurt Shore, co-founder, president and chief creative officer of D4 Creative Group, said he enjoys operating in the neighborhood.

“We really love being in Manayunk,” he said. “We could’ve gone anywhere, and we decided that this was where we’d really love to be.”

Shore launched the full-service branding, advertising and PR agency along with his business partner, Suzanne Hatfield, who also happens to be his wife, in 1990.

“Always an interesting working environment,” Shore said, chuckling of their partnership.

Before founding D4, Shore had a successful career as a music producer. His Gladwyne studio, home of several gold and platinum records, saw artists like Will Smith and Philadelphia rockers Cinderella. He recorded Pretty Poison’s 1987 “Catch Me (I’m Falling)”, which went on to be an MTV staple and hit the US Billboard Top 10, becoming the top dance record in the country at the time.

Shore says D4 hit it big early on with their first client, Comcast. They became experts in cable-oriented advertising, entertainment and products. The agency arrived in Manayunk in 1995, and has been at its current location since 2008. Now, D4’s 17,000-square-foot building at 4646 Umbria St. boasts extensive production capabilities.

“We’re kind of an agency that surrounds a production company,” Shore said, citing in-house audio/video studios as well as animation suites, and full-fledged social media and web development teams.

“We’re a highly strategic and creative firm,” he adds. “We’re a big idea company—big ideas without the big egos. We’re artists of capitalism.”

D4’s current clients include Arena Football League team the Philadelphia Soul, Frontier Communications, and Cure Auto Insurance.

“I always liked (Manayunk) because it was an artsy community with a lot of energy,” Shore says of locating here, though the proximity of the train is also a bonus: “You can still draw talent from all over the area—they can get here.”

Shore says D4 likes to be a good neighbor, opening up their private parking lot to residents after-hours.

“Manayunk is a forward-thinking community,” he says. “It’s diverse, it’s artistic... it’s a safe neighborhood.”

“Our overall goal is to be a national creative force, coming out of the Philadelphia area,” Shore says of his hopes for D4. “And the more successful we are at doing that, the more attention it’ll bring to this community.” 

Visit the company's website for more information.